Chapter 13-The Impending Crisis

Question 1

Manifest Destiny

Answer 1

Reflected the burgeoning pride that characterized American nationalism in the mid nineteenth century and the idealistic vision of social perfection that fueled so much of the reform energy of the time.

Rested on the idea that America was destined by god/history to expand its boundaries/populate the continent.

Racially justified by white superiority.

Term coined by John O’Sullivan

Question 2

Texans & Mexican gov’t

Answer 2

early 1820s, Mexican government launched an ill advised experiment: it encouraged American immigration into Texas

Tension arose because Mexico made slavery illegal mid 1830s, instability in Mexico itself drove General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to seize power as a dictator and impose a new, more autocratic/conservative regime. New law increased powers of national government.

Sporadic fighting between Americans and Mexicans in Texas began in 1835. By 1836 Texas was proclaimed an independent state

Question 3

Texas Revolution

Answer 3

Instability in Mexico= General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became dictator.

new laws arose that increased powers of national Mexican gov’t

1835: fighting begins between Americans and Mexican in Texas
1836: American settlers won independence from Mexico.

Question 4

Texas & Oregon migrations

Answer 4

1840-60

many Americans were settling in Texas for good soil and land
southerners migrated to Texas and Oregon (mostly families)

went west for new farming regions

some wanted quick riches, others wanted land etc (religion)

most wanted new economic opportunities

Oregon Trail = stretched across great plains and Rockies was very difficult, took 5-6 months

Question 5

Election of 1844

Answer 5

central issue= annexation of Texas

Whigs did not want annexation because it would mean more population representation for slave states

Democrats did want annexation because it would give them more representation

Polk wanted to annex Texas and occupy Oregon

After Polk was elected, Texas became a state: December, 1845

Question 6

“Fifty-four forty or fight”

Answer 6

a bellicose slogan used by Americans about the discussion of war on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a reference to where the Americans hoped to draw the Northern boundary of their part of Oregon.

Question 7

causes of Mexican War

Answer 7

new tensions were emerging in the South West. There was a dispute over where the boundary of Texas was.

Texas said the boundary was the Rio Grande river, where Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River.

Polk accepted the Texas definition, and sent a small army to protect what he viewed as the boundary but they saw it as an attack.

Question 8

opposition to Mexican War

Answer 8

Whig critics said that Polk had deliberately maneuvered the country into the conflict with Mexico where other critics argued the hostility with Mexico was draining resources/attention away from the pacific Northwest. Others felt that the war was a moral crime.

Question 9

Bear Flag Revolution

Answer 9

1846-Small army under Colonel Stephen W. Kearney captured Santa Fe with no opposition then Kearney went to CA, where he joined a conflict already in progress that was being staged by American settlers–THe bear flag revolution a well armed exploring party led by John C. Frémont. Kearny brought the disparate American forces under his command and soon completed the conquest of CA

Question 10

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Answer 10

Feb 2, 1848 by Nicholas Trist. Mexico agreed to cede CA and New Mexico to the US and acknowledge the Rio Grande as the Texan border.

In return, US assumed any financial claims its new citizens had against Mexico and payed Mexico $15 million.

Question 11

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 11

David Wilmot was a Pennsylvania congressman who was an antislavery democrat that proposed an amendment to Polk’s appropriation bill that would prohibit slavery in any state acquired from Mexico. The bill passed the house and failed in Senate but would be debated for years.

Question 12

“popular sovereignty”

Answer 12

Plan which would allow the people of each territory to decide on the status of slavery there.

Question 13

Free Soil Party

Answer 13

drew from the Liberty Party and the antislavery wings of the whig and democratic parties which endorsed the Wilmot Proviso.

They did not want slavery in the new territories. did not want any blacks in the area (slaves or free) wanted white farm owning society: all white people.

Former president Van Buren was their candidate, and while he didn’t win, the Free-Soilers elected 10 members to congress. Emergence signaled the inability of existing parties to contain the political passions slavery was creating

Question 14

Liberty Party

Answer 14

minor political party formed in 1840, early advocate of the abolitionist cause.

Also showed the political passions slavery was creating.

