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Questions and Answers
What was the Wilmot Proviso?
What was the Wilmot Proviso?
What was the Compromise of 1850?
What was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850?
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What was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850?
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What was the Ostend Manifesto?
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Who was William Walker?
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Who was William Walker?
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What was the Ostend Manifesto?
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What was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850?
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What was the Treaty of Wanghia?
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What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854?
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What was the Treaty of Wanghia?
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What was the Gadsden Purchase?
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What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854?
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What was Manifest Destiny?
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Study Notes
The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law
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Politicians ignored the issue of slavery to avoid splitting the Union, but it was still brought up by Northern abolitionists and Southern "fire-eaters."
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The election of 1848 saw the Democrats elect General Lewis Cass and the Whigs elect General Zachary Taylor, both of whom practiced "lid-sitting" on slavery.
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Cass was the reputed father of popular sovereignty, a doctrine that stated the sovereign people of a territory should determine the status of slavery under the general principles of the Constitution.
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The Free Soil Party was made by antislavery men of the North who did not trust Cass or Taylor. Their candidate was Martin Van Buren, and Taylor won the election.
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The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment proposed by David Wilmot that sought to prohibit slavery from all territories acquired from Mexico. It never became a law but came to symbolize the burning issue of slavery in the territories.
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The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state, opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty, ended the slave trade in Washington DC, and introduced a more stringent fugitive slave law.
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The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 and set high penalties for anyone who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways.
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Massachusetts made it a penal offense for any state official to enforce the new federal statute (fugitive slave law of 1850) in 1854, leading to the creation of "personal liberty laws" that denied local jails to federal officials and hampered enforcement.
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Franklin Pierce was the "dark horse" Democratic candidate in the election of 1852 and endorsed both the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
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The Whig Party declined and eventually died within a few years after the election of 1852, foreshadowing the rise of national and sectional parties.
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Manifest Destiny, the belief that the US was destined by God to spread its "empire of liberty" across North America, was reinvigorated by the victory in the Mexican American War and discovery of gold in California.
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Greytown, the port of San Juan del Notre on the coast of Nicaragua, saw British seizure, leading to the US and New Granada (Colombia) concluding an important treaty together in 1848 that guaranteed the American right of transit across the narrow strip of land if they could get Washington's pledge to maintain "perfect neutrality."
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The Fugitive Slave Law strengthened the antislavery cause in the North, and fleeing slaves could not testify on their own behalf and were denied a jury trial.US Foreign Policy in the Mid-19th Century
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The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 prevented the US and Great Britain from seeking control over any future waterway and jointly protected the neutrality of Central America.
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William Walker was an American adventurer who tried to control Nicaragua and legalize slavery. The coalition of Central American nations overthrew him in 1860.
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Spanish Cuba was an enticing prospect of annexation for the US, but the Spaniards refused to sell it to the US for $100 million.
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Filibustering, or pirate expeditions, in 1850-51 failed to seize Cuba. The Black Warrior incident was used by President Pierce to force a showdown with Spain into order to seize Cuba.
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The Ostend Manifesto was a secret proposal to purchase Cuba from Spain for $120 million. When the secret was leaked, the North rose up against it and President Pierce dropped the scheme.
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The Opium War between Britain and China secured Britain's right to trade opium and gave Britain free access to the five treaty ports and outright control of Hong Kong.
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The Treaty of Wanghia was the first formal diplomatic agreement between the US and China and assured the US the same trading concessions granted to other powers.
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Commodore Matthew C. Perry led a fleet of warships sent to Japan in 1852, ending Japan's 200-year period of economic isolation with the Treaty of Kanagawa.
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James Gadsden negotiated the Gadsden Purchase for $10 million, acquiring additional land from Mexico to help construct a southern transcontinental railroad.
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 proposed that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, thus revoking the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and adding fuel to the fire of the upcoming Civil War.
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The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, Ostend Manifesto, and Kansas-Nebraska Act were all significant in the lead-up to the Civil War and the expansion of US territory.
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US foreign policy in the mid-19th century involved attempts to expand US territory and influence, often through aggressive or controversial means.
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Description
Test your knowledge of US history with these two quizzes! The first quiz covers the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, discussing the political climate surrounding slavery and how it ultimately led to the Civil War. The second quiz delves into US foreign policy in the mid-19th century, exploring events such as the Ostend Manifesto, the Opium War, and the Gadsden Purchase, as well as the US's attempts to expand its territory and influence
