ONGOING ISSUE: SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES
Slavery and Cotton Production Graph
What is occurring to cotton production between 1790
and 1860? Why did this change occur?
The slave trade was outlawed in 1850. How can the
increase of slaves be accounted for between 1850 and
1860?
Slave Owning Population, 1850
What does the above graph
highlight about plantations in the
1850’s?
According to the graph and your knowledge of history, what might be America’s major
concern in the 1850’s?
Immigration
1815-1860: 5 million
1840-1860: 4.2 million
Irish and German
Expectations – Realities
Pull: Economic opportunity
Farming more difficult in US
Village and farm life less compact in US
After 1840’s: most remain in urban
settings with low wage jobs
Diverse – religious, class, occupations
Catholics, Jews, Protestants, free-thinkers
Clannish-do not assimilate easily
set own schools, speak German
Very self-sufficient
Greater wealth and skills
Admired for industriousness
Settle: Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri
Push: Potato famine
Poor, Catholic, tenant farmers
Settle: cites
Competition for wages with
Americans-black and white
Building skills: construction, streets,
aqueducts, canals, railroads
Result: Americans resent
Result: Racism, Resentment
IDENTIFICATION WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Introduced to national issues
Led to believe expansion was in their interest
AMERICAN RESPONSE TO IMMIGRATION
Nativism – Favor native-born Americans, not immigrants
Middle-class Protestants
Dislike of Catholics – fear influence of the Pope
Commonwealth v. Hunt 1842
Labor unions not illegal
MA employers ignore ruling and fire labor organizers and
replace them with cheap immigrant labor
Rise of the “Know-Nothing Party (American Party)
Consisted of anti-immigration secret societies:
Order of the United Americans and Order of the Star-Spangled Banner
Proposed: 25 years to citizenship
Decline: Take the stand of pro-slavery
MANIFEST DESTINY – JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Boundary between US and Canada solidified in the east.
Does not address British-US claims in Oregon
Adams-Onis Treaty (Transcontinental Treaty of 1819)
Spain ceded Florida to US
Established boundary along Sabine River – Rocky Mountains to Pacific
US made payment of $5,000,000
ROUTES WEST
Go WEST YOUNG MAN
WESTERN TRAILS
1. Oregon Trail
a. Oldest, trail for the fur traders
b. Start in April or May from Independence, MO
c. Time: 4-6 months, approximately 2,000 miles
2. Santa Fe Trail
a. Approximately 1,200 miles through hostile Comanche and Apache territory
b. Crossed arid plains, deserts, mountains
c. Risky: lack of water, rattle snakes, crossed Mexican territory, weather
3. Oregon-Mormon Trails
a. Approximately 1,300 miles
b. Started in Nauvoo, Illinois
4. California Trail
a. Approximately 2,000 miles
b. Started in Illinois
c. Fur trade route; by 1848 gold rush route
5. The Old Spanish Trail
a. Approximately 1,200 miles
b. Most difficult - high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons
6. Butterfield Overland Mail Trail – Oxbow Route
a. Stage coach and mail route
Liberty Party formed to claim the Fugitive Slave
Act null and void
Last election where elections were
held on different days in different
states
Polk
Runs on territorial expansion
Clay – “The Great Compromiser"
Runs against expansion
“Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”
Oregon territory was jointly owned by the
British and Americans
Americans: Want to annex all the territory
Resolution: Peaceful
Boundary with Canada along the 49th
parallel.
