1850s Test Review PDF

Test Review: Chapter Introductions: The opening section of chapter 15 emphasized that the United States in 1850 was a completely different nation from what it had been in 1800. The introductions gave examples of the main developments in the country between 1800 and 1850 and how this came to be. Th...

Test Review: Chapter Introductions: The opening section of chapter 15 emphasized that the United States in 1850 was a completely different nation from what it had been in 1800. The introductions gave examples of the main developments in the country between 1800 and 1850 and how this came to be. There are four essential but related themes in the introductions. Underlying all of the changes is a dramatic increase in population -- both free and enslaved. But the free white population that can vote and is counted fully for proportional representation is in the free states, meaning more power in the house of representative. 1. That the United States had become much more democratic and that there was a new party system with national parties. 2. The market revolution led to a much wealthier, larger economy but one that was also increasingly different in the north and the south. The south was even more dependent on the institution of slavery and the north on manufacturing and commerce based on free labor. 3. These changes also included cultural and social changes, but they were largely felt in the north. 4. Westward expansion: from the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, Indian Removal, and finally the war on Mexico, the United States had taken control across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. Democracy: Universal White Manhood Suffrage, popular election of presidents and the organization of modern political parties -- the development of the second American Party System (1834-1854). Market Revolution: Lowell Mills, Chauncey Jerome, canals, railroads, new technology, free labor, urbanization. