Chapter 14 Notes

I. Slavery in the Mexican Cession

A. Three possible solutions
1. Extend Missouri Compromise Line (36°30’)
2. Texas for slaveholders, CA and NM territories for free-soilers (Wilmot Proviso)
3. Popular sovereignty

B. Taylor’s Position
1. CA and NM “unsuitable” for slavery.
2. Disagreed with Calhoun’s assertion that keeping slavery entailed its expansion
3. Knowing that CA and NM had a majority of Free-Soilers, he proposed a popular sovereignty solution
4. His solution was intended to appease Southerners who viewed federal barring of slavery as unconstitutional
5. Southerners, however, were angered because the outcome would be the same as that proposed by Wilmot Proviso

C. Clay’s Compromise (Compromise of 1850)
1. Admit CA as free state
2. Split NM territory into two states (Utah and New Mexico) without federal restrictions on slavery.
3. Settle Texas/NM border dispute in favor of NM
4. Appease Texas by having Feds pay its public debt
5. Continue slavery in DC but get rid of slave trade within (no selling or buying in city limits)
6. Improve fugitive slave law- make it tougher for slaves to escape
7. Clay’s proposal was controversial. Clay and Webster argued tirelessly in its favor but met resistance from Calhoun and Southern followers
8. Disagreement between Clay and President Taylor appeared to doom Clay’s proposal
9. However, Taylor dies on July 9th 1850 and was replaced by VP Fillmore who appointed Webster as his Secretary of State (Webster and Clay were allied in favor)
10. Democratic Senator Douglas split Clay’s proposal into separate bills, which all passed and jointly became known as the Compromise of 1850

D. Repercussions of the Compromise
1. While meant to solve sectional differences, voting in Congress had occurred along sectional lines
2. Passed because conciliatory members voted with the majority on the various bills
3. North clearly gained- CA as free state, NM and Utah as likely free states, settlement of NM/TX border in NM’s favor and abolition of slave trade in DC
4. South gained the end of federal prohibition of slavery in territories and the principle that states had the right to choose by voting
5. Split southerners into pro-compromise Unionists and anti-compromise secessionists
6. Fugitive slave law appeared to be major victory for the south


II. The Slavery Debate Intensifies

A. Fugitive Slave Act
1. Alleged fugitives denied trial by jury and right to testify on own behalf
2. Fugitives to be returned to slavery based only on claimant’s testimony, county appointed commissioners received $10 for ruling in favor of the claimant but only $5 if ruling in favor of alleged fugitive
3. Viewed by the North as the cost of keeping the Union together
4. Having slave-catchers on Northern soil galvanized northern anti-slavery sentiment
5. To undermine the law, committees were formed to take fugitives to Canada, lawyers lengthened proceeding in order to increase slave catcher’s expenses, some states passed “personal-liberty laws” that forbade the use of state jails for the incarceration of fugitives
6. Viewing the North as betraying the compromise of 1850, southerners became more entrenched and united in their opposition against the north

B. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in protest of the Fugitive Slave Act
2. Super-best seller published in 1852
3. Almost all northerners read or viewed a theatrical version.
4. Thought clearly anti-slavery, it reinforced racist views of darker-skinned blacks as stupid and more submissive than lighter-skinned ones
5. It had a massive impact on northern attitude toward northern slavery

C. Election of 1852
1. Whig Party deeply fragmented, as its northern members were becoming staunch abolitionists
2. Southern Whigs attempted to sell the party as pro-slavery and pro-union
3. Whigs nominated Winfield Scott because he was a war hero and Virginian
4. Democrats nominated dark-horse Franklin Pierce of NH who supported slavery
5. Democrats rallied both Northerners and Southerners around the Compromise and the idea of popular sovereignty in the territories. (And renewed quest for manifest destiny in the Caribbean and South America)
6. Pierce won by the widest margin since Election of 1820

III. The Whigs’ Undoing

A. Kansas-Nebraska Act
1. Masterminded by Democrat Stephen Douglas, an ardent expansionist who was trying to build a railroad from Chicago to San Francisco.
2. Proposed the organization of northern Midwest as a territory
3. Because the entire area was about the Missouri Compromise Line, Douglas understood that there would be Southern Opposition
4. To gain Southern support, Douglas explicitly stated that the Nebraska bill would apply the Compromise of 1850’s popular sovereignty to the issue of slavery. Moreover, he contended that the Missouri Compromise was no longer valid.
5. The territory was split into two (Nebraska and Kansas). It was tacitly understood that Kansas would be a slave state and Nebraska would be free.
6. Opposed to the spread of Slavery into Kansas, no Northern Whigs voted in favor of the bill. Whigs were increasingly a regional rather than a National party
7. The bill passed with Congressional support from all Southern legislators (Whigs and Democrats) and half the Northern Democrats

