Did westward expansion cause the Civil War?

Did westward expansion cause the Civil War?

Know-Nothing Party

• Nativism – policy of accepting natural born Americans over immigrants

• Claimed they would “Americanize Americans”• Did well in local elections in the North• Died out after 1856 – Republican party leaders

pushed their overall program further• Immigrants offered economic, religious, political,

and social/cultural threats – what were they?

Political Cartoons Group Activity

• What is this cartoon saying about immigrants?• What symbols are present? What do they mean?• What is the first thing that stands out when you

look at the cartoon?• Who do you think the audience was?• What characteristics of nativism are present?• Add anything else you think would be important to

understanding your cartoon. Be prepared to explain to the class - appoint a speaker.

Questions

• How did immigrants affect national identity?• How can we apply nativism in the 1840s and

50s to anti-immigration sentiments in the U.S. today?

• Do you think today’s sentiments will reach political party status again?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin - 1852

Compromise of 1850

Fugitive Slave Act• All citizens North and South ordered to assist

in the return of escaped slaves• Escaped slaves denied a jury trial• Brought slavery to the forefront- those who

had been passive about the issue took a side• South thinks it will help• North does not enforce

The Issue of Slavery in the Territories• Wilmot Proviso – 1846

Free Soilers:• Liberty Party joined forces in 1848 with anti-

slavery Democrats and Conscience Whigs to form a new political party.

• What was their agenda

Opposition

• John C. Calhoun, Senator from S.C.

• States’ rights theory• Congress did not

have the constitutional right to prohibit slavery in the territories

Stephen Douglas• Was out for personal

political gain - wants to be president

• Wanted Chicago to benefit from western development

• Needed support from Southern Democrats

Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854•Land designated as non-slavery by Missouri Compromise 1820. •Dividing the region into two territories.

-Kansas: Popular Sovereignty would decide the slave status-Nebraska: Slavery was prohibited

Formation of the Republican Party• North protested the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854• Supported by:– Antislavery democrats– Former Whigs (who split over the issue of slavery)– Free Soilers from the North– Farmers, professionals small business owners,

craftsman– Know-Nothings – branch of Republican Party

“Bleeding Kansas”• Many Americans

emigrated to Kansas in order to affect the vote on slavery.

• A Congressional committee was established in 1856 to deal with the problems in Kansas.

• Lecompton Constitution

John Brown

Tragic Prelude - John Steuart Curry, 1937–39

Young America Movement• Americans inspired by 1848 European republican

revolutions, connected to Manifest Destiny, too• Want to keep adding territory – spread of slavery• William Walker• Ostend Manifesto – 1854• Weakening of Democratic Party

Lincoln/Douglas Debates - 1858

•Ran for a hotly contested Illinois Senate seat

•Lincoln lost but recognized nationally

• House Divided Speech• Opposed to Dred Scott Decision• Believed in Blacks having natural

rights, economic rights• Believed in white superiority• Opposed equal civil rights to free

blacks• Believed separation in Liberia or

Central America was the solution

More political events

• To be covered in detail tomorrow:– Dred Scott Decision– Sumner/Brooks Incident– John Brown and his hanging– Crittenden Compromise– Split of the Democratic Party/Election of Lincoln in

1860– Secession of South Carolina

Questions

• How can we attribute westward expansion to increased sectionalism?

• Would the Civil War have been inevitable without westward expansion that occurred in the 1840s/50s?

• Why do you think it was so difficult for the issue of slavery to be resolved?

Did westward expansion cause the Civil War?