Chapter 13 a : the Crisis of Union, 1844-1850Expanded Timeline

Chapter 13 a : The Crisis of Union, 1844-1850Expanded Timeline

1836Texas proclaims independence from Mexico

Thousands of American settlers who had settled in Texas fought a brief but bloody rebellion against Mexico and declared their independence as the Republic of Texas. Though the Republic sought annexation to the United States right away, it would not occur for nine years.

1842Overland migration to Oregon begins

Many Americans, inspired by the dream of a continental nation, migrated across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to the fertile lands of Oregon. The American presence in the territory increasingly necessitated a clarification of the ownership of Oregon and its boundary with Canada.

1844 Fate of Texas and Oregon dominate presidential election

Because many northerners were being expansionist by calling for the ousting of the British from Oregon, southerners believed they could now pursue an expansionist policy to annex Texas without being concerned about sectional discord. James K. Polk supported both, but by forcing through the annexation of Texas, set off a sectional dispute over slavery.

1845 John O' Sullivan coins term Manifest Destiny

Many Americans began to express expansionist dreams, supported by a sense of cultural and racial superiority, that the AmericanRepublic should expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. These dreams were supported simply by the belief that such expansion was the obvious, or manifest, destiny of the Republic. The phrase Manifest Destiny, coined by a New York journalist, stuck..

Texas admitted to Union as slave state

Encouraged by his election in 1844, James K. Polk, a Democrat, pursued Democratic policy in favor of annexation of Texas. Unable to acquire the needed two thirds majority in Congress, Democrats passed the annexation as a joint resolution. The annexation of Texas brought the divisive issue of slavery to the national level.

John Slidell's diplomatic mission to Mexico fails

Following his successful annexation of Texas, Polk's pursued his ambition to further enlarge the American republic by pursuing various strategies to acquire New Mexico and California. Polk sent John Slidell on a secret mission to purchase the territories from Mexico, but really hoped that a Mexican response would trigger a war. The Mexicans obliged not only by refusing Slidell’s offer, but also by declaring the annexation of Texas illegal. Polk then had American forces build a fort on the Rio Grande to provoke a military response. Again, the Mexicans obliged by attacking American forces.

1846United States declare war on Mexico

Oregon treaty ratified; 49th parallel becomes boundary

When Slidell's mission failed, Polk fomented rebellion in both New Mexico and California and provoked Mexico to respond militarily, leading to a declaration of war. To avoid a war against Britain at the same time, Polk compromised on his previous insistence that the Oregon border be at 54' 40 and established the Oregon boundary at the 49th parallel.

Walker Tariff lowers duties on imported goods

The rise of free trade encouraged Americans to lower tariffs, thus ending the Whig reliance on this issue to gain political support.

Wilmot Proviso proposes prohibiting slavery in the territories acquired from

Mexico

David Wilmot, a democratic representative from Pennsylvania expressing northern concerns about the impact of adding new territory to the United States added a proposal to the military appropriations bill that slavery be prohibited in the new territories that might be acquired from Mexico. The Proviso became the first antislavery proposal to acquire popular support.

1847Winfield Scott captures Mexico City

After a series of battles in New Mexico and northern Mexico, American forces struck at the heart of Mexico in an invasion that followed the route Hernando Cortés had taken three centuries before. When forces led by Winfield Scott took Mexico City, the Mexicans were compelled to ask for peace.

1848Gold discovered in California

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gives northernmost provinces of Mexico to the United States

Free Soil Party organized

In the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexico ceded New Mexico and California to the United States. While the addition of these new territories to the country raised concerns about the spread of slavery, the discovery of Gold in California triggered a large immigration which, within a year, enabled California to apply for statehood as a free state. California's application touched off major southern concerns about the future of slavery. Meanwhile, northerners opposed to the expansion of slavery coalesced within a one-issue party called the Free Soil Party organized to advocate the prohibition of slavery in the territories. Slavery was becoming the issue that politically divided America.