B. Free Soil Rising
1. Some opposed slavery on moral grounds
2. Some opposed it for racist reasons and proposed returning blacks to Africa
3. Most agreed that slavery impeded the progress of whites and were concerned that slavery could spread anywhere without the limits imposed by the Missouri compromise
4. The Kansas-Nebraska galvanized free-soilers (thus further splitting the Whig Party)

C. Manifest Destiny Stalls
1. Gadsden Purchase- the purchase of a strip of land in modern day southern Arizona
2. Acquisition was favored by proponents of a southern railroad to California so it was disputed by free-soilers (who believed that a southern conspiracy dominated the govt)
3. Expansion into Caribbean- proposed invasion of Cuba and Central America. Delineated by the secret Ostend Manifesto (drafted by US ambassadors to Spain, France and GB)
4. American adventurer William Walker actually led a paramilitary group that disrupted Central America (filibuster- illegal attempt at colonization)
5. Viewed as another Southern conspiracy to expand slave territory. Pres. Pierce was forced to back off his Manifest Destiny plan of purchasing/invading Cuba (aaah slavocracy!!)

D. Party Chaos
1. Democrats declined in the North due to Douglas pushing through the Kansas-Nebraska Act then declined in the South when Douglas did no back Kansas’ Lecompton Constitution
2. Whig party fragmented as Southern Whigs had backed Douglas while northern free-soil Whigs had opposed him. Whig free-soilers sought out a new party (first the Know-nothings, eventually the Republicans)
3. Antislavery Democrats also looked for new party (eventually Republicans)
4. Briefly, the Know-Nothing (American) Party benefited from the free-soiler dissatisfaction with both parties. However, when Know-Nothings placed acceptance of Kansas Nebraska Act on their platform in 1855, the party collapsed.
5. Out of the turmoil, the Republican Party with its clearly free-soil (and, to some extent, abolitionist agenda) gained prominence


IV. Key events in the collapse of the union

A. Bleeding Kansas
1. Missouri pro-slaver group “steals” elections
2. Lecompton & Topeka govts
3. Sack of Lawrence
4. Pottawatomie Massacre
5. Lecompton constitution controversy
6. Kansas backs out of statehood

B. Dred Scott Decision (1857)
1. Blacks (free and slave) cannot be citizens
2. Slaves property everywhere
3. Missouri compromise unconstitutional
4. Rise of ‘slaveocracy’ conspiracy theory

C. Lincoln-Douglas debates
1. Illinois Senate race had national coverage
2. Lincoln’s free-soil vs. Douglas’ popular sovereignty
3. Lincoln’s ‘House Divided’ speech denounces slavery as “a moral, social, and political evil”
4. Douglas portrays Lincoln as an abolitionist bent on equality of the races
5. Lincoln finally takes stand against abolition and equality but for stopping the spread of slavery.
6. Douglas wins by a narrow margin despite Illinois racist sentiment

D. Harper’s Ferry
1. John Brown’s failed attempt to start a slave uprising in Virginia
2. Brown was put to death and became a martyr for the abolitionist cause
3. Southerners perceived a northern conspiracy


V. Election of 1860

A. Sectionalization of the Democrats
1. Upset over the democratic Party’s refusal to explicitly add federal protection of slavery in the territories to the platform and Douglas’ opposition to the Lecompton Constitution, Southern Democrats decided to nominate their own candidate- John Breckinridge of Kentucky
2. Breckinridge went on to win all states of the Lower South
3. Douglas won only Missouri and lost all the north and western states to the republicans

B. The Constitutional Union Party
1. Chose John Bell as their nominee for president
2. Represented pro-union, Southern Whigs
3. Took no position on the extension of slavery
4. Won a few states in the Upper South

C. The Victorious Republicans
1. Chose Lincoln because he was more moderate than Seward of NY
2. Platform included more than just “free-soil” Protective tariffs to gain vital support in Pennsylvania, Federal aid for internal improvements as well as free land for Western settlers essential in winning Western Support
3. Lincoln won a convincing victory-took all northern states and most of the western ones, winning the electoral vote in a landslide. Had only 40% of popular vote

D. Lincoln’s Victory and Southern Secession
1. Southerners viewed Lincoln as a radical abolitionist and did not trust him to keep his promise of leaving slavery intact in the South
2. Still thinking of Harper’s Ferry, his election provoked mass hysteria in the South about a Northern abolitionist conspiracy
3. Before Lincoln’s inauguration, seven of the Lower Southern States seceded, beginning (predictably) with South Carolina.
4. Attempts at compromise were made by Moderated Kentuckian, John Crittenden, who proposed renewal of the Missouri Compromise line, compensation for runaway slaves, and a Constitutional amendment to preserve Southern slavery (Corwin Amendment) (Lincoln was ok with that). Feeling confident after a victory, Republicans refused the proposal
5. Upper Southern states that had closer economic ties with the North and feared that a war would be fought mostly on their soil stayed in the Union (until after the Confederacy attacked Ft. Sumter)
6. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President of the Confederacy in February 1861
7. When Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861, he promised to defend federal installations (mostly forts) in the states that had seceded. This set up the Confederate attack on Ft. Sumter on April 12, 1861.

