Summary: Guided by the principle of "Manifest Destiny," Americans began to stream westward in the 1830s. By the mid-1840s settlers were entrenched in the Oregon and California territories. Adventurers also settled in Texas and helped the Texans defeat the Mexican army in 1836. The Mexican-American War took place between 1846 and 1847. By the terms of the treaty ending this war the United States paid Mexico $15 million dollars; in return the United States acquired the northern part of the Texas territory and New Mexico and California. The pivotal issue for Americans remained whether newly acquired territories would enter the Union as slave states or as free states. Under the Missouri Compromise a line was drawn westward to the Pacific Ocean; all territories north of the line would enter the Union as free states and all territories south of the line would come in as slave states. The issue of whether California would enter the Union as a free or slave state necessitated the Compromise of 1850. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 stated that settlers living in those territories could vote on whether they would become slave states or free states. The Dred Scott Supreme Court decision of 1857 stated that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories and that even though Scott, an ex-slave, had spent time in a free state and a free territory this did not make him a free man. Tensions between the North and the South remained high. In the 1860 presidential election, Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln campaigned on the need to contain slavery in the territories. After his election, representatives of seven Southern states met to create the Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis as the first president of the Confederacy.
Keywords
Manifest Destiny: concept that became popularized in the 1840s stating that it was the God-given mission of the United States to expand westward
Mexican-American War: war fought over possession of Texas, which was claimed by both Mexico and the United States; the settlement ending this war gave the United States the northern part of the Texas territory and the territories of New Mexico and California
Compromise of 1850: temporarily ending tensions between the North and the South, this measure allowed California to enter the Union as a free state but also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law
Fugitive Slave Act: part of the Compromise of 1850, legislation that set up special commissions in northern states to determine if accused runaway slaves were actually that. Commissioners were given more money if the accused was found to be a runaway than if he/she was not. Many northern state legislatures attempted to circumvent this law.
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): compromise that allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to vote to decide if they would enter the Union as free states or slave states. Much violence and confusion took place in Kansas as various types of "settlers" moved into this territory in the months before the vote in an attempt to influence it
Dred Scott case: critical Supreme Court ruling that stated that slaves were property and not people; as a result they could not seek a ruling from any court. The ruling also stated that Congress had no legal right to ban slavery in any territory
THE IDEOLOGY OF MANIFEST DESTINY
The idea of manifest destiny fueled the continued American expansion westward. Americans from the time of the Puritans spoke of America as a community with a divine mission. Beginning in the 1830s, some began to express the view that it was "God's plan" that America expand beyond the Mississippi River. Both political leaders and Protestant missionary organizations fervently supported western expansion. In 1845, Democratic newspaperman John O'Sullivan wrote that the most critical need for America was "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."
Americans had begun to settle in Oregon in the 1830s. The six-month, 2,000-mile journey along the Oregon Trail brought settlers to the Oregon territory; many of them settled in the Willamette Valley. Many settlers in the Ohio Valley began to catch "Oregon Fever" by 1842; stories of a mild climate and the possibility of fur trading fueled the imaginations of many. Missionaries came to "tame" the Native Americans that lived in the region. By 1845, over 5,000 had streamed into the Oregon territory. A section of Oregon was controlled by the British and a section by America. "Fifty-four Forty or Fight" became the rallying cry for expansionists who wanted all of Oregon to be under American control. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 gave most of Oregon to the Americans. The California territory, controlled by Spain, also attracted the interest of American settlers; American settlers first arrived there in the 1830s. The future of expansion in Oregon and California were key issues in the 1844 presidential campaign.
"REMEMBER THE ALAMO!"
The drive for expansion, which fueled the dreams of many Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century, made eventual conflict with Mexico inevitable. Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 and encouraged the economic development of its northern province of Texas (which consisted of what we now know as the state of Texas and parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado). American economic investment was encouraged in the region: American settlers who would agree to become Mexican citizens, become Catholics, and encourage other Americans to come to Mexico were given large tracts of land for next to nothing. These settlers numbered nearly 30,000 by 1836.
Predictably, many Americans who settled in Texas were not diligent in fulfilling their obligations to the Mexican government, causing the Mexican government to act to reassert control over Texas. In 1836, the American settlers and some Mexicans living in Texas revolted against Mexican control of Texas. On March 2, they declared that Texas was an independent state and established a constitution (in which slavery was legal). Led by Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie, 165 Texans were defeated at the Alamo on March 6 by over 3,000 Mexican soldiers, but their cry of "Remember the Alamo!" became the rallying cry for those fighting for the independence of Texas. A declaration of independence was issued in early March 1836 by a convention of Texans opposed to continued Mexican rule.
