HIST 1483 1st Edition Lecture 20Outline of Last LectureI. The Tran-Mississippi WestII. Martin Van BurenIII. John TylerIV. Clicker QuestionsOutline of Current LectureI. Gold RushII. DisunionIII. Zachary TaylorIV. Fugitive Slave LawV. Clicker QuestionsCurrent LectureI. Gold RushA. In January 1848, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, gold is discovered1. Within a year, CA’s population goes from about 13,000 to 100,000B. California was a problem because it required overland migration1. U.S. Mexican War is occurring, Brigham Young is leading thousands of Latter Day Saints across the Great Plains into the Great Basin, people are rushing to the west coast for goldII. DisunionA. Begins during the U.S. Mexican WarB. “Impending crisis of the Union”C. 3 Elements of Political Failure in the 1850s1. Moral issuesi. Divide the public, defy political solutions, no compromiseii. Wilmot Provisoa. Wilmot tried to amend an appropriation bill for the war effort that’d prohibit slavery in all of the territories that may be gained from Mexico as a by-product of the war(1) Not an abolitionist even though he’s against slaveryThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.(i) Only wanted to protect the rights of white men as laborers from the competition from slavery (ii) Wanted to confine black people to the southb. Both parties avoided the issue in their campaign platforms(1) Lewis Cass(i) Anti-Wilmot Democrat, not trying to antagonize the south(ii) His solution: popular sovereignty(a) Idea that the people in each territory should be able to settle the question of slavery themselves; leave congress out of it- Would this even work? The states would have to apply for statehood eventually, wouldn’t the issue have to be addressed then?(2) Whigs(i) Followed their military hero formula and nominated Zachary Taylor(a) Hero for the U.S. Mexican War(b) Slave owner, but part of the anti-slavery party- This helped keep southerners in the party(c) He won the election and then died, just like Harrison(3) Free Soil Party(i) Nominated Martin Van Buren(ii) Members of both parties who refused to ignore the slavery question(iii) Supported by Van Buren Democrats, Northerners who supported the Wilmot Proviso, “Conscious Whigs”, supported of the Federal Homestead Actiii. Passed in the House, blocked in the Senatea. Southern Democrats against the measure, northern Whigs and northern Democrats for the measure2. Geographical divisioni. Makes it easy for people to divide over issues3. Weak, opportunistic leadershipIII. Zachary TaylorA. No political experience, not really familiar with the issuesB. Sought to rise above the sectional controversyC. Wanted to appoint members from the North and the South in an effort to keep them togetherD. Mexican Cession loomed over his presidency1. Issue of what to do with the newly acquired territories from Mexico2. Boundaries of NM were in disputei. Especially that with TX because Texans claimed that their boundary went all the way to the Rio Grande and New Mexicans disagreed because they’d always been in that areaa. TX unsuccessfully invaded NM before the U.S. Mexican War3. Congress couldn’t deal with the crisisi. CA and NW weren’t given any political organizationa. Chaos, minor organizations, close to anarchy, saloons and gambling commonii. Taylor’s solution:a. Encourage New Mexicans and Californians to draw up their own constitutionsand submit them directly to Congress for admission as states, by passing the territorial questionsb. If you apply directly for statehood and you’re granted it, you can decide on the issue of slavery yourselfc. This set the stage for a very bitter sectional debate(1) Almost resulted in war(2) South refused to admit the 2 free states and southern senators wouldn’t allow them statehood(i) 4 potential solutions(a) Extend the Missouri Compromise all the way to the Pacific(b) Popular sovereignty- Supported by north and south- Delay the decision… let the states decide now but ultimately Congress would have to choose(c) Adopt the Wilmot Proviso- They could not have slavery- Mostly abolitionists(d) Protect slavery in all of the territories- Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, denied that Congress could outlaw slavery- Ban on slavery in the territories was discrimination against slaveholders who might want to settle in the areaE. Slavery also a big issue under his presidency1. Especially in the District of Columbia2. Absence of a fugitive slave law in the northi. Underground Railroad further exacerbated the issuea. Network of sympathetic people who assisted escaping slaves to the north3. The South threatened to leave the Union unless slavery was allowed in their states4. In December of 1849, Congress convened and their only hope was compromisei. January of 1850, new Congress meets (many old members left and new ones joined) and Henry Clay makes a proposal that Congress struggled with for 8 monthsa. California be admitted as a free state(1) Ironically Indian and Chinese women were slaves in CAb. Utah and NM be admitted as territories without any restrictions on slavery(1) Utah’s population boomed because of Brighamc. TX would have to relinquish its claim on NM and the federal government would assume TX’s unpaid debtsd. Congress would enact astringent fugitive slave lawe. Slavery would be allowed in D.C. but the slave trade was prohibitedii. Calhoun offered a response to Claya. Only way to save the union was to stop arguing about slavery, return all the runaway slaves, grant the south equal rights to the western territoriesb. Also demanded a constitutional amendment to protect the minority rights of the Southc. He threatened secessioniii. Webster changed his positiona. Gave the Seventh of March speechb. Wanted to preserve the union’c. He was anti-slavery but now wanted compromise(1) Insisted the North could afford to be generous and geography ensured that slavery would never be profitable in these territories(2) Also said there was no such thing as peaceful secession(3) Reassured the south that compromise was still possibleiv. Many Whigs and Taylor still opposed compromise but Taylor died and Fillmore took overa. Fillmore supported the compromiseb. Douglas made the decision for Congress(1) Broke it down into individual proposals called the Compromise of 1850 and won support from Whigs and Democrats (i) California was free(ii) Utah and