I. The Great Immigration Wave (1815-1860)

A. Basic Facts
1. 5 million European immigrants between 1815-1860, 3 million of whom arrived between 1845-1854
2. Largest immigration wave relative to total population
3. ¾ of immigrants were from Ireland and Germany, the remainder from Norway, Sweden, Holland and Switzerland

B. Reasons for immigration
1. Economic opportunity/necessity (however, reality often fell short of expectation)
2. Religious Freedom (especially for Norwegian Quakers, British Mormons, Irish Catholics

C. Difficulties of Immigration
1. Expensive (sometimes false) tickets and unreliable ship schedules
2. Immigrants travelled in crowded and unclean steerage or cargo areas of ships
3. Cheap US farmland tended to be in isolated and dangerous locations
4. Hazardous, backbreaking wage labour (construction, building canals/railroads, iron foundries, coal mining)
5. Discrimination by American ‘Natives’

D. German immigrants
1. Diverse Groups- from different German kingdoms, from a variety of socioeconomic levels, as well as practitioners of various religions- Catholics, Lutherans, and Jewish
2. Though most had been farmers, many had been professionals, artisans, and tradesmen
3. Tended to move to the Upper Midwest where land was fertile and still cheap
4. Formed tight knit communities and maintained language (created their own schools, professional organizations, newspapers)
5. Self-sufficient communities were possible because German immigrants practiced all the necessary trades/professions
6. Resented by mainstream culture for their economic success, clannishness, and language

E. Irish Immigrants
1. First immigration wave was spurred by Irish veterans of War of 1812 who reported positively on American opportunities
2. Initially immigrants were small Protestant landowners and trades people
3. Potato famine (1845-1853) prompted 1.8 million Irish to come to the US and escape starvation
4. By the 1850’s most Irish immigrants were poor and Catholic
5. Most couldn’t afford to go west and stayed in large East Coast urban centres
6. Men dug cellars, canals, and railroad bed; women were often household servants or worked in textile mills
7. Some Irish managed to work their way into the middle class (becoming foremen in iron foundries/coal mines or opening grocery, liquor stores and bars)
8. Because most Irish worked as unskilled labourers, the tended to oppose abolition for fear of African American competition for jobs

F. Nativist Reactions
1. Anti-Catholicism sometimes lead to violent confrontations such as the ‘Bible Riots’
2. Spurred by anti-Catholicism, political organizations arose and culminated in the creation or the American (“know-nothing”) Party
3. Protestant workers and artisans who increasingly viewed the Irish as competition began to join nativist societies. This created a political split in the northern antebellum working class (immigrants generally joined the Democrats whereas “natives” tended toward the Whigs or Know-Nothings)
4. Immigrant power
a. Irish often joined and led labour organizations
b. Immigrants became politically active and mostly identified with the Democratic Party
c. Irish were anti-Whig due to that party’s antislavery, pro-schooling, pro-protestant and temperance stances
d. Understanding the size and importance of this demographic, the Democratic Party actively catered to and recruited new immigrants

II. The Far West

A. Skip the Plains
1. Just beyond Missouri are the Great Plains
2. Viewed as too arid for farming
3. Dominated by nomadic Indians (Pawnees, Kiowas and Sioux) who hunted buffalo
4. Most travelled over the plains heading further west

B. Western Land Claims
1. With Adams-Onís treaty of 1819, US gave up claims to Texas, CA, and New Mexico to Spain. After Mexican Independence, Mexico claimed these areas
2. Russia and Spain gave up claims to Oregon Country. In 1827, US and Britain agreed to share territory between 42° and 54°40’.

C. Trade with the far west
1. Oregon
a. Overseas trade dominated by Boston Merchants
b. Traded coffee, tea, spices, and household goods for furs
2. California
a. Overseas trade dominated by Boston Merchants
b. Traded household goods for cattle hide and tallow
3. Santa Fe
a. Overland trade dominated by Missouri merchants
b. Exchanged tools, clothing, and household goods for mules and Mexican silver
c. Trade was welcomed by Mexico as a way to get manufactured goods to remote states of Chihuahua and Sonora
4. Western Colorado and Utah
a. Overland trade by Missouri merchants
b. Exchanged household goods for beaver furs

D. American Settlement of Texas
1. After Mexican independence, the Spanish system of missions and Presidios fell apart
2. To encourage colonization, Mexican government gave huge land grants to Mexican and American impresarios
3. Stephen Austin got large land grant in 1824 and quickly drew many American settlers by offering free of very cheap land
4. Clashes began to occur between Catholic, Spanish speaking Mexicans and Protestant English speaking Americans
5. Biggest point of contention was slavery, which had been abolished in Mexico. Many American settlers were bring slaves to Texas
6. Mexico repealed Austin’s grant in 1829 but unable to stem the flow of American settlers, reinstated it in 1834.