Many American adventurers eager for land now poured into Texas and helped the Texans defeat the Mexican army on April 21, 1836. An independent Republic of Texas was proclaimed. General Sam Houston, who had led the army that defeated the Mexicans, became president of the Lone Star Republic. Most people living there (the vast majority being Americans) desired to become part of the United States. Andrew Jackson gave stirring speeches favoring the annexation of Texas and offered diplomatic recognition to the Lone Star Republic just before he left office. However, most Whigs were against annexation, fearing it would cause war with Mexico and domestic dissension. Abolitionists in the North were opposed to it, since they feared the entry of another slave state (which Texas would undoubtedly be) into the Union. Jackson feared that the annexation of Texas would hurt the chances of his chosen successor, Martin Van Buren, in the 1836 presidential election. He never acted on the annexation issue, causing the Republic of Texas to turn to Europe for potential allies.
Martin Van Buren also refused to support legislation that would make Texas part of the United States. William Henry Harrison, a Whig, defeated Van Buren in the 1840 presidential election but died after one month in office. Harrison's vice president was John Tyler, a Democrat who had been placed on the ticket to appeal to Southerners. Tyler favored the annexation of Texas and, by mid-1844, had completed negotiations with the Texans on a treaty that would bring Texas into the United States. John C. Calhoun, the secretary of state, wrote a note to the British government concerning the situation in Texas; in the note, he stated that the continuation of slavery would be good for Texas. This was enough to doom the treaty when it went to the Senate for approval.
THE PIVOTAL ELECTION OF 1844
Democrat James K. Polk was elected president in 1844. Polk was the first American dark horse candidate for president, as he was not one of the announced candidates before the Democratic convention of that year. The campaign of that year showed several trends that would be pivotal to American political life in the 1840s and 1850s. The South and Southern interests increasingly influenced and were reflected in Democratic policies, and the Walker Tariff of 1846 established a very low tariff on imported goods, delighting many in the South and disgusting many Northern industrialists.
Abolitionism officially entered presidential politics in 1844. The Liberty party, with James Birney as its presidential candidate, was an Abolitionist party. Although Birney attracted only 62,000 votes, abolitionism, and the sectional divisions it would help to foster, became a permanent part of the political landscape until the Civil War.
The 1844 election also demonstrated that desire for manifest destiny was the most important issue facing America at the time. Most historians credit Polk's support of American expansionism as the major reason for his election. Polk was inaugurated in March 1845. By December, Texas had entered the Union. Expansionism and slavery also became increasingly intertwined as a single issue. The status of slavery in each newly acquired territory would have enormous political consequences, as forces in the North and the South were determined that the number of slave and free states remain equal.
WAR WITH MEXICO
The reasons for the Mexican-American War were numerous. Patriots in Mexico were outraged when Texas joined the United States, as they considered Texas still to be part of Mexico. The war served the economic interests of groups both in Mexico and the United States. However, the main reason for war was the determination of President Polk to fulfill what he perceived to be America's mission to occupy the lands all the way to the Pacific Ocean and his willingness to use force to accomplish this aim.
Polk did much to provoke war with the Mexicans. He encouraged settlers in Mexico to occupy territory all the way to the Rio Grande River, which the Mexicans considered to be outside of the territory of Texas (Mexico considered the Nueces River, north of the Rio Grande, as the border between Texas and the rest of Mexico). Polk also wanted to buy territory from Mexico that would allow the United States to expand all the way to California. In October 1845, he offered the Mexican government $5 million for the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande Rivers, $25 million for California, and $5 million for other Mexican territory in the West. John Slidell, the diplomat sent to Mexico City with Polk's offer, was never even received by the Mexican government. Early in 1846, Polk sent an American force commanded by General Zachary Taylor to defend the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande Rivers. In early April, part of this force was ambushed by the Mexican army. Polk had to do little to convince the American Congress to issue a declaration of war against Mexico on May 13, 1846.
Many Whigs had hoped the conflict with Mexico could be peacefully negotiated; abolitionists feared the conflict with Mexico was little more than a Southern ruse to expand slavery in the American territories. Texas had never achieved real prosperity since its independence from Mexico, and the Mexican government was riddled with corruption. President Polk had predicted that the Mexicans would refuse American efforts to purchase western territories; and he proceeded, through officials stationed there, to let Americans and Mexicans living in California know that if they rose in opposition to Mexican control of the area, the American army would protect them. Not coincidentally, American naval and infantry forces arrived in California in late 1845 as a show of American force. Shortly after the American declaration of war against Mexico, settlers rose up in revolt, supported by American infantry forces commanded by John C. Fremont. On July 4, 1846, the Bear Flag Republic was officially proclaimed in the California territory.
