The Crisis Leading
to the 1850s
Ch. 18
KEY CONCEPTS
•
Various tensions within and between regions came together to cause the Civil
War.
•
A fundamental disagreement between Northerners and Southerners about the
Constitution contributed to the Civil War.
•
Slavery became a crisis in the context of western expansion.
•
Compromise on slavery, dating from the writing of the Constitution, became
harder and eventually impossible by 1860.
The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso
• David Wilmot (Penn) –
Democrat
• Rejected by Senate
• Southerners
• Northerners
The Wilmot Proviso
Four views arouse:
1. John C. Calhoun
2. Anti-Slavery
Northerners
3. Pres. Polk and
moderate Southerners
4. Northern Democrats
– Lewis Cass and Stephen
Douglas
The Election of 1848
Election of 1848
• Democrats – Lewis Cass
• The Whigs – Gen.
Zackary Taylor
• Free Soil Party in born
– “Conscience” Whigs
– “Barnburner” Democrats
– Free Soil Party – Martin
Van Buren
• Taylor’s narrow victory
Gold in California
•
•
•
•
•
Jan 24, 1848
Population explosion
Lack of government
Statehood
Free or Slave State?
Crisis Over California Statehood
Taylor supports admission
• Backdoor Wilmot
Proviso
• Underground railroad
• Slave market in D.C.
• Southern Convention
Crisis Over California Statehood
Clay attempts an
compromise
• Northern provisions
• Southern provisions
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850
• Eight months of gridlock
• Douglas succeeds
Hippocampus: The Compromise of 1850
http://www.hippocampus.org/History%20%26%20Government;jsessionid=2E57FC66FEF36A63E31A3048C40E1611
(Ch. 18)
Left-Side
“Sectional Struggles”
1. Understanding Cause and Effect: on
handout there are pairs of historical events,
designated (A) and (B).
2. Arrange - arrange historical events in correct
Cause and Effect.
3. Support – indicate in a brief sentence how
the cause led to the effect.
1.
2.
(A) The acquisition of California (B) The Mexican War
(A) The entry of California into the Union (B) The California gold
rush
3. (A) The death of President Zachary Taylor (B) The passage of the
Compromise of 1850
4. (A) Northern aid to fugitive slaves (B) The passage of the Fugitive
Slave Law
5. (A) The disappearance of the Whig party (B) The election of 1852
6. (A) The Compromise of 1850 (B) Southern “filibuster ventures
7. (A) The Gadsden Purchase (B) The southern plan for a
transcontinental railroad
8. (A) Douglas’s plan for a transcontinental railroad (B) The KansasNebraska Act
9. (A) The Ostend Manifesto (B) The end of Pierce administration
schemes to acquire Cuba
10. (A) The rise of the Republican party (B) The Kansas –Nebraska Act