California Gold Rush, 1849

California Gold Rush, 1849

GOLD!! At Sutter’s Mill, 1848

GOLD!! At Sutter’s Mill, 1848

John A. SutterJohn A. Sutter John A. SutterJohn A. Sutter

Routes to the Gold

• In 1848 James

Marshall noticed small flakes at Sutter’s Mill.

• Most miners were young, unmarried, and unsuccessful.

• Most never got rich in California.

• A more reliable way to earn money was to supply miners.

GOLD

One of the most intense debates in U.S. History—specifically over slavery

•John C. CalhounU.S. should have two Presidents--North and South

•Daniel WebsterDaniel WebsterSecession is impractical & impossibleHow would we split the land? military?Compromise at all cost

•Henry Clay

with John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Stephen

Douglas.

Senator from

Illinois

Three major points

1. CaliforniaFree State

2. Utah and New MexicoPopular Sovereignty

3. Fugitive SlaveLaw of 1850

ABOLITIONISTS RESPOND

Denounced by Abolitionists

Abolitionists refuse to enforce

the law

Underground Railroad becomes

more active

America in the 1850s

Neither was to obtain exclusive control over any canal across the Central American Isthmus

All such communications by canal or railway were to be neutral

The Clayton-Bulwer TreatyUSA and Great Britain, 1850

End of the Whigs

In its 26-year existence, the Whigs elected two of its candidates to the presidency—Harrison and Taylor—both died in office.

Four months after succeeding Harrison, President John Tyler was expelled from the Party

Millard Fillmore, Taylor's VP, was the last Whig to hold the office.

The Opening of Japan

• For over 200 years, no foreigner was allowed to enter Japan at all.

• Even shipwrecked sailors were forced to remain in Japan so that no information could leak out.

Japan adhered to a strict feudal system

In 1853, Perry arrived at Edo Bay (Tokyo), demanding that Japan open its borders to foreign commerce

The Opening of Japan

Ostend Manifesto1854, BelgiumDocument urging the US

to take Cuba by force if Spain refused to sell

South feared that Cuba might become an independent black republic

Vigorously denounced by opponents as a plot to extend slavery

Gadsden Purchase —1853

Stephen DouglasInterest in a Transcontinental Railroad

South Opposes

Proposed Kansas/Nebraska areas be open to slavery in return for North RR

Popular Sovereignty People in a territory vote on whether they want slavery to

exist or not in their state.

Bleeding Kansas

• North and South mobilize to influence elections

• Two govt’s form in Topeka and Shawnee

• Both are fraudulent

•Election for delegates to territorial convention:1400 eligible voters/ 6000 votes cast

Over

200

killed

John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr?

John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr?

Mural in the Kansas Capitol

building

•Violent abolitionist

•Involved in the Bleeding Kansas

•Murdered 5 pro-slavery men in Kansas

•Would later try to lead a slave revolt throughout the South by raising an army of freed slaves and destroying the South.

Lecompton Constitution 1857

Pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution in KN Territory

Allowed for slaves already in Kansas to remain there

Bill ultimately failedVote boycotted by free-

soilersKansas later admitted as

free state

• An aggressive abolitionist, Charles Sumner attacked slavery, denounced the Kan/Neb Act and verbally attacked a Senator from South Carolina, who was absent.

• Two days later he was attacked in the Senate by Preston Brooks--Butler's nephew

• It took Sumner more than three years to recover

“The Crime Against Kansas” 1856“The Crime Against Kansas” 1856

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852

Sold 300,000 copies in the first year

2 million in a decade

Sold 300,000 copies in the first year

2 million in a decade

•Slave from Missouri traveled with his owner to Illinois and Minnesota •His master died and Scott wanted to move back to Missouri--Missouri still recognized him as a slave•He sued for his freedom since he had lived in a free state for a period of time

•Supreme Court hands down the

Dred Scott decision

•Slaves cannot sue for their freedom; they are property•They have no legal right under the Constitution•Supreme Court legalized slavery in effect by saying that Congress could not stop a slave owner from moving his slaves to a new territory•Missouri Compromise and other compromises were unconstitutional

Panic of 1857

• British remove funds from US banks• Fall of grain prices spread misery• RR failures; US system overbuilt • Land speculation collapsed with RR’s• Confidence fell when 30k lbs of gold was lost in

shipment from CA to east• Govt ability to back its paper with specie

questioned; slow recovery in US • South hurt less than the other regions; many

concluded that the superiority of their economic system was vindicated

Panic of 1857

All but one of NY' s 58 banks suspended activity until Dec

US economy had accelerated inflation following CA gold discoveries

Panic put nearly half of Wall Street's brokers out of business

REPUBLICAN PARTY

Formed to stop the expansion of slavery

Free Soil Party against the expansion of slavery

Democrats opposed the expansion of slavery

Abolitionists

Know Nothing Party against immigration

Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Lincoln along with Steven Douglas became the leading spokespersons for the presidential election in 1860.

•US Senate race in Illinois•Debates followed because both were interested in running for President in 1860.•Slavery was the issue•Lincoln stated: •A house divided against itself cannot stand. •Against the expansion of slavery

Douglas believed in pop. sovereignty

Freeport Doctrine

• Lincoln was not so much anti-slavery as he was for not extending or expanding slavery.

• The most famous of these seven debates was in Freeport, Ill

• Douglas stated slavery could be barred from territories if their legislatures refused to enact regulations necessary to make slavery work.

•Attacked a U.S. Ammunition

depot in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in Oct.

of 1859 to capture

weapons and begin a slave

revolt.

•Unsuccessful and captured by military under the leadership of Robert E. Lee•Put on trial for treason.

•Sentenced to Death

•North thought of John Brown as an abolitionist martyr.

•Southerners were terrified of Brown; feared others would be willing to die to end slavery.

•South’s outcome: To leave the US and start their own country.

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart

• Once Lincoln is elected as president, South Carolina secedes from the U.S. along with several other Southern States

• They will form the Confederate States of America--CSA

Sumter one of two remaining federal strongholds in South Day after inauguration, Lincoln was notified fort supplies would soon run out; forced to surrender. Notified S. Carolina of an expedition to provision the garrisonShip carrying supplies sailed from NY; seen by SC as an act of aggression

April 12: Fort Sumter bombarded by more than 70 Confederate canons. No loss of life during bombardment; fort heavily damaged

"My paramount object is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery... If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Abraham Lincoln 1862