American troops also entered Mexico itself, easily defeating the Mexican army. Forces under Zachary Taylor were especially successful in winning battles over the Mexicans in late 1846 and early 1847. The Mexican government refused to surrender or negotiate with the Americans. President Polk then sent an American force under General Winfield Scott to Mexico to occupy Mexico City, the capital. Scott landed on Mexican territory at Veracruz on March 8, 1847, and was victorious in several battles against the Mexicans. Mexico still refused to settle for peace, and on September 13, 1847, Scott's army entered Mexico City. Mexican partisans continued guerilla warfare well into 1848.
Effects of the Mexican War
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848, and officially ended the Mexican-American War. Many who had favored war considered the treaty too generous to the defeated Mexicans. For $15 million the United States acquired the Texas territory north of the Rio Grande, New Mexico, and California (the exact territory they had previously offered to buy). The American government also assumed all claims of Americans against the Mexican government.
The territory of the United States increased by one-third as a result of this treaty, and the controversy over slavery in the new territories was immense. In 1846, David Wilmot, a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania, introduced an amendment to a bill authorizing funding for the Mexican-American War that stated slavery could not exist in any territory acquired from Mexico. The Wilmot Proviso was passed by the House of Representatives four times and rejected by the Senate each time. Nevertheless, each debate concerning the bill stirred up intense sectional differences concerning slavery in the territories. Southerners such as John C. Calhoun strenuously argued that the federal government had no right to outlaw something in an American territory that was legal in a number of American states. President Polk's compromise decision was to continue the line drawn by the Missouri Compromise out to the Pacific Ocean, with slavery allowed in territories south of the line and not allowed in territories north of the line.
To avoid being hurt by the controversies surrounding slavery, both the Democrats and the Whigs said little about it in the 1848 presidential election. Zachary Taylor ran as a Whig and was victorious, largely because of his war record in Mexico and because he made no comments whatsoever about the future of slavery in the territories. Some members of the Liberty party and defectors from the Whig and Democratic parties formed the Free-Soil party, whose main purpose was to oppose slavery in the newly acquired western territories. The Free-Soilers nominated former president Van Buren, who won 10 percent of the popular vote.
POLITICAL CHALLENGES OF THE 1850s
The controversies of the 1850s largely centered around slavery and its status in the newly acquired American territories. Americans had been able to compromise on such issues in the first half of the nineteenth century. By the 1850s, the volatile nature of debate on the issue of slavery made compromise much harder to come by.
The discovery of gold in California in January 1848 caused a flood of "diggers" to enter the territory. Within a year, over 80,000 "forty-niners" entered the state. By the end of 1849, the territory's population swelled to over 100,000. Law enforcement and governmental controls were severely lacking in much of the territory. Zachary Taylor encouraged settlers in California and New Mexico to draft constitutions and to apply for statehood. By the end of 1849, California had adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery; New Mexico did the same six months later.
Taylor's approval to allow California to enter the Union as a nonslave state infuriated many Southerners. Southern senators railed that much of the California territory was south of the Missouri Compromise line: shouldn't slavery be allowed in that part of California? A convention was called for representatives of Southern states to come together and discuss leaving the Union. John C. Calhoun captured the feeling of many Southerners when he said, "I trust we shall persist in our resistance until restoration of all our rights, or disunion, one or the other, is the consequence."
Henry Clay, the author of the Missouri Compromise, spoke forcefully against many of Calhoun's arguments and wrote the parts of the legislation that together would be called the Compromise of 1850. Both the North and the South got some of what they wanted in this compromise. Northerners were happy that the legislation allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, that the residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories would decide if these areas would be slave territories, and that slave trading was eliminated in Washington, D.C. Southerners were satisfied over several provisions found in the legislation: provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act were toughened, Congress stated that it didn't have jurisdiction over interstate slave trade, and slavery was allowed to continue in Washington. Eight months of debate were needed to pass all provisions of the compromise. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois was the most effective spokesperson for the cause of the compromise. California entering the Union as a free state gave the free states a majority; in the future, that majority would grow, helping to explain the increased tensions between the North and the South between 1850 and 1860.
