Unit 5.1 Antebellum Presidents Part 1

Unit 5.1 Antebellum Presidents Part 1 I. The Election of 1840 • Whigs nominated Indian war hero “Old Tippecanoe,” William Henry Harrison after Henry ______and Daniel Webster each proved too divisive to win majority support within the party • Harrison easily defeated Democratic incumbent Martin ______under the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” II. William Henry ______(1773 – 1841), Whig • 9th President (1841) • Shortest tenure in U.S. history – president for only 32 days before dying from pneumonia III. John ______(1790 – 1862) • Former Governor of Virginia, as well as a Representative and Senator before being elected Vice-President • Despite being a ______, he chose to run with Harrison on the Whig Party ticket in the 1840 election, making him many political enemies in both parties • Became the first Vice-President to inherit the Presidency upon the death of the President while in office • ______Treaty (1842) • Settled disputes between the U.S. and Britain over the border between the U.S. and Canada around Maine and Minnesota • Annexation of ______• In 1845, Texas was finally admitted to the Union as the 28th state, just as Tyler was leaving office • Mexico was furious over the move and broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. • A dispute quickly arose over where the actual border was between the U.S. and Mexico; the U.S. claimed as far south as the Rio Grande, while Mexico claimed as far north as the Nueces River • A President Without a Party • Outside of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and annexation of Texas, Tyler’s presidency was largely unsuccessful • When Tyler refused to support many Whig initiatives, they kicked him out of the party; when the Democrats refused to take him back into their party, Tyler was left unable to seek a second term • After completing Harrison’s term, Tyler retired into obscurity; he did, however, later become the only former President to join the ______during the Civil War IV. The Election of 1844 • The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who opposed annexing Texas because of slavery and for its potential to cause a war with Mexico • The Democrats chose to run former Governor of Tennessee James K. Polk, who openly supported annexing Texas and formally claiming Oregon, over former President Martin Van Buren who argued against annexing Texas V. James K. ______(1795 – 1849), Democrat • 11th President (1845-49) • Southerner (born in North Carolina and was a UNC graduate), and slave-owner • Nicknamed both “Young Hickory” (for his similarities to “Old Hickory” – Andrew ______) and “Napoleon of the Stump” (for his commanding public speaking skills) • Only former Speaker of the House of Representatives to become President • Made several basic promises in his campaign – he would secure Oregon and California, he would create an independent treasury, he would lower tariffs, and he would serve only one term – he kept all of these campaign promises • Polk’s Financial Achievements • Polk approved the ______Tariff of 1846, which substantially lowered tariff rates – this made him popular in the South and West • That same year, Polk established a national treasury system for holding federal funds in federally owned treasuries, rather than in private or state banks – this effectively reversed the policy of President Jackson to use “______” to hold federal funds and issue currency • Polk’s Cultural Achievements • Oversaw the groundbreaking for construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 • Opened the United States Naval Academy in 1845 • Authorized the U.S. Postal Service to issue postage ______in 1847 • Approved the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846 • Polk’s Bid for California • In 1845, President Polk sent an envoy, John Slidell, to Mexico City with an offer to purchase the Mexican territory of California for $30 million • The U.S. was interested in controlling territory along the Pacific, especially the valuable port of ______, which would make trade with Asia easier • The openly hostile Mexicans, angry over the annexation of Texas, refused to even meet with Slidell and the two nation’s moved towards war • The Mexican War (1846-48) • In response to Mexico’s refusal to receive Slidell, Polk ordered troops under the command of Gen. Zachary ______to secure the Texas border at the Rio Grande • Mexico considered this an invasion of Mexican territory and an act of ______• The Mexican army attacked Taylor’s forces, leading the U.S. to declare war on May 13, 1846 • Treaty of ______• The war lasted for two very bloody years before Mexico finally surrendered after U.S. forces captured Mexico City • The two sides signed the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in February 1848 • Mexico ceded 500,000 sq. miles of territory (California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico): The Mexican Cession • Mexico accepted ______as southern border of Texas • In return, the U.S. paid Mexico $15 million and assumed $3.25 million in debts Mexico owed to American citizens • The ______Territory • The U.S. and Britain had agreed to share the Oregon Territory as part of the Convention of 1818, but by the 1840s, most of the settlers living in the region were Americans • This prompted many Americans to call for the region to become exclusively part of the U.S. • When Britain didn’t seem willing to negotiate, it led Americans to rally behind the slogan “54° 40’ or Fight!” • Annexation of Oregon (June 1846) • In the end, Britain and the U.S. peacefully resolved their dispute over where the boundary should lie between the U.S. and Canada in the Oregon Territory, splitting the region along the 49th degree of latitude • President Polk hoped that adding the ______Oregon Territory would balance the addition of pro-slavery territories in Texas and the Mexican Cession • The Wilmot ______• Proposed in 1846 by Rep. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania; he argued for a complete ban on ______in any new territories the U.S. might acquire from Mexico • Sen. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina countered that the states own U.S. territories in common and Congress holds no authority to ban slavery in the territories • The U.S. Senate refused to vote on the Wilmot Proviso, but its proposal angered slavery supporters across the South • Hardening Attitudes About Slavery • John Calhoun even began to argue that slavery was not a “necessary evil” as had long been the South’s stance, but rather it was a “______” because white slave owners provided care for their slaves and introduced them to Christianity, thereby saving their souls • “______” • Idea proposed by Sen. Lewis Cass of Michigan • Citizens of each new territory should be allowed to decide for themselves on whether to allow slavery there, rather than the federal government making a decision • Cass’s idea became popular because it kept Congress from having to make any decision about slavery • Split in the ______Party • The slavery issue began to divide Whigs from the North into “Conscience Whigs” who opposed slavery and “Cotton Whigs” who supported slavery because Southern cotton fed their northern textile factories • Rise of the ______Party • After pro-slavery Zachary Taylor became the Whig nominee for president in 1848, Conscience Whigs quit the Whig Party and joined themselves with northern anti-slavery Democrats • This new party was called the Free Soil Party (they opposed expanding slavery to the “free soil” of the West). VI. Election of 1848 • Keeping his campaign promise, Polk did not seek a second term (and, in fact, died from cholera just three months after leaving office) • Democratic candidate Lewis ______campaigned on a platform of popular sovereignty and a promise to veto the Wilmot Proviso if it was ever passed • Free Soil candidate Martin ______supported a complete ban on slavery in the new territories of the West • Whig candidate Zachary ______was pro-slavery, but believed to be a moderate on most other issues VII. Zachary Taylor (1784 – 1850), Whig • 12th President (1849–50) • “______” • Slave owner, but believed slavery wouldn’t work in the West because of the ______• A hero of the Mexican War, Taylor had never held an elected office before being elected president • Died in office from an intestinal illness