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Period: to
Westward Expansion
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Texas Admitted to Union
The ambitions of the North and South caused the annexation of Texas to become a more pressing issue. Following the expansion into Texas and Oregon by use of the Oregon Trail, President Polk was put into office alreading having managed to secure Texas for the United States. -
Oregon Divided at 49th Parallel
As the seizure of multiple towns in California and the dispatch of Fremonts "exploring party" intruded in Mexican territory, war was getting closer and closer. In order to avoid a simultaneous conflict with Great Britain, Polk took a step back from his "fifty-four fourty or fight" idea to end joint occupation of the region with Britain and accepted the division of Oregon Country at the 49th parallel instead. -
Free-Soil Party
This political party opposed the expansion of slavery because it only benefited "aristocratic men". Its members, mostly comprised of white yeomen, encouraged the settlement of farm families in the western territories and that republican ideals should be instilled there as well. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
In order to reunify the Democratic Party, the dream to expand deep into Mexico was deserted and instead the ideas of John C. Calhoun were accepted. He insisted that only CA and NM should be annxed in order to avoid a longer war. Signed by President James Polk, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the US over one-third of Mexican Territory comprising of Texas, New Mexico, and California. In return, Mexico would recieve $15 million for it. -
Gold Discovered in California
Workers of John A. Sutter unearthed flakes of gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills. They tried to keep it a secret, but President Polk confirmed the discovery in December 1848. By 1849, more than 80,000 settlers had arrived in California and had begun hurriedly searching for the specks. This rapid influx of people had significantly increased the population out west. -
Popular Soverignty
The idea of popular soverignty emphasized that voters would directly or indirectly ratify the constitutions of their states and the amendments to those laws as well. Advocated by Democratic senator Stephen Douglas in 1850, this gave residents in recently formed western territories the ability and authority to determine whether the state was free or proslave. -
Compromise of 1850
An attepmt at preserving the Union, the Compromise of 1850 was made up by Henry Clay and other Whig leaders and was composed of five laws. From these laws, California was admitted as a free sate, and the aquisition of more Mexican soil created the territories of Utah and New Mexico. Because of this expansion of US land, a crisis was avoided and the opportunity for slavery to extend further west increased, but this land would keep the issue of slavery unresolved. -
Gadsden Purchase
Franklin Pierce, the new Presidential electee, pursued an expansionist policy. In order to appeal to the South after assisting the North, he revived Polk's plan to annex large amounts of Mexican territory. Mexico rejected this idea, and so Pierce purchased a narrow strip of land in the south part of what is today Arizona. This would allow James Gadsden to facilitate the construction of a railroad from Texas to the coast of California. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Delay in the organization of the Louisiana purchase caused demands for settlement fromt the Upper South/ Ohio River Valley residents. Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to organize the territory of Nebraska. It repealed the Missouri Compromise line and created Nebraska and Kansas. These provisions would allow the opportunity for southern planters to settle in Kansas and eventually make it a slave state. Although Douglas argued it would actually be a free state, it barely passed in Congress. -
"Bleeding Kansas"
Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, thousands of setters rushed into Kansas. Missourians were crossing the border and pushing for proslavery legislation, but Kansas residents favored freed soil and refused to follow it. Both sides turned to violence and due to the attacks and killings, "Bleeding Kansas" became the nickname for the territory. As a result of the formation of the Kansas Nebraska territory, another political crisis was created.