E. The Texas Revolution
1. New Mexican President Santa Anna established and enforced policies to restrict settlers’ political powers in Texas.
2. Both Mexican Tejanos and American settlers resisted the new policies
3. Santa Anna and the Mexican Army invaded Texas in 1835. Austin along with American settlers and some Tejanos decided to resist
4. Santa Anna and am army of 4000 surrounded 187 Texas rebels (including Davy Crockett) at the Alamo near San Antonio on March 6, 1836; despite valiant resistance, almost all the rebels were killed in battle; survivors were executed.
5. Goliad Massacre- a few weeks after the Alamo, Sta. Anna had 350 Texas rebel prisoners executed
6. Texas rebels chose Sam Houston as their military leader
7. Houston’s army of 800 men quickly defeated Sta. Anna and his army and took him prisoner, forcing Sta. Anna to sign a treaty declaring Texas’s independence in April 1836
8. Though Mexico did not ratify the treaty, the Texas Republic was established.


III. Expansionist politics

A. The rise and fall of the Whigs
1. After economic problems during Van Buren’s presidency (Panic of 1837), the Whigs rose to power in the election of 1840
2. Harrison and VP Tyler won and Whigs got a majority in both houses
3. Their agenda was to replace protective tariffs with revenue tariffs; repeal Van Buren’s independent treasury in favour of a new bank of the US
4. Harrison died after 1 month in office. Tyler, who had been a Democrat under Jackson, vetoed every bill relating to the Whig agenda
5. In a last-ditch effort to gain popularity, Tyler began to promote annexation of Texas as a slave state. This led to staunch northern opposition and the measure failed
6. Unable to secure nomination, Tyler didn’t run for re-election in 1844

B. The Dark Horse election of 1844
1. Whigs chose Clay as their nominee for the 1844 election
2. Democrat were split between Van Buren (North) and Cass (South) so they chose the first dark horse candidate.
3. Polk ran on an expansionist platform, promising not only the annexation of Texas but, to allay Northern fears about slavery, also the annexation of Oregon as wall as the purchase of California and New Mexico.
4. Clay’s shifting position on the annexation of Texas and slavery as well as his choice of a temperance/Protestant running mate alienated many voters (esp. NY’s Irish) allowing Polk to win

C. Manifest Destiny
1. Catchy slogan coined by NY journalist John O’sullivan, promoted the expansion of the US to the West Coast
2. The idea was promoted using loft, religious language
3. Economically, it made sense to have west coast ports (esp. San Francisco) to open trade with Asia, land for growing population
4. Democrats liked the idea of having more land in order to maintain US agriculture character
5. Provide opportunities for burgeoning immigrant groups to leave the crowded cities
6. To avert a British “plot” to abolish slavery
7. It was actually possible to govern such a large country due to railroads and the telegraph

D. Annexing Oregon
1. Polk had congress terminate the British-American agreement to jointly occupy Oregon
2. Issued an ultimatum for Britain to exit all land to the 54°40’ line (Alaska’s southern boundary) within one year.
3. Unwilling to go to war, England chose to compromise, granting the US all Oregon Territory south of the 49° line (except southern tip of Vancouver Island) and keeping what would become British Colombia (treaty of 1846)


IV. The Mexican-American War

A. Prelude
1. As with Oregon, Polk attempted to force Mexico to concede any claim to Texas and to sell its holdings in New Mexico and California
2. In February of 1845, Congress voted to annex Texas but Texans became fearful of a Mexican invasion
3. To convince Texans, Polk promised to extend Texas’s southern boundary all the way to the Rio Grande. Texas voted to join the union on July 4, 1845
4. Hoping to spark a war (so as to take NM and CA), Polk send Zachary Taylor and his troops to Corpus Christi near the Rio Grande.
5. Polk also sent a negotiator (Slidell) to Mexico City with permission to offer Mexico $25 million for CA and NM and to convince Mexico to recognise Texas annexation together with the Rio Grande boundary
6. Slidell was rebuffed so Polk had Taylor and troops move further south to the Rio Grande to harass Mexicans across the river
7. The Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and attacked some of Taylor’s troops. Polk used this as evidence that Mexico had already declared war on the US
8. By claiming that a state of war already existed, Polk was able to bypass getting Congressional approval for the war.
9. Afraid to oppose Polk and thereby risk seeming “unpatriotic”, Whigs joined Democrats voting to fund the war with $10 million.