The presidential election of 1852 was another campaign devoid of much discussion of the slave issue. The Free-Soilers got half the votes they had received in the 1848 election. General Winfield Scott was the candidate of the Whigs. Like Zachary Taylor in 1848, he made few public statements on political issues. Franklin Pierce was another dark horse candidate who won the Democratic nomination and then the presidency.
EFFECTS OF THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
The part of the Compromise of 1850 that most bothered abolitionists in the North was the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act. Under the new provision of the bill, judges in the North determined the fate of blacks accused of being escaped slaves. Accused runaways were denied jury proceedings and often were denied the right to testify in their own trials. Heavy financial penalties were imposed on Northerners who helped slaves escape or who hid slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was written as a response to the Fugitive Slave Act. Stowe demonstrated the immorality of slavery in her novel, which sold nearly 275,000 copies in its first year of publication.
THE PRESIDENCY OF FRANKLIN PIERCE
Pierce's foreign policy was pro-expansionism. In 1853, he sent a naval force under Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to open Japan to American trade and diplomatic contact. American diplomats negotiated the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico, which gave America an additional southern route for trade (and territory for a proposed transcontinental railroad). Pierce also initiated efforts to purchase Cuba from the Spanish. When this effort proved unsuccessful, many in the Pierce administration favored the seizing of Cuba by force, which infuriated many in the North. Pierce's policies seemed to benefit Southern interests and were viewed with suspicion by many in the North.
This period also witnessed the decline of the Whig party. Many former Whigs became members of the American or Know-Nothing party that developed in response to the rising immigration from Ireland and Germany, which had begun in the late 1840s. The Know-Nothing party was nativist and especially anti-Catholic. They favored restrictions on further immigration and various schemes that would keep recent immigrants from voting. The fact that it was the second most powerful party in America during the first years of the Pierce administration demonstrates the weakness of the two-party system in this period.
THE RETURN OF SECTIONAL CONFLICT
The desire to organize settlements in Kansas and Nebraska brought tensions between the North and the South back to the forefront. According to the provisions of the Missouri Compromise, slavery would be banned in both of these territories. Stephen A. Douglas, sponsor of the bill that proposed the creation of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, wanted to create a large region free of Native Americans so that a transcontinental railroad could be built between Chicago and the West Coast. Douglas was pressured by Southern senators and included a provision in the bill that the existence of slavery in these territories would be decided by a vote of those who lived there. This Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North. The bill was passed with the support of President Pierce.
The fury over the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act caused the creation of the Republican party. The party was an exclusively Northern one and was dedicated to the principle that slavery should be prohibited in all territories. Some former Democrats, Whigs, and Free-Soilers made up the base of the Republican party, which would quickly replace the Know-Nothings as the second most important political party in the United States.
"BLEEDING KANSAS": SLAVE OR FREE?
In preparation for elections that would be held in 1855, states and interests supporting and opposing slavery all were active in sending settlers into Kansas that would support their cause. Abolitionists financed the journey to Kansas of many settlers opposed to slavery; at the same time, many Southern states "encouraged" settlers to travel there. Conflicts, often involving bloodshed, erupted between the two sides. Many pro-slavery settlers flooded into Kansas from Missouri, thus ensuring the election of a pro-slavery legislature in 1855 by casting illegal ballots. The legislature enacted measures designed to protect slavery in the territory (the "Lecompton Constitution" made slavery legal in a constitutional sense). Free-Soilers proceeded to elect their own legislature and adopted equally harsh antislavery legislation. Violence continued in "Bleeding Kansas" in 1856: the free-soil settlement at Lawrence was attacked, and in response, abolitionist John Brown and his followers killed five pro-slavery settlers. Fighting between supporters and opponents of slavery continued throughout the year.
Democrat James Buchanan won the presidential election of 1856. The opposition to him was split, with John C. Fremont running as a Republican and ex-president Millard Fillmore running as the Know-Nothing candidate. It should be noted that Fremont and Fillmore together gained nearly 55 percent of the popular vote.
THE DRED SCOTT DECISION
The Dred Scott case finally made it to the Supreme Court docket in 1856. Many hoped it would decisively end the controversy over slavery in the territories. Dred Scott was a former slave who was suing for his freedom on the basis that his owner had taken him to stay first in a free state, Illinois, and then into a free territory, Wisconsin.
The final decision of the Supreme Court, in essence, supported the Southern position concerning slavery in the territories. The court ruled that Scott as a slave had no legal right to sue in federal court, that his time in a free state and a free territory did not make him a free man, and that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories, since the Constitution protected property rights and slaves were still considered property.
