California became a state
Gold discovered in 1848 by James Marshall on the property of Johann
Sutter
International rush toward California in 1849
Population grew enormously over night
Constitution drawn up
Outlawed slavery
South objected to statehood
Henry Clay's compromise(1850)
Omnibus bill
California admitted as a free state
Utah separated from New Mexico and both allowed to decide slavery
issue themselves
Disputed area between Texas and New Mexico given to New Mexico
U.S. pay debts that Texas incurred before annexation
Slavery not to be abolished in DC without the consent of its
residents and the surrounding state of Maryland and then only if the
owners were paid
Slave trading banned in DC
Stricter fugitive slave law
John C. Calhoun spoke against it
Daniel Webster spoke for it
Taylor against it
Zachary Taylor died and Millard Fillmore became president
Fillmore for it
Stephen Douglas
separated the bill
Compromise passed almost in original form
Calhoun died during crisis and within two years Clay and Webster were
dead
Sectional crisis averted temporarily
The Fugitive Slave Law
Slave owners or their agents could seize runaway slaves in any state
Could demand assistance of federal marshals
Any black person could be grabbed as a slave
Judge decided whether truly a slave
Northerners saw as unjust
Highlighted cruelties of slavery
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Highlighted cruelties of slavery and the fugitive slave law
Increased northern desire to abolish law
Franklin Pierce elected president in 1852
Weak ineffective president
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Popular Sovereignty
Stephen Douglas
Repealed Missouri Compromise and left slavery issue up to the voters in
those territories
Douglas wanted to run railroad through territory but needed support of
southern senators
Caused outrage in North
Mini Civil War in Kansas
Senator Charles Sumner(Mass.) was beaten by Rep. Preston Brooks(SC) because
of anti slavery comments
New parties developed
Whigs gone
Know-Nothing Party
Anti immigrant party
Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner
Secretive
"Know Nothing"
Responding to massive wave of immigration between 1845 and 1853 from
Scandinavia, Germany, and mostly Ireland
Potato famine
Became known as the American Party in 1856 and nominated Millard
Fillmore
Republican-1854
Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti slavery Democrats
Northern
Bar slavery from all territories
Higher wages for labor
Transcontinental railroad
High tariff
Election of 1856
James Buchanan
Democrat
John Freemont
Republican
Democrats won on popular sovereignty platform but Republicans did very
well
Buchanan-45%
Freemont-33%
Fillmore-22%
Dred Scott v. Sanford(1857)
Blacks were not citizens
A slave was still a slave even if taken into a free state
Angered the North, pleased the South
The Depression of 1857
Hurt the North more than the South
South blamed the North for causing it
North resented the South having slaves to help them through it
The Lincoln/Douglas Debates
1858
Senator from Illinois
Spread of slavery to the territories was the main issue
Abraham Lincoln-against it
Stephen Douglas-popular sovereignty
Freeport Doctrine
Lincoln forced Douglas to admit that slavery could not exist in areas
that did not have laws to support it no matter what the Supreme Court said
Popular Sovereignty was inconsistent with the Dred Scott decision
Douglas won the election but lost the support of the South
Lincoln was thrust onto the national scene
John Brown's raid
1859
Captured federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry
Hoped to start a massive slave revolt
Colonel Robert E. Lee led the federal troops that captured Brown and his
men after two days
Brown was tried and hanged
Divided the nation even more
Election of 1860
John C. Breckinridge
Southern Democrat
Vice President
Dred Scott decision
Stephen Douglas
Northern Democrat
Popular Sovereignty
Abraham Lincoln
Republican
No slavery in the territories
Won the election
Confederacy formed
Six weeks after election SC seceded
Miss., Fla., Ala., Ga., La., and Tex. followed
Met in Feb. 1861 in Montgomery, Ala. and formed the Confederate States of
America
President Jefferson Davis
Constitution resembled U.S. except:
Each state was sovereign and independent
Right to own slaves was guaranteed
Confederates began occupying federal buildings in the South
Buchanan did nothing
