Chapter 13-The Impending Crisis Flashcards
(33 cards)
Manifest Destiny
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
Texans & Mexican gov’t
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
Texas Revolution
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.
Texas & Oregon migrations
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
Election of 1844
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
“Fifty-four forty or fight”
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.
causes of Mexican War
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.
opposition to Mexican War
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.
Bear Flag Revolution
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
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
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.
Wilmot Proviso
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.
“popular sovereignty”
Plan which would allow the people of each territory to decide on the status of slavery there.
Free Soil Party
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
Liberty Party
minor political party formed in 1840, early advocate of the abolitionist cause.
Also showed the political passions slavery was creating.
Gold Rush (Impact, signif.)
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.
Personal Liberty Laws
One of the controversies complicating the slave debate. Barred courts and police officers from helping to return runaway slaves to their owners
Compromise of 1850
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.
- California enters Union as a free state
- Popular Sovereignty would determine slavery in Western regions
- DC abolishes the slave trade (not slavery) because it was seen as an unfit practice so close to the capital
- 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)
Ostend Manifesto
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.
Gadsden Purchase
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.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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)
Republican Party
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
Bleeding Kansas
Sequence of violent events involving Free State supporters and slave state supporters and their conflicts that took place in Kansas
- Pro and antislavery people show up in large numbers to vote
- Burning of Lawrence KS, a free-soil town
- Caning of Charles Sumner
- Pottawatomie massacre
John Brown/Pottawatomie
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.
Brooks-Sumner caning
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
