Lewis Cass, the Father of Popular Sovereignty

Popular Sovereignty was the belief that the people of a territory would decide issue of slavery for themselves (democratic tradition…but not to abolitionist)

Whig Zachary Taylor defeated Democrat Lewis Cass and Free Soilier

Martin Van Buren

“Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men”

Party contained abolitionist and Conscience Whigs

First time isthmus canal discussed

The richest story ever told,Is California’s rush for gold,At Sutter’s Mill the gold was foundThe masses came from all aroundThey left lives at home, to try out being minersNamed for the year, they were called forty-ninersHundreds of thousands had rushed to the siteThey all saw gold nuggets, and wanted a bite!Half came by the land, and the rest came by seaFor riches untold and some prosperityFrom countries like Mexico, Chile, PeruThen China and Britain and even France too

At first they were profiting, fortunes galoreCompared to back east they made fifteen times more!

The economy saw what was known as a boomThere was wealth to be found in a shop or saloon

But as the time passed gold was harder to findMore people had come, and more land had been mined

The average prospector did not make out wellLiving was costly without gold to sell

Gold mining companies learned to surviveAnd only they stood by eighteen fifty-five

Gold is worth money, and it’s fine decorationBut during the gold rush, it helped shape a nation

• AKA: Araminta Ross • As a nursemaid for a small

baby. Ross had to stay awake all night so that the baby would not cry and wake the mother.

• If Ross fell asleep, the baby's mother whipped her. From a very young age, Ross was determined to gain her freedom.

• Once she refused to help in the punishment of another young slave.

• When the young man started to run away, the overseer picked up a heavy iron weight and threw it at him.

• He missed the young man and hit Ross instead. The weight nearly crushed her skull and left a deep scar. She was unconscious for days, and suffered from seizures for the rest of her life.

She also changed her name to Harriet Tubman when she married.

In 1849, worried that she and the other slaves on the plantation were going to be sold, Tubman decided to run away.

When everone aboandoned her, she continued on and reached Philadelphia.

There she found work as a household servant and saved her money so she could return to help others escape.

She became known as the "Moses of her people."

Over the course of 10 years she led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses where runaway slaves could stay on their journey north to freedom.

She later became a leader in the abolitionist movement

During the Civil War she was a spy for the federal forces in South Carolina as well as a nurse.

• Texas boarder issues (how far southwest was border ?)

• California ready for statehood as a result of Gold Rush

• Utah and New Mexico ready for territory status

• Balance of power issues• Abolitionist want slavery

in DC eliminated• Underground Railroad

upsets South• Stronger Fugitive Slave

Law demanded by South

Constructed by The Great Compromiser Henry Clay, The Little Giant Stephen Douglas, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun….It was the twilight of the Senatorial Giants

Until 1850, there were equal numbers of slave and free states in the United States. It was divided into several parts:

Compromise of 18501)California enters the Union as a free state 2) Utah and New Mexico Territories are opened to slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty (i.e., territorial voters decide the issue) 3) Slave trade (but not slavery) was abolished in Washington D.C. 4) stricter fugitive slave law that required Northerners to return escaped slaves to their owners 5) Texas gave up some land for 10 million dollars from federal government

• President Taylor died. He had fallen in line with “higher order” abolitionist like Senator William H. Seward of New York. New President was Millard Fillmore, he supported the Compromise measure.

• “Fire-eater” convention of 1850 in Nashville Tennessee discredited

Resolution from Nashville Convention

Northerners view it as “Bloodhound Bill” or “Man Stealing Bill”

Northern states pass “Personal Liberty Laws”

to avoid enforcement

of Fugitive Slave Law.

• Democrats nominate Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. Platform endorsed Compromise of 1850

• Whigs nominate Winfield Scott, also endorsed Compromise of 1850. “Finality Whigs” of Georgia did not accept Scott and cast ballots for Daniel Webster

• Free Soil Candidate John P. Hale siphoned votes from Scott in the North

• Whig party died out, choking to death on Compromise of 1850, legacy of Whig party was that it kept Union together for a number of years Franklin Pierce won election

• President Pierce was a “Young America” expansionist whose cabinet was full of southerners, including Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederacy

• Failed expedition of William Walker to secure Nicaragua as slave territory

• Ostend Manifesto (scheme of Pierce administration to buy Cuba from Spain and divide into slave states)

• Abolitionists stopped the attempts President Franklin Pierce

Treaty of Wanghia secured trade rights for America

with China in 1844 Commodore Matthew

Perry opens Japan to trade with Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854

European Powers and America begin to “carve out” trading rights in Asia…..leads to “big stuff” in 20th century

Southwestern tip of land purchased (negotiated by James Gadsden) for land to construct a Railroad (southern Pacific Railroad)

Proposed by Little Giant Stephen Douglas (to counter Southern Railroad of Gadsden Purchase)

Create territories of Kansas and Nebraska with concept of popular sovereignty to decide issue of slavery

• Northerners outraged by “Nebrascals” and repeal of 36-30 line.

• Southerners (fire-eaters) outraged that northerners now enforce stronger Fugitive Slave Law

• Republican Party born (Conscience Whigs,

Free- Soilers, Know-Nothings, foes of Kansas Nebraska Act join)

• Democratic Party being split between Northern and Southern parts