Instead of easing tensions between the North and South, the Dred Scott decision only made tensions between the sections worse. Southerners felt their position had been justified and felt little need to compromise with the North; Northerners were more convinced than ever that "slave interests" controlled all the branches of government.
President Buchanan further antagonized Northerners by recommending that Kansas be admitted to the Union as a slave state, even though the legislature in Kansas had been elected by largely illegal means (Kansas was finally admitted to the Union as a free state in 1861).
THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES
Stephen Douglas was opposed by Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 election for senator from Illinois. Lincoln had been a Whig but was now a Republican, having broken from the Whig party over slavery. Lincoln was a practicing attorney, had been in the U.S. Congress during the Mexican War, and had narrowly lost an earlier bid for the Senate in 1852. Douglas and Lincoln debated at seven locations throughout Illinois in the months leading up to the election. The issue of slavery and the territories dominated all of these debates. At a debate in Freeport, Lincoln asked Douglas how the residents of a territory could exclude slavery in light of the Dred Scott decision. Douglas responded with the Freeport Doctrine, which maintained that a territory could exclude slavery if the laws and regulations written made slavery impossible to enforce. Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln was recognized by many as an up-and-coming force in the Republican party.
JOHN BROWN'S RAID
Radical abolitionist John Brown and 18 followers seized the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on the evening of October 16, 1859. Brown hoped to incite a slave uprising by his actions. It would later become known that Brown's actions had been financed by several wealthy Northern abolitionists. Brown was captured, tried for treason, and hanged. The response to Brown's death further intensified the tensions between the North and the South. Henry David Thoreau was one of many Northerners to consider Brown as "the bravest and humanist man in all the country," while Southerners were outraged by Northern support of Brown's actions.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1860
The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 virtually ensured that some Southern states would leave the Union. Lincoln campaigned on the need to contain slavery in the territories. The Democratic party split at their nominating convention, with Stephen Douglas receiving the support of Northern Democrats and John Breckinridge getting the backing of Southern Democrats. Douglas stated that the slave issue in the territories should be decided by a vote of those residing in each territory; Breckinridge proposed that slavery should be legally protected in the territories. John Bell also received some ex-Whig support as he ran as a candidate of the Constitutional Union party. Lincoln received nearly 40 percent of the popular vote and easily won the Electoral College vote.
To many Southerners, the election was an insult. A man had been elected president who virtually no one in the South had voted for. Since free states outnumbered slave states, it was only natural that their representatives would dominate Congress and the Electoral College. Lincoln had repeatedly stated that the Republicans had no interest in disturbing slavery in the South, but many Southerners did not believe him.
South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union on December 20, 1860. In the next six weeks, legislatures in Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana all voted to do the same. Representatives of these seven states met in February 1861 to create the Confederate States of America, with former moderate Jefferson Davis elected as president. The only question remaining was where and when the first shots between the North and the South would actually be fired.
CHAPTER REVIEW
To achieve the perfect 5, you should be able to explain the following:
~The concept of manifest destiny spurred American expansion into Texas and the far West.
~American settlers much more loyal to the United States than to Mexico entered Texas in large numbers and encouraged Texas to break away from Mexico and eventually become an American state.
~The issue of slavery in the territories came to dominate American political debate more and more in the 1840s and 1850s.
~California entered the Union as a free state under the Missouri Compromise, upsetting the balance between free and slave states and intensifying the conflict between them.
~The Kansas-Nebraska Act created violence in these territories as they "decided" on whether they would be slave or free; both abolitionists and pro-slavery forces shipped in supporters to help sway the elections in these territories.
~The Dred Scott decision only intensified tensions between the North and the South.
~The election of 1860 was seen as an insult to many in the South, and after its results were announced, the secession of Southern states from the Union was inevitable.
Time Line
1836: Texas territory rebels against Mexico; independent Republic of Texas created
1841: Beginning of expansion into Oregon territory
1844: James K. Polk elected president
1845: Texas becomes a state of the United States
1846: Oregon Treaty with Britain gives most of Oregon to United States / War with Mexico begins / Wilmot Proviso passed
1848: Gold discovered in California; beginning of California gold rush / Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo / Formation of Free-Soil party / Zachary Taylor elected president
1850: Passage of Compromise of 1850
1852: Franklin Pierce elected president / Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe published
1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act passed / Formation of the Republican party
1856: Democrat James Buchanan elected president / "Bleeding Kansas"
1857: Dred Scott decision announced
1858: Lincoln-Douglas debates / Freeport Doctrine issued by Stephen Douglas
1859: Harper's Ferry rail of John Brown
1860: Abraham Lincoln elected president / South Carolina secedes from the Union (December)