1. The Impending Crisis Talking About a Revolution The Abolitionists

2. Expansionism • Empire of Liberty • War of 1812 and Expansion • Missouri Compromise and Sectionalism • Mexico and Texas • The Oregon Trail • California and Dana’s Two Years • Natives and Vanishing Frontier

3. Manifest Destiny • World Perspectives • Role of Providence • The American Way of Life • Ethnocentrism • Looking WEST • Sectional Tensions • John O’ Sullivan and the Press

4. The 1844 Election • Two Party System: Demos v. Whigs • Tyler’s Initiatives • Slavery Debate • International Relations • Candidate’s their positions: Clay and Polk • Texas and Oregon • Victory and Congressional Resolution

5. The Oregon Question • Polk Doctrine & Jingoism • Northern Interests: Free Soilers • 54/40 or Fight • Negotiations along 49 parallel • 1859 Statehood

6. Polk and Mexico • The Southwest • Californios • Unsettled Biz in Texas • Slidell Mission and Rebuke • Question of the Rio Grande • Showdown and War

7. War with Mexico • War or an Invasion • Slavery & Wilmot’s Proviso • Thoreau and Lincoln’s Resolution • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Cost of Victory: Legacies • Discovery of Gold

8. Irrepressible Conflict • Southern Extremists: Fire in the Belly • Constitutional Questions • 1848: Presidential Politics • The Gold Rush • Abolitionists • Zack Taylor and Popular Sovereignty • Other Voices

9. 1850 Compromise • An ARMISTICE • Banning Slave Trade • Fugitive Slave Act • California as 31st State: Monterey Redux • Popular Sovereignty as Model • Future of Agreement?

10. Abolitionists & Freesoilers • Early 1850’s • Election of ’52 and Whiggery • Fugitives and Underground Activity • Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Impact • Personal Liberty Laws • Southerners and Siege Mentality

11. The Young Americans • Ardent Expansionists • Japan and Asia • Cuban Interlopers • Mexico • Grey Eyed Man of Destiny • Slavocratic Power

12. Kansas Nebraska • A National Railroad • Stephen Douglas & Congress • Northern Outrage in ’54 • Testing Popular Sovereignty • Bleeding Kansas: Prelude to Civil War • National Debates Rage

13. Republican Party • Constituencies • Non Extensionism • Other Issues • Free soil, Free men and Fremont • Victory in defeat?

14. Flirting with Disaster • Buchanan: Political Doughface • Panic of 1857 • Events in Kansas • Lecompton Constitution • Southern Response • Democratic Party Politics

15. The Dred Scott Decision • The Issues • Roger Taney • Blacks Have No Rights • Congress Has No Authority • Constitutional Issues • Republican Response

16. Lincoln Douglas Debates • The Context of Debates • Popular Sovereignty v. Non Extension • Stephen Oates and Debates • Freeport Heresy • Impact of the Election • A House Divided?

17. John Brown’s Raid • John Brown: Crazed or Fanatic • Bleeding Kansas Role • Harper’s Ferry & its purpose • Raid and Aftermath • Public Confession • South’s Reaction • Crossing the Rubicon

18. The Impending Crisis • Could the secession crisis have been averted? What were the options?