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS – 1845
Territory Owned by Spain
1. established missions to convert Native-Americans
2. resettle NA on missions and use presidios (forts) to protect missions
Mexican Independence – 1821
1. Lands given to ranchers and government officials
2. Native Americans go back to traditional ways
3. Trade opportunities with US opened
4. Most people do not want to settle the area
Land Grants – 1823, 1824
1. Land grants offered to Americans to encourage settlement
2. In return, Americans agree to obey Mexican laws and practice Catholicism
3. Result: Americans outnumber Mexicans (Tejanos)
Stephen Austin – Empresario
1. Issued land grants to Anglos
Issues:
1. US wanted to expand to Rio Grande
2. Mexico refuses to sell land to US
3. Anglos are Protestant, not Catholic
4. Anglos speak English, not Spanish
5. Anglos want to expand slavery – abolished by Mexico in 1824
Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana
1830 – Borders sealed, but can’t police
Tax on American imports
1833 – Suspends Mexican Constitution
Imprisons Austin
Revokes local power
Stephen F. Austin
1830-1834 – American immigration to Mexico
about 1,000/month
1833 – Petitions for more Anglo selfgovernment
Imprisoned for inciting revolution
REMEMBER THE ALAMO
1835-1836
1835 – Texans attack
1835, May, 1836 – Santa Ana defeats Americans at Alamo & Goliad
June, 1836 – Sam Houston defeats Santa Ana at San Jacinto , Santa Ana captured
September, 1836 – Sam Houston president of Texas Republic
1838 – US invited to annex Texas; supported by Calhoun, but is voted down
1845 – Texas is 28th state, sparks Mexican-American War
James Polk
Vision: Believed a war with Mexico could
bring in territories of Texas, California, and
New Mexico
The Situation:
Santa Ana was replaced by Slidell
Mexico refused to meet with US
emissary
Polk sends Taylor to Rio Grande to
prepare for war
Dissent:
No War: Northerners, Whigs, Abolitionists
Fear extension of slavery
Fear southern domination
War:
Southerners
More power in Congress
Extension of slavery
Taylor at Rio Grande
“Old Rough and Ready”
Fremont goes to Alta, CA
province “Bear Flag
Republic”
Both violate Mexican rights
Mexico sends in troops
Polk sends war message to
Congress (withholds
Information)
California declares independence
from Mexico – Kearny & Fremont
take California
US defeated Mexicans by
strong leadership—Lee,
Grant, Taylor, Scott
RESULTS OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - 1848
1. Mexican cession
a. Rio Grande border for US and Mexico
b. US pays $15 million for California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah,
sections of Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming
c. Freedom of religion, bilingual elections, open borders for Mexican
2. Nicholas P. Trist negotiated the treaty (refused to return on Polk’s request)
Gadsden Purchase – 1853
1. $10 million paid to Mexico for additional territory
Wilmot Proviso – 1846
Amendment to a military appropriations bill
No slavery to be permitted in territories acquired from Mexico
Fails to pass, but divided Congress
Wilmot Proviso
Southern Rights
South against Proviso
Refused to vote for
internal improvements
Argued slaves were
property, protected by the
Constitution
Fear Northern power
North for Proviso
Want internal improvements
Protect wage earners
Congressional scales. A true balance. Lithograph published by N. Currier, ca. 1850. The cartoon
lampoons President Zachary Taylor's attempts to balance Southern and Northern interests on the
question of slavery in 1850. Taylor stands atop a pair of scales, with a weight in each hand; the
weight on the left reads "Wilmot Proviso" and the one on the right "Southern Rights." Below, the
scales are evenly balanced, with several members of Congress, including Henry Clay in the tray on
the left, and others, among them Lewis Cass and John Calhoun, on the right. Taylor says, "Who said I
would not make a "NO PARTY" President? I defy you to show any party action here." One legislator
on the left sings, "How much do you weigh? Eight dollars a day. Whack fol de rol!" Another states,
"My patience is as inexhaustible as the public treasury." A congressman on the right says, "We can
wait as long as they can." On the ground, at right, John Bull observes, "That's like what we calls in
old Hingland, a glass of 'alf
and 'alf."
Development of a Third Party
Free-Soil Party - Northerners
Opposed extension of slavery in territories
Opposed black settlement in their communities
Objected to impact of slavery on free white wage earners
Received 10% of vote – threw election to Van Buren
The Modern Gilpins. A parody of Democratic politics in the months preceding the party's 1848 national
convention. The artist ridicules specifically the rivalry within the party between Free Soil or anti-slavery
interests, which upheld the Wilmot Proviso, and regular, conservative Democrats or Hunkers." "The
Gilpins" are regular Democrats Lewis Cass, Thomas Hart Benton, and Levi Woodbury, who ride a giant sow
down "Salt River Lane" away from the "Head Quarters of the Northern Democracy." ("Salt River" is a
symbol of political doom
Parody on the division of the Democratic
party (Free-Soilers)
Impact – Gold Discovery
Vast emigration and immigration to the Far West
Diverse: Slaves, Chinese, Mexicans, Chinese,
Women
Bust and Boom towns
Women became independent
Reawakened the issue of slavery in new
territories