Early 19th century politicians avoided the public discussion of slavery but the Mexican cession raised the issue again.
1848 election: Cass (D) v. Taylor (W) v. Van Buren (FS)
Cass introduced the principle of "popular sovereignty" which stated that the sovereign people of a territory should themselves determine the status of slavery.
Free Soilers supported the Wilmot Proviso, which banned slavery in the Mexican cession territories - foreshadowed the emergence of the Republican Party six years later.
1848 - Gold discovered in California
1849 - California applied for admission to the union as a free State which exploded the slavery issue again and would upset the 15 free/15 slave state balance.
The south was also angry about the loss of slave runaways to the north - about 1,000 a year.
Congressional debate of 1850:
Henry Clay proposed that both the north and south make concessions.
In his famous March 7th (1850) speech, Daniel Webster called for a new, more stringent fugitive-slave law which was condemned by the abolitionists.
William Seward (NY) argued that there was a "higher law" than the Constitution that compelled him to demand the exclusion of slavery from the territories.
Southern extremists met in Nashville during the summer to condemn the compromises being worked out in Congress.
At the height of the debate, President Taylor died and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore who supported some form of compromise.
The Compromise of 1850 > chart on p. 377
Most alarming to the north was the new fugitive slave law, which led to a storm of opposition including the passage of "personal liberty laws" which were designed to hamper its enforcement.
*The fugitive slave law turned out to be a major blunder on the part of the south > awakened in the north a spirit of antagonism against the south.
Election of 1852: Pierce (D) v. Scott (W)
Whig party was split of the issue of slavery and their loss led to the death of the party (both Clay and Webster died during the campaign!)
Whig legacy: the ideal of union!
The Mexican War also stimulated the spirit of manifest destiny - the prime objective in the 1850's was Cuba.
1854 - American ministers meeting in Ostend, Belgium drew up a secret memo (known as the Ostend Manifesto) which urged President Pierce to offer $120 million for Cuba and, if Spain refused the offer, the U.S. should take it militarily. But the secret Ostend Manifesto was leaked out which angered the north and forced pierce to drop the scheme.
1853: Gadsden Purchase from Mexico for $10 million (map on p. 385) which gave the south an advantage in the debate over the route for a transcontinental RR
Northern railroad interests then sought to organize the Nebraska territory and to win southern support.
1854: Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed that the question of slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska territory be decided by popular sovereignty (but this violated the Missouri compromise of 1820!)
^ Repeal of the compromises of 1820 & 1850
^ Shattered the Democratic Party
^ Birth of the Republican Party as a purely sectional party