B. Fighting Mexico
1. Mexico’s army was four times larger; however, US troops were better organized, armed (rifles, howitzers (!), revolvers) and supplied.
2. US army used a four-pronged attack
3. Zachary Taylor (Old Rough and Ready) beat the Mexican army in Texas, crossed the Rio Grande and took the northern Mexican cities of Monterrey and Buena Vista.
4. Winfield Scott crossed the Gulf of Mexico with 12000 troops, took Vera Cruz, then drove on to Mexico City, winning battle after battle along the way (with the assistance of Lee, Grant, among other Civil War heroes)
5. Stephen Kearny was sent to Santa Fe, took it with little resistance, then sent some of his troops south to join Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista
6. Commodore Sloat (then Stockton) led the Pacific Squadron of the Navy to the ports of California. Meanwhile, Fremont was sent to California to establish and independent republic (similar to Texas). He quickly seized Sonoma and created the independent “Bear Flag Republic” which lasted 25 days.
7. The War ended as Scott’s army of 11000 defeated Santa Anna’s army of 25000 close to Mexico City (September 13, 1847)

C. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
1. Ratified on March 10, 1848
2. Mexico ceded Texas and agreed to Rio Grande border
3. US agreed to pay $15 million and forgive $2 million in Mexican debts in exchange for NM and CA territories
4. Treaty was criticized by expansionists who wanted to take all of Mexico. Nativist concerns thwarted this plan.

D. Polk’s Post-War Policies
1. Perused Jacksonian policies
2. Restoration of the Independent Treasury
3. Lowered tariffs
4. Refused to fund American System projects (each state is responsible for infrastructure works)

E. Slavery and the New Territories
1. Polk wanted a simple solution and believed that the Missouri Compromise line 36°30’ could just be extended west
2. Whigs opposed the spread of slavery on moral grounds
3. Northern Democrats opposed slavery in NM and CA on the grounds that it would keep free white labourers from moving there
4. Wilmot Proviso (1846)- drafted by David Wilmot, a Democratic congressman from Penn, proposed that slavery should not be allowed in any of the territories acquired by negotiations in Mexico. Consistant with Polk’s early promise that Texas would be for Slaveholders but CA and NM would not
5. Polk did not endores it because it would break the Missouri Compromise; Southerners (both Democrat and Whig) argued that the Proviso (as well as the Missouri Compromise) violated states’ rights and was unconstitutional
6. Proviso passed in house but not in Senate
7. Election of 1848- Polk refused to run. Zachary Taylor, a war hero and Southern slaveholder ran as a Whig and defeated Democratic candidate Cass (Democrats were split on slavery issue)

I. The Agricultural Southern Economy

A. Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
1. Cotton production increased from 4000 bales to 3.8 million bales between 1790-1860
2. Lower (“deep”) South (SC, GA, Fla, AL, Miss, LA) had ideal climate for cotton production
3. Growth in production caused by exploding British and New England Demand while Indian removal policies opened land to cotton farmers
4. Cotton could be grown profitably on any scale without slaves (35-50% of cotton growers did not own slaves)
5. Cotton production required little capital investment

B. Cotton, Corn, and the Rise of Slavery
1. On large plantation, slave labour provided the advantage of being able to harvest cotton quickly
2. When not picking cotton, slaves were engaged in corn production. Corn could be planted earlier of later than cotton and harvested before or after it (flexibility). By 1860, more acreage in the lower South was actually dedicated to corn than cotton production
3. By 1830, cotton/corn farming employed ¾ of all southern slaves
4. Slave population increased from 700,000 in 1790 to 4 million by 1860

C. Upper and Lower South
1. Upper South (VA, ML, NC, Tennessee, Ky) grew tobacco, veggies, hemp and wheat
2. Lower South focused on Cotton, Corn, and Sugar
3. Slavery was more prominent in the Lower South
4. Upper South sold slave to the Lower South
5. While different, upper and lower South were unified by common culture, cash crop economy, the economic and political value of slaves and opposition to Northern abolitionists

D. North and South Diverge
1. The North was quickly urbanizing and industrializing
2. The South accounted for only 10% of the country’s industrial production and most Southerners lived in rural areas
3. Focus on time-tested cash crop agriculture kept Southerners form investing in industry.
4. South lagged behind in education as it offered little or no public education. Also, laws prevented slaves from learning to read.
5. Despite social and economic backwardness, Southerners were entrepreneurial and by 1860, their per capita income was above the national average

II. Social Groups in the White South

A. The Planter Class
1. Large plantation owners (with more than 100 slaves): 1% of Southern whites
2. Plantations were self-sufficient villages, characterized by division of labour
3. Plantation houses were initially modest but many evolved into large mansions during the antebellum period.
4. Most planters’ wealth was invested in slaves ($1700/ field)
5. Unpredictable commodity prices and debt needed to finance planting led planters to be cost-concious and profit-oriented – driven to acquire more land (often by moving further west)
6. Isolation- Distance between plantation and movement to cheaper Western land disrupted friendships/family ties
7. To combat isolation, many planters would spend part of the year in cities and throw large parties on the Plantations
8. Planter’s wives not only organised lavish parties but also supervised house slaves and various other functions on the plantation
9. It was common for plantation owners to father illegitimate children with female slaves.

