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Gag Rule
The gag rule was adopted by the House of Representatives. Under this informal agreement, which remained in force until 1844, the House automatically tabled antislavery petitions, keeping the explosive issue of slavery off the congressional stage. John Quincy Adams led the effort to end the gag rule. -
Texas' Independence
Fearing central control from Santa Anna and his push for national authority throughout Mexico, the war party in Texas provoked a rebellion that most of the American settlers ultimately supported. On March 2, 1836, the American rebels proclaimed the independence of Texas and adopted a constitution legalizing slavery. -
The Whigs and John C. Calhoun
Calhoun believed in class divisions in society. He also believed that northern Whigs' rhetoric of equal opportunity was contradicted by both slavery and the wage-labor system of industrial capitalism. He considered slavery a fundamental American institution. He also urged slave owners and factory owners to unite against their common foe: the working class of enslaved blacks and property-less whites. -
John Tyler
John Tyler took over the presidency after Harrison died of pneumonia. He was firmly committed to slavery and states' rights. John Tyler was formerly a Whig, but got himself kicked off of the party when he started making decisions that his party opposed. He had an initiative to annex Texas which made the election of 1844 a political contest and led to the war with Mexico in 1846. -
James K. Polk
James K. Polk, the Democrats' candidate for presidency in the election of 1844. Polk campaigned for the "Re-occupation of Oregon and the Re-annexation of Texas." He insisted that the United States defy British claims and occupy "The whole of the territory of Oregon" to the Alaskan border. This was when he came up with the jingoistic cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight". -
Wilmot Proviso
Proposed by David Wilmot, an antislavery Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, the Wilmot Proviso was a ban on slavery in any territories gained from the war with Mexico. Whigs and antislavery Democrats in the House of Representatives quickly passed the bill, dividing Congress along sectional lines. Fearing the outcome to be the end of the Union, a few proslavery northern senators joined their southern colleagues to kill the proviso. -
American-Mexican War
President Polk sent forces to California and urged the Californians to seek independence and union with the United States. He sent an "exploring" party of soldiers into Mexican territory. He then sent John Slidell to Mexico to secure the Rio Grande boundary for Texas and to buy the provinces of California and New Mexico for $30 million, but the proposal was rejected and war seemed to be inevitable. When war broke out, Polk was ready and the Americans easily claimed victory and forced a peace. -
Compromise of 1850
A collective of five separate laws. The first was the Fugitive Slave Act to mollify the South. The second being the admittance of California as a free stave to satisfy the North. The third was the resolve of a boundary dispute between New Mexico and Texas in favor of New Mexico. The fourth was to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. The fifth was to organize the rest of the conquered Mexican lands into the territories of New Mexico and Utah, and allow popular sovereignty. -
Neb-Kan Act
A bill sent forth by Senator Stephen A. Douglas, which he amended in order to win the support of the South. He repealed the Missouri Compromise and organized the trans-Mississippi west on the basis of popular sovereignty. He agreed to the formation of two territories, Nebraska and Kansas. The Senate passed the bill, but just barely. -
Dred Scott vs, Stanford
A bill sent forth by Senator Stephen A. Douglas, which he amended in order to win the support of the South. He repealed the Missouri Compromise and organized the trans-Mississippi west on the basis of popular sovereignty. He agreed to the formation of two territories, Nebraska and Kansas. The Senate barely passed the bill.
