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Abolition
Abolition, the movement to abolish
slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
Behind the leadership of Henry Clay, Congress passed a series of agreements
in 1820–1821 known as the Missouri Compromise. Under these agreements,
Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The rest of the
Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. The dividing line was set at 36°30´
north latitude. South of the line, slavery was legal. North of the line—except in
Missouri—slavery was banned. -
Santa Fe Trail
The settlers and traders who made the trek
west used a series of old Native American trails as well as new
routes. One of the busiest routes was the Santa Fe Trail,
which stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to
Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. (See map
on page 132.) Each spring from 1821 through the 1860s,
American traders loaded their covered wagons with goods
and set off toward Santa Fe. -
San Felipe de Austin
Stephen F. Austin.
Austin’s father, Moses Austin, had received a land grant from Spain to establish
a colony between the Brazos and Colorado rivers but died before he was able
to carry out his plans. Stephen obtained permission, first from Spain and then
from Mexico after it had won its independence, to carry out his father’s project.
In 1821 he established a colony where “no drunkard, no gambler, no profane
swearer, and no idler” would be allowed. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Despite peaceful cooperation between Anglos and
Tejanos, differences over cultural issues intensified between Anglos and the
Mexican government. The overwhelmingly Protestant Anglo settlers spoke
English instead of Spanish. Furthermore, many of the settlers were Southerners,
who had brought slaves with them to Texas. Mexico, which had abolished slavery
in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves. -
The Liberator
The most radical white abolitionist was a young
editor named William Lloyd Garrison. Active in religious reform movements
in Massachusetts, Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828.
Three years later he established his own paper, The Liberator, to deliver an uncompromising
demand: immediate emancipation. -
Nat Turner's Rebllion
Some slaves rebelled against their condition of
bondage. One of the most prominent rebellions was led by Virginia slave
Nat Turner. In August 1831, Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four
plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed
many members of the group, including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Austin had
traveled to Mexico City late in 1833 to present petitions to Mexican president
Antonio López de Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. While
Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting
revolution. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence,
Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. It was blazed in 1836 by
two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa
Whitman. By driving their wagon as far as Fort Boise (near
present-day Boise, Idaho), they proved that wagons could
travel on the Oregon Trail. -
Texas Revolution
the 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its
independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
For a quarter century after the
War of 1812, only a few Americans explored the West. Then, in the 1840s, expansion
fever gripped the country. Many Americans began to believe that their movement
westward was predestined by God. The phrase “manifest destiny”
expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific
Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. Many Americans also
believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious and inevitable. -
Texas enters the United States
N Most Texans hoped that the United States
would annex their republic, but U.S. opinion divided along sectional lines.
Southerners wanted Texas in order to extend slavery, which already had been
established there. Northerners feared that the annexation of more slave territory
would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate in favor of slave states
The 1844 U.S. presidential campaign focused on westward expansion. The
winner, James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favored the annexation of Texas. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. -
The North Star
One of
those eager readers was Frederick
Douglass, who escaped from bondage
to become an eloquent and outspoken
critic of slavery. Garrison heard
him speak and was so impressed that
he sponsored Douglass to speak for
various anti-slavery organizations.
Hoping that abolition could be
achieved without violence, , Douglass began his own
antislavery newspaper. He named it
The North Star, after the star that
guided runaway slaves to freedom -
Treaty of Guadalupe
Meanwhile, American troops in Mexico, led by U.S.
generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, scored one military victory after
another. After about a year of fighting, Mexico conceded defeat. On February 2,
1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and
ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. The United States agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession -
Fugitive Slave Act
which required the return of runaway slaves. It sought to force the authorities in free states to return fugitive slaves to their masters. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state,upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished an act was passed settling a dispute between Texas and New Mexico that also established a government in New Mexico.
