U.S. History Outline: VII. The Sectional Crisis
Wilmot Proviso
Attached the to bill that approved the treaty with Mexico
Would have outlawed slavery in the territory gained from Mexico
Election of 1848
Polk didn't run
Lewis Cass (Democrat) vs. Zachary Taylor (Whig) vs. Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil)
Free-Soil wanted Willmont Proviso
Taylor was elected
1848 - Gold Rush - gold discovered at Sutter's Mill in California
Debate over how to handle slavery in new states
Missouri Compromise ended at Louisiana Purchase boundaries
Taylor thought new states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to be slave or free
The South blocked admission of California & New Mexico
Compromise of 1850 (the Great Compromise) by Henry Clay
1. California admitted as a free state
2. Rest of Mexico cession territory would decide slave status for itself
3. Texas would agree to arbitrary border, with New Mexico between TX and CA
4. Slave trade outlawed in District of Columbia
5. More effective Fugitive Slave Law
Debate between Clay, Calhoun, & Webster
During summer Clay got sick, Webster became Sec. of State, and Calhoun died.
More debate between Jefferson Davis (South) & Stephen Douglas (North)
Purely sectional arguments
Eventual agreement
Presidential Opposition to Compromise of 1850
Taylor planned to veto because it gave in to sectional arguments
Taylor died (1850) before he could veto it
Millard Fillmore took over
Fillmore passed bill, both sides were happy (for the moment)
Election of 1852 - Democrat (Franklin Pierce) vs. Whig vs. Free-Soil
Whig & Free-Soil split vote, so Pierce won
Democrat tended to be the party of the South, but Pierce was a Northerner
North was against Fugitive Slave Law, Wisconsin declared it unconstitutional (1857)
Young American Movement
Pierce's plan to end sectionalism
Diverted attention by focusing on West, nationalism, expansion
Ostin Manifesto (1848)
Pierce advocated annexing Cuba
North was afraid that he would add it as a slave state
1854 - U.S. annexed Hawaii
Hawaii added as a free state
Small movement for trying to annex Canada
Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854
Repealed Missouri Compromise, which had made Kansas and Nebraska free states
Allowed Kansas and Nebraska to choose their slave status
Outraged the North and destroyed Whig party
Whigs and Free-Soil combined to form Republican party
Kansas Civil War
Caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Northerners & Southerners poured in to try to influence vote
Each side tried to intimidate other into leaving
Territorial elections, Kansas, 1855
Slavery won by 6,000 votes (when there were only 15,000 registered voters)
Missourians had crossed border and voted illegally
Free-Soilers held their own vote & voted for free state
Pierce recognized the pro-slavery vote, touched off civil war
Pro-slavery marshal arrested Free Soil leaders
John Brown killed pro-slavers in Lawrence
Murdered their families, too
Hacked up the bodies and left them in street as a warning
Cassius Clay - 1830s, published an anti-slavery newspaper in Kentucky (border state)
Anti-abolitionists increased racism in arguments
Brooks-Sumner Affair
Sumner (Northern senator) gave speech against Brooks (Southern senator)
Brooks beat Sumner with cane, crippling him
Election of 1856
John Buchanan (Democrat) versus John Freemont (Republican)
Buchanan's platform - no strong opinions on issues
Freemont was guy who had declared CA independent during Mexican-American War
Whigs didn't support Freemont, Buchanan won
Buchanan - weak president who tried not to offend anyone
Dred Scott decision - Supreme Court
Slave did not become free just by entering slave state
Overruled all Northern laws that made escaped slaves free
Kansas constitution
Buchanan supported introduction of Kansas as slave state
Kansas constitution was pro-slave
People voted down that version of the constitution
Pro-slavers claimed vote fraud
Lee-Compton Constitution re-submitted and rejected
With no constitution, Kansas couldn't become a state
1858 - Abraham Lincoln elected to Congress
Lincoln-Douglas debates for Sentate seat
Debated slavery and western territories
Lincoln against the expansion of slavery
1859 - John Brown & Harper's Ferry Raid
Robert E. Lee led marshals who put down raid
Convinced South that they weren't safe in the Union
Election of 1860
Lincoln (Rep.) vs. John Breckenridge (Southern Dem.) vs. Douglas (Northern Dem.)
Lincoln elected, Southern states seceded
Secession
1860 - South Carolina seceded
Rest of deep South and Texas followed
Seven states in all seceded immediately
1861 - Meeting in Alabama, formed Confederacy
South began seizing federal installations
1861 - Fort Sumter (in Charlestown)
South Carolina demanded its surrender
Buchanan refused and sent reinforcements
South Carolina fired on supply ships & took fort
Crittenden Compromise
Proposed amendment to the Constitution
Would preserve slavery in slave states
Would extend Missouri Compromise Line to the Pacific
Wasn't accepted by Republicans
April 1861
South Carolina began bombarding Ft. Sumpter
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas joined Confederacy
Border states
Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri stayed with Union
West Virginia separated from Virginia and stayed with Union
Lincoln prepared for war
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