B. Small Slaveholders
1. Owned fewer than 20 slaves and comprised about 22%of the white population
2. Most were farmers (but 1 in 5 were professionals or artisans)
3. Those who lived in upland areas tended to identify with non-slaveholders, whereas those who lived in lowland areas identified with and aspired to be large planters
4. Many moved west in search of cheaper land

C. Yeomen Farmers
1. Largest group of Southern Whites; owned no slaves but most owned land (50-200 acres)
2. Engaged in subsistence farming but sometimes also in small scale commercial farming
3. Regarded as “poor white trash” by lowland planters but considered respectable in upland areas where they were a majority.
4. Focused on self-sufficiency- whole family was engaged in running the farm
5. Generally didn’t deal with banks and kept commercial transactions on a local level

D. People of the Pine Barrens (hilly pine forests)
1. Comprised 10% of Southern Whites
2. Lived in crude cabins in the inland pine barrens
3. Engaged in subsistence farming (corn, hogs, and cattle)
4. Viewed as lazy and unfocused because they shunned routine and didn’t raise cash crops.
5. Fiercely independent, generally refused to work as hired labourers (left over from white indentured servants who came to America for work)


III. Social relations in the White South

A. Political Conflict and consensus
1. Most planters and city-dwellers tended to identify with Whigs (pro-banking) whereas most Yeomen were staunch Democrats (anti-banking)
2. Since most of the social groups lived in separate geographical areas, conflict between social groups was not apparent
3. Also, because there were no factories, most whites owned land and didn’t work for other whites, class conflict was minimized
4. Though planters were disproportionately represented in government, they needed the support of the other groups and therefore incorporated their views into legislation

B. Arguing over slavery
1. As slave ownership became increasingly concentrated, debate over slavery increased
2. Some supported laws to ensure that all whites would be able to afford slaves
3. A small minority even promoted abolition
4. Most whites supported slavery: planters wanted to keep their money, poorer whites either aspired to own slaves or feared social disruption and competition by a large number of freed slaves

C. Justifying Slavery
1. Faced with increasing criticism from northern abolitionists, Southerners developed a “positive good” argument to defend slavery
2. Argued that Athens and Rome practiced Slavery yet were centres of civilization
3. Argued that slaves had more job and social security than white factory workers in the North who were easily fired and not provided for in old age
4. Argued that Slavery was consistent with the Bible, quoting St. Paul’s order that “slaves obey their masters”; also, that blacks were better off as Christian slaves than “heathens” in Africa.
5. Southern Baptist and Methodist churches broke from their increasingly abolitionist Northern Counterparts

D. Southern Violence and the Code of Honour
1. In addition to violence perpetrated against slave, white Southerners tended to be violent with each other
2. Murder rate in south 10x higher than north
3. Disagreements and insults were often settled with extreme violence
4. Gentlemen adhered to an “honor code” which often led them to settle disputes with other gentlemen by duelling


IV. Antebellum slavery

A. Demographics
1. In the early years of slavery (1600s to 1700s) most slaves were young men shipped in from west Africa
2. There were few women and due to malnutrition/disease, they bore few children
3. After 1750, there was a large increase in native-born slaves
4. Slave importation ended in 1808
5. By 1830, almost all slave had been born in the US and there were as many women as men, allowing them to form families

B. Labour and discipline on the Plantation
1. Work started before dawn and ended well after dusk
2. Women and men often worked together in the fields
3. White overseers and black drivers often used brutality to discipline and expedite labours
4. Some field workers were able to eventually move to skilled or semi-skilled indoor work or become household slaves

C. Slave Family
1. Marriages often encouraged by plantation masters in order to increase birthrates and discourage running away
2. Still, masters and white overseers did not respect slave marriages, sometime demanding sexual favors from the women or selling family members away
3. Some slave would run away in order to reunite with family members who were sold- even to other plantations
4. As a result of obstacles to keeping th nuclear family united as well as West African Tradition, slaves developed extended fictive kinship groups

D. Health
1. Slaves in the US lived longer than slaves in any other part of the Western hemisphere
2. Healthier diets due to Southern US food surpluses (rations of corn meal, pork, and veggies)
3. African americans had higher immunity to malaria and yellow fever but suffered from cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea
4. Natural remedies such as white clay were developed to deal with ailments
5. Infant mortality rate was twice as high as for whites. Between 1850-1860, fewer than 2 out of 3 slave children survived to age 10

