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James K. Polk’s presidency (1845–1849) greatly increased the causes of the American Civil War because almost everything he did expanded the size of the United States while worsening the national argument over slavery. Free-soilers viewed non slave labor as more efficient due to the real possibility of upward mobility and not due to the crack of a whip. (McPherson, 55) This is an important timespan that was not explicitly detailed during class, yet it did set up further conflict over slavery.
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Clashes between U.S. and Mexican troops on disputed Texas land started the Mexican American War. The conflict immediately raised the issue of whether slavery would expand into any new territory gained from Mexico, increasing sectional tensions.
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David Wilmot proposed banning slavery in any territory taken from Mexico, triggering national uproar. As Varon notes, "with the House and Senate in turmoil over Wilmot’s proposal, the fate of slavery in the territories passed to the people." (Varon, 199) The Proviso exposed deep sectional divisions and forced politicians to take clear sides. This is important because it contributed to a political divide. -
The Free-Soil Party emerged in 1848 as a new political movement that opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories. Its members supported the idea of free labor and believed that slavery threatened economic opportunity for ordinary settlers. The party brought antislavery ideas into national politics and helped shape the future rise of the Republican Party.
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The treaty ended the Mexican American War and transferred a vast region including California and the Southwest to the United States. This immediately reignited the fight over whether slavery could expand west. The new lands increased sectional tension as leaders in both North and South saw the balance of power at stake. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held a series of major debates across Illinois focused on the expansion of slavery into western territories. Their arguments drew national attention and highlighted the growing divide between free labor ideas and proslavery politics. The debates helped make Lincoln a national figure.
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The Compromise of 1850 was a group of laws meant to ease the growing conflict between free states and slave states. California entered as a free state, while other territories would decide slavery through popular sovereignty. A strict fugitive slave law angered many in the North. The compromise calmed tensions only briefly and revealed how divided the nation had become. -
This act opened Kansas and Nebraska to popular sovereignty, letting settlers vote on slavery and overturning the Missouri Compromise line. It triggered national outrage, fractured old political parties, and contributed to the rise of the Republican Party. -
In 1854 American diplomats secretly wrote the Ostend Manifesto, which argued that the United States should purchase Cuba from Spain and suggested that force could be used if Spain refused. Many in the North saw this as an attempt to expand slavery into the Caribbean. The backlash increased distrust toward Southern political goals and deepened sectional conflict. -
"Bleeding Kansas" is the name referring to years of Pro-Slavery vs Abolitionist violence that took place in the state of Kansas from 1854-1859. The reason for this violence was the goals of both sides to establish ideological dominance in Kansas and establish a free state or slave state respectively by outnumbering the other side in terms of population. Settlers from the north and south all flocked to Kansas in order to help their side out. (McPherson, 144)
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Pro-slavery representative Preston Brooks brutally attacks representative Charles Sumner with a cane in the United States Senate Chamber. This attack was in retaliation to a previous speech bashing slavery made by Sumner, and resulted in a massive polarization of American politics, with thousands of canes being sent to representative Brooks by members of the pro-slavery movement. -
The United States Supreme Court rules that African Americans can not be considered U.S. citizens, and that congress had no right to prohibit slavery in federal territories. Dred Scott was an enslaved man who sued for freedom along with his wife Harriet, after living in free territories including Illinois and The Wisconsin Territory. In a 7-2 decision, this court case also invalidated the Missouri Compromise.