Popular Sovereignty, Slavery in the Territories, and the South, 1785-1860
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 Popular sovereignty, slavery in the territories, and the South, 1785-1860 Robert Christopher Childers Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Childers, Robert Christopher, "Popular sovereignty, slavery in the territories, and the South, 1785-1860" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1135. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1135 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, AND THE SOUTH, 1785-1860 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Robert Christopher Childers B.S., B.S.E., Emporia State University, 2002 M.A., Emporia State University, 2004 May 2010 For my wife ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing history might seem a solitary task, but in truth it is a collaborative effort. Throughout my experience working on this project, I have engaged with fellow scholars whose help has made my work possible. Numerous archivists aided me in the search for sources. Working in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill gave me access to the letters and writings of southern leaders and common people alike. At the Duke University Libraries, I gained access to one of the premier collections of southern political papers, while visits to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Newberry Library in Chicago, and the Joseph Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago allowed me to search the papers of northerners involved in the making of popular sovereignty. Finally, I reserve special gratitude for Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Barbara DeWolfe, and the staff at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan. A Jacob M. Price Visiting Research Fellowship from the Clements Library allowed me to read the Lewis Cass Papers as well as other key manuscript collections. Louisiana State University has provided me with a superb graduate school experience. In 2006, the LSU Libraries named me editor of Civil War Book Review, giving me the opportunity to work with some of the most prominent historians in the nation while gaining valuable hands- on experience. I thank Faye Phillips, associate dean of libraries, for three unforgettable years as editor of CWBR. The LSU Graduate School awarded me a Graduate School Dissertation-Year Fellowship, allowing me a full year to devote all my efforts to completing my dissertation. My dissertation committee has provided me with sound advice. Gaines M. Foster devoted considerable time to reading my manuscript and helping me to add precision and clarity to the argument. Paul Paskoff has always taken a keen interest in my work, offering his thoughts on my project and guiding me to think of different ways in which to present my findings. iii Andrew Burstein and Charles Royster carefully read the manuscript and offered suggestions on how to improve my work. Family and friends have sustained me in my work. My parents have always supported my choice to pursue an advanced degree in what really is my hobby. My sister, Sarah, perennially provided encouragement and support, even as she embarks on her own career in law enforcement. My two cherished grandmothers always encouraged me to pursue the education that they could not. I met Adam and Jennifer Pratt on my first day at LSU and in the years since they have become close friends. Jennifer has been a constant source of enthusiasm and encouragement, giving me good advice as I wrote my dissertation and making sure I took time out for fun. Adam read and critiqued the entire text even as he worked on his own project. His questions, comments, and advice have made this a better manuscript. Adam is truly a stalwart friend both in and out of the office. I owe my greatest professional debt to William J. Cooper, Jr. He has more than lived up to his reputation as not only one of the finest historians of the Civil War era, but also as a demanding but incredibly supportive major professor. He generously provided research funds, allowing me to visit numerous archives that I otherwise could not have consulted. More importantly, the lessons I learned in his classroom and at his desk as he critiqued my work have taught me what it means to be a historian. I only hope I can live up to the impeccable standard he sets both as a scholar and a person. I owe my greatest personal debt to Leah. We have spent our eight years of marriage in school together. While I studied the coming of the Civil War, she studied mapping class groups, Torelli groups, and a host of other mathematical problems that I do not understand. Leah and I have built a very successful marriage on knowing almost nothing about what the other does for a iv career, and yet we have so much fun together. I guess that for us ignorance is bliss. Here’s to many, many more years of bliss, my wife! I have benefited immensely from the aid and assistance of colleagues, friends, and family, but they, of course, are not responsible for any of the shortcomings in the following pages. This is my work and I accept full responsibility for it. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF MAPS ............................................................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. viii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 SLAVERY AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN THE EARLY AMERICAN TERRITORIES.....................................................................................................................11 2 “SHALL THE CREATURE GOVERN THE CREATOR”? THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE AND TERRITORIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT .......................................53 3 SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES AFTER THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE .........98 4 “A FIT OF CONVULSIONS”: THE WILMOT PROVISO AND SLAVERY IN THE WEST .................................................................................................................................139 5 TERRITORIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT AND THE ELECTION OF 1848 ................179 6 SLAVERY AND SELF GOVERNMENT IN THE MEXICAN CESSION: THE CRISIS OF 1849 AND THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 .................................................................221 7 “A RECURRENCE TO FIRST PRINCIPLES”: KANSAS-NEBRASKA AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY AS NATIONAL POLICY..........266 8 THE SOUTHERN CRITIQUE OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY IN KANSAS..........310 EPILOGUE: THE DEMISE OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.........................................355 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................364 VITA............................................................................................................................................378 vi LIST OF MAPS 1. The United States, 1783-1803....................................................................................................24 2. The Missouri Compromise, 1820 ..............................................................................................84 3. Compromise of 1850................................................................................................................262 4. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854..............................................................................................298 vii ABSTRACT The doctrine of popular sovereignty emerged as a potential solution to the crisis over slavery in the territories because it removed the issue from the halls of Congress. Most historians have focused on its development and implementation beginning in the late 1840s and culminating with passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, but have not recognized its significance in earlier debates over slavery. Popular sovereignty, which took various forms and received different definitions, appeared as a potential solution to the problem of slavery extension as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century when settlers in the Louisiana Purchase and the Old Northwest demanded the right to govern their own domestic institutions. This work charts its development beginning with the earliest debates over the extension of slavery in the territories and traces its place in political discussions until the breakup of the Union. Focusing on the idea of popular sovereignty illustrates how Americans perceived democracy and democratic institutions, specifically the division of power between states and the federal government. The issue of slavery in the territories became a flash point in the debate over the nature of the Union in the earliest years of the republic; it persisted to the coming of the Civil War. The