E. Non-plantation Slaves
1. Due to lack of white work force in the South, slaves worked as wagon drivers, stevedores, etc on river barges, in mining, lumbering and textile mills
2. These slaves were usually rented from plantation masters and therefore had to be treated reasonably well (to avoid liability)

F. Slave resistance
1. Three major rebellions: Gabriel’s (1800) and Vesey (1822) were unexecuted plots, Nat Turner’s (1831) was the only major rebellion actually carried out
2. Running away- rarely successful (less than a thousand slaves ever managed to make it North)- Underground Railroad [Harriet Tubman] was mostly a legend.
3. More common were temporary escapes into cities where slaves pretended to be free blacks
4. Theft, work slowdown, poisoning, arson, and sabotage were most common forms of furtive resistance

G. Southern Free Blacks
1. Free blacks had more opportunities in Southern Cities than in Northern ones, due to scarcity of white workers
2. Frree blacks were more tolerated in Upper South
3. Southern States forbade free blaks from entering their state and Arkansas even expelled all free blacks in 1859
4. Faced with white discrimination, however, blacks developed a sense of solidarity that transcended socioeconomic lines

I. Religion in Antebellum Society

A. Second Great Awakening (1790’s-1840’s)
1. Began in East Coast and spread West
2. Led by Presbyterians and Congregationalists
3. As in the past, large weeklong revival camp meetings
4. Used ‘exercises’ and ‘classes’
5. Methodist denomination grew to be the largest US protestant denomination by 1844 due to success in the West

B. Eastern Revivals
1. Led by puritan descendants
2. Presbyterian minister Charles Finney was a prominent leader
3. Finney encouraged cooperation among protestant denominations
4. Finney believed that people had the power to live ‘perfectly’, therefore he rejected Calvinist notions of predestination
5. Women were not only participants but often took the lead in Finney’s revivalism

C. Unitarians
1. Disliked the ‘irrationality’ of revivals
2. Composed of religious liberals- often wealthy and highly educated
3. Almost exclusively in New England
4. Also rejected Calvinists view of predestination

D. Mormons
1. One of the few religions that originated entirely in America
2. Started by Joseph Smith who claimed to have received the Book of Mormon, a previously unknown ‘continuation’ of the Bible.
3. Smith claimed to receive ‘revelations’ including one which allowed followers to practice polyginy (more than one wife)
4. Smith viewed himself as a prophet (the Second Mohammed)
5. Mormons were persecuted and moved further and further west. Smith was killed by an angry mob in Illinois. (Brigham Young takes over leadership)

E. Shakers
1. Founded by Mother Ann Lee in 1770’s
2. Lived in separate communities
3. Known for their crafts (especially furniture)
4. Prohibited sex and kept genders segregated in their communities


II. The Age of Reform

A. The Temperance Movement
1. Most successful of era’s social reform movements
2. Revivalist Lyman Beecher established American Temperance Society- appealed to religious, upper classes, and women
3. Washington Temperance Societies- worker based, began during Panic of 1837
4. New laws, particularly in New England regulated alcohol consumption
5. Alcohol consumption declined 50% between 1820 and 1840

B. Public School Reform
1. Led by Horace Mann of Mass.
2. Called for publicly funded schools with “grading” and standardized curriculum
3. Increased length of school year and school day
4. Emphasized punctuality and assimilation (except for black children)
5. Often criticized by Irish for adherence to protestent values
6. Compulsory education often opposed by farmers who needed children for farmwork

C. Abolition
1. Initially the most unpopular of the reform movements
2. Between 1800-1830, antislavery issue was promoted by the American Colonization Society, some free blacks and Quakers
3. William Lloyd Garrison- uncompromising, dedicated leader who started “The Liberator” (1831)
4. Prominent black leaders included Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
5. Most abolitionists refused to work with blacks
6. With the exception of garrison, most abolitionists tried to limit women’s roles in the abolitionist movement
7. Still, women became deeply involved and prominent leaders like the Grimké sisters

D. Women’s Rights
1. Leaders: the Grimké sisters, Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Elidabeth Stanton and Abbey Kelley
2. Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)

I. Democratic Republicans Regroup
A. Democratization
1. Removal of property requirements for voting (but substituted w/ poll taxes in most states).
2. Written ballots vs. viva voce voting
3. Direct voter selection of electors rather than legislators who selected elector.
4. Parties compete for voters (BBQ’s, free alcohol, etc.)
5. Increased voting for white males (females and minorities still disenfranchised)

B. Controversial Election of 1824
1. Rise of sectionalism
a. 5 candidates from the same party representing different regional areas
b. South - Calhoun and Crawford
c. North – John Q. Adams
d. West – Clay and Jackson

2. Election results
a. Jackson wins popular and electoral vote but does not win a majority
b. Per Constitution, election is decided by the House of Reps.
c. Clay lends his support to J.Q. Adams so as to forge West-Northeast alliance (to support his “American System”)
d. Clay becomes Secretary of State