1850Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay and Daniel Webster tried to defuse the rising tension over slavery through compromise. In a series of legislative acts California was brought into the Union as a free state, the slave trade was abolished in Washington D. C., the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and the territories of New Mexico and Utah were established on the basis of the new concept of popular sovereignty which would allow the people in the territory to decide the issue of whether the territory should be slave or free. Rather than defusingtensions, the compromise raised both sides’ concerns about the future of slavery. Southerners became convinced that northerners wanted to abolish slavery, while northerners believed that Fugitive Slave Act and popular sovereignty undermined Missouri Compromise and would allow slavery to expand wherever it was not prohibited.

Chapter 13 b: The Crisis of Union 1850-1860

1850Compromise of 1850

1851American Know-Nothing Party formed

In response to the immigration of Europeans into the United States, a nativist party, the American Party, evolved out of the political confusion of 1850. Many of its members had been involved in the anti-Catholic, anti-immigration passions of the 1830s and 1840s and sought formally to limit immigration, slow the process of naturalization, and disenfranchise recent immigrants. The party was nicknamed the "Know-Nothing" Party because party members were sworn to secrecy about the party’s activities and some party members, when asked about the party, would reply "I know nothing."

1854Kansas-Nebraska Act

Republican Party formed

Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, desirous of establishing a transcontinental railroad that went west from Chicago, submitted a bill for the organization of a new territory of Nebraska. To placate southerners, he amended the bill to propose dividing the territory in two and allows "popular sovereignty" to determine whether or not slavery would be permitted in the new territories. The Kansas-Nebraska Act polarized the debate over slavery and accelerated the development of the Republican Party, a northern party with a platform of prohibiting slavery in any new territories.

1856 "Bleeding Kansas" undermines popular sovereignty

When opposing sides in Kansas resorted to violence to attempt to gain control over the issue of slavery, the claim that the population of a territory could peacefully decided whether or not to permit slavery, as Stephen Douglas suggested they would do according to his idea of "popular sovereignty," was dealt a serious blow.

1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford allows slavery in territories

Since the Compromise of 1850, northerners had opposed the Fugitive Slave Act in word and deed. When former slave Dred Scott sued his master for freedom, claiming that residency with his master in a free territory freed him, the Supreme Court, led by chief justice Roger B. Taney, ruled that Scott, as a slave, could not sue in federal court. Taney also declared that not only was Scott was still a slave, but that an individual's right of due process prohibited Congress from taking slaves, a form of property, from an owner, and therefore, from making any laws prohibiting slavery in the territories. The decision invalidated all laws prohibiting slavery in the territories back to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and including the Missouri Compromise and made the platform of the Republican party unconstitutional. The Dred Scott decision convinced many northerners that the Republican fear of a conspiracy of "Slave Power" to allow slavery everywhere, was, in fact, valid.

1858James Buchanan backs Lecompton constitution

Lincoln-Douglas debates

James Buchanan's support for Kansas' entrance into the Union as a slave state under a Constitution written by proslavery forces at Lecompton did little to allay northern fears. In famous debates in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln pressed Stephen Douglas on his definition of popular sovereignty and how he could still maintain that settlers had the ability to decide on slavery after Dred Scott. When Douglas suggested that a territory or local government could exclude slavery by simply not passing any legislation to protect it, he antagonized both proslavery forces and abolitionists thus further separating northern and southern Democrats.

1859John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry

To foment a slave rebellion, northern fanatic John Brown attacked the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Valley, Virginia. Seen as a natural extension of Republican policy, a charge Republicans tried to disavow but which some evidence seemed to confirm, the raid increased northern support for the Republican cause. On the other side, it convinced southerners that a Republican victory in the presidential election would mean an attack on slavery.

1860Abraham Lincoln elected president

Pursuing a moderate strategy against a divided Democratic party, Lincoln was elected with a plurality of the popular vote, though a clear majority in the electoral college. What had been feared for many years had come to pass: a party with support in only one region had elected a President. Fearing that Lincoln would pursue a policy directed against the South to abolish slavery, many southerners wondered if they could remain within the Union.