Question 15

Gold Rush (Impact, signif.)

Answer 15

1848, James Marshall finds gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada when working as a carpenter for John Sutter. Sutter tried to keep it quiet but word got out.

Created an atmosphere of greed and excitement. Created an absence of women/children/families because forty niners were predominately men.

Created a labor shortage in America because workers left jobs to search for gold.

Also led to an overt exploitation of Indians. Gold Rush was very important but not because everyone got rich (many didn’t) but it brought a population increase to CA, as well as an increase in diversity.

It also created a turbulent atmosphere due to ethnic tensions and pressured the gvt. to resolve the issue of slavery.

Question 16

Personal Liberty Laws

Answer 16

One of the controversies complicating the slave debate. Barred courts and police officers from helping to return runaway slaves to their owners

Question 17

Compromise of 1850

Answer 17

Henry Clay engineered the compromise, but a younger generation (like senator Stephen A. Douglas) was the one to actually pass it through. Clays group of points was not passed under Taylor, but when he died, Fillmore passed the compromise in its component parts.

1. California enters Union as a free state
2. Popular Sovereignty would determine slavery in Western regions
3. DC abolishes the slave trade (not slavery) because it was seen as an unfit practice so close to the capital
4. Congress passes stronger fugitive slave law requiring Northerners to return runaway slaves

Benefitted the North way more than South. Tipped balance in senate. Although there was popular sovereignty, Americans knew that slavery would not take root in the West due to the arid climate being not ideal for cotton)

Question 18

Ostend Manifesto

Answer 18

1854-Pierce had been pursuing unsuccessful efforts to buy Cuba from Spain. A group of his envoys sent him a private document from Ostend, Belgium making the case for seizing Cuba by force. When the Ostend Manifesto was leaked to the public, it enraged many antislavery northerners, who charged the administration with conspiring to bring a new slave state into the Union. He was forced to drop the scheme.

Question 19

Gadsden Purchase

Answer 19

1853- Jefferson Davis sent James Gadsden southern railroad builder, to Mexico where he persuaded the Mexican government to accept $10 million in exchange for a strip of land that today comprises part of Arizona and New Mexico and that would have facilitated a Southern route for the transcontinental railroad.

Significant because it accentuated the sectional rivalry.

Question 20

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer 20

Stephen A. Douglas introduced a bill in 1854 to organize a huge new territory known as Nebraska. He knew the South would oppose the bill because it would lead to the creation of a new free state and was north of the Missouri Compromise line.

To get Southern support, Douglas said the area would fall under popular sovereignty and therefore could theoretically become a slave state.

Also divided into two states Nebraska and Kansas instead of 1 (Kansas was more likely to become a slave state so would really help convince Southerners)

Question 21

Republican Party

Answer 21

Caused by the Kansas Nebraska act. People in both major parties who opposed the act called themselves anti Nebraska democrats or anti Nebraska whigs. In 1854, they join together and form the Republican party. It instantly became a major force in American Politics. In the elections of that year, the Republicans won enough seats in congress to organize the House of representatives along with allies from the Know Nothings

Question 22

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 22

Sequence of violent events involving Free State supporters and slave state supporters and their conflicts that took place in Kansas

1. Pro and antislavery people show up in large numbers to vote
2. Burning of Lawrence KS, a free-soil town
3. Caning of Charles Sumner
4. Pottawatomie massacre

Question 23

John Brown/Pottawatomie

Answer 23

Among the most fervent abolitionists in Kansas. Considered himself an instrument of God’s will to destroy slavery. After the events in Lawrence, he and 6 followers, including 4 sons, murdered 5 pro slavery settlers, leaving their mutilated bodies to discourage other supporters of slavery from entering Kansas. The Pottawatomie massacre, as it was called, led to more civil strife in Kansas.

Question 24

Brooks-Sumner caning

Answer 24

Charles Sumner of MA was antislavery and he rose to give a speech titled “The Crime Against Kansas.”

He blatantly verbally attacked slavery proponent Andrew P. Butler which angered Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks.