C. J.Q. Adams’ brief presidency
1. opposed federally funded infrastructure projects to protect NY
2. infuriates Southerners by implicitly recognizing Haiti
3. attempted to be custodian of “public good” by refraining from involvement in partisan politics
4. followed Washington’s example of appointing opponents to high office (which infuriated his supporters)
5. his presidency marked the end of Washington’s “non-partisan” tradition

II. The “Glorious” Jackson
A. Jackson’s Rising Star
1. hot tempered war hero
2. non-politician who benefited from growing disenchantment with the gov’t
3. enthusiastic grass roots support
4. revered in south and west
5. despite self-made wealth, viewed as “common man”
6. uneducated, considered “uncorrupt, natural, plain”
7. fit into (mastermind) Van Buren’s plan to re-establish a two party system
8. Jackson would be first “modern” Democrat

B. The Election of 1828
1. lots of mudslinging
2. Adams accused of being a corrupt “sissy”
3. Jackson accused of being a drunken gambler, adulterer and murderer
4. Jackson swept the election with twice as many electoral votes

C. Jackson’s early policies
1. clearly establishes “spoils system” under guise of rotating civil service jobs
2. Rejected federal support of intra-state infrastructure
3. Supported and executed removal of Indians east of the Mississippi (Indian Removal Act of 1830)
4. Supported “tariff of abominations” (1828)

D. Debate over tariffs (actually, states’ rights)
1. Southerners opposed high tariffs, middle and northern states clamored for them
2. “Tariff of Abominations” (1828) – approved by Adams but promoted by Jackson supporters in Congress – highest ever and designed to keep many English manufactured goods out of the American market
3. Jackson wanted to reduce but still maintain tariffs in order to mollify northern supporters (particularly in Penn.)
4. VP Calhoun and other southerners led an attack on the tariffs causing a rift between Calhoun and Jackson
5. Southerners argued state rights and the “nullification” precedent established by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of the 1790’s.
6. South Carolina applied “nullification” by refusing to have tariffs collected within its borders. ****Secession from the Union became a consideration***
7. To ease the crisis, Jackson pushed the Compromise Tariff (promoted by Henry Clay who feared a civil war) and the Force Bill (which allowed the Pres. to use armed forces to collect tariffs in SC)
8. South Carolina agreed to collect the tariffs but applied nullification to the Force Bill so as to not back down.

E. Jackson vs. the Bank of the US
1. Arguing that the Bank of the US benefited only “moneyed capitalists”, Jackson vetoed the recharter of the bank (1832) which would cause it to disappear in 1836.
2. Jackson tried to “kill” the bank faster by taking federal deposits out of it and placing this money in state banks.
3. The movement of federal money to the state banks allowed them to overprint and over end money, which led to economic expansion but also caused inflation.
4. Increase in # of “pet banks” (state banks that held federal deposits)
5. Despite Jackson’s opposition to the credit frenzy, he was pressured by Congress to sign the Deposit Act (1836) which further increased the # of pet banks.
6. To counter the Deposit Act, Jackson forced through the Specie Circular (1836) which said the gov’t would accept only specie in exchange for public land.
7. Rise of the “soft money” vs. “hard money” rift in the Democratic party

III. Rise of the Whigs
1. largely a reaction to controversial Jacksonian policies.
2. Supported the Bank of the US
3. Supported Clay’s American System of federally funded infrastructure improvements
4. Supported social reforms (public ed. & temperance)
5. Wide base of support that included southerners and westerners eager for infrastructure improvements, social reformers, native born Protestant workers, anti-Masons, commercial farmers, planters, merchants, bankers, manufacturers, evangelicals.
6. Still disorganized and not unified in the election of 1836. Learned lesson, rallied behind a single candidate and won in 1840.

IV. Van Buren’s Presidency
A. Panic of 1837
1. Major recession - largely caused by Jackson having placed federal deposits in irresponsible state banks as well as the Species Circular. Another cause was England checking the flow of specie into US in 1836.
2. Banks stopped issuing as much paper money
3. Demand for specie from Western farmers caused the supply to dry up. Banks stopped redeeming paper money for specie

B. Van Buren’s Response
1. Establish a federal Treasury (Treasury Act of 1840)
2. Failed to address the issue of regulating state banks
3. Took on an antibank, hard money position

V. “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”
1. Whigs rallied around one candidate – 67 year old William Henry Harrison
2. Used his “war hero” status
3. Ran a folksy “Log Cabin” campaign without a platform
4. Used catchy slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”
5. Accused Van Buren of being a modern day “monarch” – too refined…
6. Van Buren responded sluggishly and lost the election of 1840.
7. Election of 1840 saw a huge increase in the # of voters as more eligible voters went to the polls (80% vs 55% in prior elections).