The Impending Crisis Flashcards
Nationalism VS Sectionalism
North and South becoming more divided over numerous issues
1848 Election
Polk does not run again
Democrats nominate Lewis Cass from Michigan
Whigs run Zachary Taylor who wins
California Gold Rush
John Sutter founds Sacramento Builds a saw mill on the river where he finds gold Word spreads quickly Many do not succeed Gold rush changes population rapidly -1848 14,000 -1850's 220,000
Compromise of 1850
California is looking for statehood
-Slave or free
-Henry Clay steps in and puts together a bill
-California is a free state
-Issues national fugitive slave act
-New Mexico territories will let people decide if slave or free (Popular Sovereignty)
-In D.C. slave trade is banned
This creates a national debate
Congress fails to approve it
Great Triumvirate breaks up and are replaced
-Calhoun replaced by Jefferson Davis in the south
-Webster replaced by William Henry Seward in the North
-Clay replaced by Stephen Douglas in the West
Douglas brings the Compromise back and gets the bills passed individually because president Taylor dies and his VP Fillmore supports the bills
1852 Election
Whigs run Winfield Scott
Democrats run Franklin Pierce who wins
Pierce wants to get people’s minds off slavery
Wants to create a global empire and expand across the ocean to increase foreign trade
Young America & “Ostend Manifesto”
Ostend Germany
Need to start acquiring territories
Try to buy Cuba from Spain and if not just invade it and take it
They send to Pierce who keeps it quiet
Congress pressures him and he releases it
People outraged because Cuba has slavery and Pierce never follows through
Railroads Westward
Westward expansion is too popular to be forgotten
propose 2 trans-continental railway routes
1) New Orleans to Los Angeles
-Runs through organized states that have already been surveyed
-May open New Mexico to slavery
2) Chicago to Sacramento
-Better railroads and access to other cities
-Create a new territory (Nebraska) and have it surveyed
Kansas Nebraska Act
South doesn’t like plan because it cuts off chances of slave states being created
Douglas suggests splitting the territory into two states and let popular sovereignty decide
Nullifies Missouri Compromise
Creates controversy and breaks up the whig party
Slave owners flood kansas to create majority vote as well as free-soilers and abolitionists
Bleeding Kansas
This creates a mini civil war
2 governments create militias and begin raiding and killing one another
Pierce supports the south which hurts his nomination
1856 Election
Democrats - James Buchanan Whigs - Filmore Republicans - John C Freemont Buchanan wins 1857 depression hits the North hard and creates favoritism for the republican party
Dred Scott Decision 1857
Army servant/slave
Master is transferred to wisconsin which is a free state
Scott could have declared his freedom but decides to move back to Missouri where his master dies
Scott is inherited and treated poorly by new masters
Abolitionists take his case to court stating he was free once entered Wisconsin
Goes all the way to the supreme court where they rule that since Scott is a slave he has no rights in court and that congress has no right to ban slavery in any state
Lincoln-Douglas Debate 1858
Running for Senate in Illinois
-Democrats run Douglas
-Republicans run Lincoln
Everyone is watching Illinois because Douglas is so popular
They debate across Illinois
In Freeport Lincoln asks a question that destroys his chances
-Can a Territorial Legislature ban slavery
-Douglas says yes based on popular sovereignty
Cuts Douglas’ support from southern politicians
John Brown Raid
Abolitionist/Extremist
Led Guerilla group in Kansas against slave owners
Plans to attack an arsenal in Harper’s Ferry Virginia and then start attacking southern plantations freeing slaves along the way
Attack arsenal but the marines pin them down and Brown surrenders
Brown tried for treason and hanged
1860 Election
Democrats can't decide/agree on who to nominate Southern democrats walk out and split the party Northern democrats nominate Douglas South nominates James Breckenridge Republicans nominate Lincoln -Lincoln is a man of the people -Insists he is not an abolitionist Lincoln wins with an electoral majority
