CHAPTER 2, SECTION 4

Manifest Destiny and Crisis “I must walk toward Oregon, and not Europe. And that way the nation is moving, And I may say that mankind progresses from east to west.” – Henry David Thoreau Manifest Destiny

 Big Ideas:  America’s quest for a continental nation meant acquiring land already claimed by other nations.  As new states emerged, the North and South wrangled over the spread of slavery. Manifest Destiny

 Manifest Destiny:  Americans believed that the United States had a God-given right to spread across the whole continent. Texas & Oregon

 Oregon:  James K. Polk ran for president on the promise to annex Texas as well as the Oregon Territory.  Polk won, and in 1845 Congress voted to annex Texas.  Six months later, US & Britain agreed to split the Oregon Territory along the 49th parallel.  The land gained from Britain became Washington, Oregon, & Idaho War With Mexico

 Bullets started flying between Mexican and US soldiers when General Zachary Taylor moved troops into the disputed border with Mexico. Congress responded “I, Stephen W. Kearny, by declaring war. General of the Army of  Polk sent General Kearney to the United States, have seize California. taken possession of the  General Winfield Scott was province of New Mexico. sent to take Mexico City. Surrender absolutely. I am your governor. Look to me for protection.” War With Mexico  General Winfield Scott (Old Fuss-n-Feathers) captured Mexico City in 1847.  The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the US more than 500,000 square miles of land in return for a payment of $15 million and the assumption of $3 million in Mexican debt. Manifest Destiny

 Big Ideas:  As new states emerged, sectionalism began to increase between the North and South over which states would be free-states and which would be slave-states.  More Compromises were made to prevent the Union from falling apart. Slavery & Westward Expansion

 The Impact of War With Mexico:  Legislators from free and slave states argued over which territories could become slave states. Slavery & Westward Expansion

 Senator Cass of Michigan proposed a compromise.  Let the citizens of each new territory decide for themselves. This idea came to be called the popular sovereignty solution. Slavery & Westward Expansion

 Struggle for Compromise:  In 1849 over 80,000 “Forty- Niners” rushed to California in search of gold.  Californians applied for statehood as a free state.  Once again the South threatened to leave the union.

The Fugitive Slave Act  Henry Clay proposed the Compromise of 1850.  California would be a free- state and Congress passed a law to help southerners recover runaway slaves.  The Fugitive Slave Act:  Northerners were upset that they were being forced to allow slave-catchers in their states, and abolitionists vowed to defy the law. The Fugitive Slave Act

 One of the ways the law was defied was through the Underground Railroad which helped slaves escape the South.  “Conductors” such as Harriet Tubman journeyed into slave states to assist escapees.

New Territorial Troubles

 Kansas-Nebraska Act:  The proposed transcontinental railroad was set to pass through the Nebraska Territory, but it was north of the Missouri Compromise line. So Southerners would not approve of the route.  Again the South threatened to secede.  A new compromise was reached: The Kansas- Nebraska Act -  The territory would be divided into two states:  Nebraska –free  Kansas –slave The Crisis Deepens

 Big Ideas:  Opponents of slavery were tired of making compromises.  Some people responded to growing division with violence while others sought a political solution. “Has it come to this, that we must speak with bated breath in the presence of our Southern masters? ... Are we to be chastised as they chastise their slaves? Are we too, slaves, slaves for life, a target for their brutal blows, when we do not comport ourselves to please them?” – William Cullen Bryant: NY Evening Post, The Crisis Deepens

 Northerners flooded into Kansas creating an antislavery majority.  Thousands of armed Missourians marched into Kansas to vote illegally and succeeded in installing a proslavery legislature.  Both sides fought each other in what was a preview of the Civil War.  The sides fought each other for control earning the new state the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.” The Crisis Deepens  Sectional Divisions Grow:  Just days after Buchanan was elected president, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a captured runaway slave, had no right to sue for his freedom because black people were not citizens.  Chief Justice Roger B. Taney “Any person descended also ruled that Congress did from Africans, whether slave or free, is not a not have the power to restrict citizen of the United slavery, striking down the States, according to the Missouri Compromise. Constitution.” – Chief Justice Taney The Crisis Deepens  John Brown’s Raid:  John Brown was an antislavery abolitionist who chose to respond to injustice with violence of his own.  In 1859 Brown raided a federal weapons arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  His plan was to arm the slaves of Virginia and begin an insurrection.  Colonel Robert E. Lee and a contingent of US Marines captured Brown before he could carry out his plan. The Crisis Deepens

 John Brown was sentenced to death by a Virginia court.  Northerners viewed John Brown as a martyr for a noble “He is Old Brown cause. no longer.  For Southerners, it was He is an angel of light.” – Henry proof that Northerners were David Thoreau actively plotting to arm slaves and murder slave owners. “Defend yourselves! The enemy is at your door!” – Georgia senator Robert Toombs