Brooks approached Sumner at his desk, raised a heavy cane, and began beating him on the head and shoulders. His injuries were so severe he couldn’t return to senate for 4 years. Became known as a hero/martyr in the North while Brooks was praised in the sSouth

Question 25

“slave-power conspiracy”

Answer 25

Idea some Northerners had that the South was engaged in a conspiracy to extend slavery throughout the nation and as a result destroy Northern capitalism.

The only solution they saw was to fight slavery and extend the nations democratic ideals all across the country. Strengthened commitment of Republicans to the Union.

Question 26

“positive good”

Answer 26

ideology created because slavery was seen increasingly as incompatible with democracy. Slavery used to be seen as a necessary evil, but the South stopped apologizing and started seeing it as a positive good. Good for slaves, Southern society, and the whole country

Question 27

election of 1856

Answer 27

Dem. Party leaders chose James Buchanan because he was not closely associated with Bleeding Kansas. Buchanan was a reliable democrat stalwart who as minister to England had been away for the whole Kansas episode. Republicans nominated John C. Frémont who was an explorer. Know Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won. He was a timid, indecisive president at a crucial time in history.

Question 28

Dredd Scott decision

Answer 28

1857-Court case of Dredd Scott vs. Sanford. Dred Scott was a Missouri slave, once owned by an army surgeon who had taken Scott with him to Illinois and Wisconsin, where slavery was forbidden.

After the surgeon died, Scott sued his Master’s widow for freedom on grounds that his residency in free territory had liberated him from slavery.

The court initally declared him free. John Sanford was claiming years later that the owned Scott. He appealed the court decision to the state supreme court, who reversed the decision. When Scott appealed to federal courts, Sanford’s attorneys claimed he could not sue because he was property.

Represented a stunning defeat for the antislavery movement. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the opinion that exercised judicial review saying that:

1. Scott could not sue because he was not a citizen
2. Slaves were property and could not be taken away without “due processes” (5th amendment)
3. Congress could not eliminate slavery in the territories (invalidated Missouri Compromise line).

Question 29

Lecompton Constitution

Answer 29

pro slavery territorial legislature called a constitutional convention

the free state residents refuse to participate so pro-slavery forces won control of the convention

they met in 1857 at Lecompton and created a constitution legalizing slavery

they refused to give voters a chance to reject it

the constitution was rejected by more than 10000 votes

1858: congress stated that if the constitution was approved, Kansas would be a state, if it was rejected it wouldn’t

the constitution was rejected and Kansas did not become a state until later

Question 30

Lincoln-Douglas debates

Answer 30

1858 senate elections in Illinois pit Abraham Lincoln against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was far less known outside of Illinois. Lincoln was a successful lawyer who had been very involved in state politics. But he was not as well known as Douglas so to increase visibility eh engaged Douglas in a series of debates. L.D. debates attracted huge crowds and got a lot of media attention. By the end, Lincoln was well known for his eloquent, passionate antislavery speeches that dealt with the fundamental wrongs of slavery (although at this point he isn’t an abolitionist, just wants to prevent the spread)

Lincoln did not win the election but he raised his visibility, and Stephen A. Douglas who otherwise might have been a shoe-in for the presidency, stated some opinions that made him a more questionable choice.

Question 31

Harper’s Ferry

Answer 31

John Brown staged another dramatic episode in the South this time.

He made elaborate plans to seize a mountain fortress in VA from which he believed he could cause a slave uprising. He and a group of 18 followers attacked and seized an arsenal in Haper’s Ferry. But the slave uprising did not occur, so he was arrested, tried, and put to death. He and 6 followers were hanged .

White Southerners were convinced that they could not safely live in the Union. South believed that the north was committed to a slave insurrection.

Question 32

Baltimore convention

Answer 32

Democratic Party could not choose a delegate

they agreed to meet in June in Baltimore

The Baltimore Convention led to the election of Stephen Douglas for nominee

Question 33

election of 1860

Answer 33

Lincoln won with majority of electoral votes but not a majority of the popular vote. Republicans did not win a majority in congress–even so, it signaled that the South was doomed in the Union. Began the process of disunionization that would soon lead to the Civil War.