AP U.S. History Chapter 18 Renewing the Sectional Struggle (1848-1854)

1. AP U.S. HistoryChapter 18Renewing the Sectional Struggle (1848-1854) p. 397-403

2. Breaking the Congressional Logjam • Then, in 1850, the event which greatly helped bring a bout the Compromise of 1850,occurred when President Zachary Taylor suddenly died of an acute intestinal disorder, and Millard Fillmore took over the reigns of the presidency.

3. Impressed by arguments of conciliation, new President Fillmore signed a series of agreements that came to be known as the Compromise of 1850. • Clay, Webster, and Douglas orated on behalf of the compromise for the North. The South hated the proposed deal, but, fortunately, they finally accepted it after much debate.

5. Balancing the Compromise Scales • What the North got… (the North got the better end of the deal in the Compromise of 1850) • California was admitted as a free state, permanently tipping the balance. • Texas lost its disputed territory to New Mexico and (now) Oklahoma. • The District of Columbia could not have slave trade, but slavery was still legal. This was symbolic only. It was symbolic in that the nation’s capital “took a stance” against the trade. However, it was impractical because only the trade was illegal, NOT slavery and because a person could easily buy a slave in next-door Virginia.

6. What the South got… • Popular sovereignty in ANY of the Mexican Cession lands, though specifically good for the South concerning the New Mexico and Utah territories. • This was good for the South because prior to this, there was to be no new slave lands north of the 36’30’ Missouri Compromise line. On paper, this opened a lot of land to slavery…. possibly. But actually, this was not so good for the South because those lands were too dry to raise cotton anyway and therefore would never see slaves. • Texas was paid $10 million for the land lost to New Mexico. • A new, tougher Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was the main triumph for the South. It stated that (1) fleeing slaves couldn’t testify on their own behalf, let alone have a trial by jury (2) the federal commissioner who handled the case got $5 if the slave was free and $10 if not (clearly cause for corruption), and (3) people who were ordered to help catch slaves had to do so, even if they didn’t want to. Imprisonment was the penalty for any northerner who helped slaves to escape. • Angry Northerners pledged not to follow the new law, and the Underground Railroad stepped up its timetable. • It turns out that the new Fugitive Slave Law was a blunder on behalf of the South, since it inflamed both sides, but a civil war didn’t occur (yet), and this was better for the North, since with each moment, it was growing ahead of the South in population and wealth—in crops, factories, foundries, ships, and railroads……….frankly, near everything.

8. Defeat and Doom for the Whigs • In 1852, the Democrats, unable to agree once again on a candidate, finally nominated dark horse Franklin Pierce, a man who was unknown and enemyless. • The Whigs, sticking to a “tried and true” old formula nominated a war hero, “Old Fuss and Feathers,” Winfield Scott, the VERY old veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. • Luckily for the Democrats, the Whig party was hopelessly split. Antislavery Whigs of the North swallowed Scott as their nominee but deplored his platform, which endorsed the hated Fugitive Slave Law.

10. Southern Whigs, who doubted Scott’s loyalty to the Compromise of 1850 and especially the Fugitive Slave Law, accepted the platform but spat on the candidate! • Scott, who had been so successful on the battlefield would suffer ignomious defeat at the polls. With the Whigs hopelessly split, Pierce won in a landslide. • With Clay and Webster now dead and gone, the death of the Whig Party was inevitable and ended the national political arguments, instead giving rise to sectional political alignments instead.

12. Expansionist Stirrings South of the Border • Pierce tried to be another Polk (he impressed followers by reciting his inaugural address from memory, for example), but his cabinet was filled with Southerners (like future Confederate President Jefferson Davis), and he quickly became their pawn…… • In July of 1856, a brazen American adventurer, William Walker, grabbed control in Nicaragua and proclaimed himself president, then legalized slavery, but a coalition of Latin American states overthrew him. This threw some fuel on the “Slavocracy” theory (a conspiracy theory where the South was always seeking new slave land).

13. America also eyed Cuba with envy, especially the South, whose ambition for Manifest Destiny (ie., more slave states) emboldened them to attack their Caribbean neighbor Cuba! • Yet, though the South wanted Cuba, Spain wouldn’t sell it to the U.S. at any price. • Ultimately, after two rogue Southern attempts to capture Cuba by force failed miserably (and after Spain captured the American steamer Black Warrior on a technicality), Pierce ordered three U.S. foreign ministers to meet in Ostend, Belgium. There they drew up what became known as the Ostend Manifesto.

14. The Ostend Manifesto, in effect, a scheme to acquire Cuba from Spain, stated that the U.S. was to offer $120 million to Spain for Cuba, and if it refused and Spain’s ownership of Cuba continued to endanger the U.S., then America would be justified in seizing the island (in other words, sell it or it’ll be taken)! • Northerners were outraged once this “secret” document was leaked, and the South was denied Cuba (in other words, from obtaining another slave state). • Pierce was embarrassed and more fuel was thrown on the “slavocracy” theory …………and on Pierce’s weak leadership and apparent domination by the Southern congressional leaders.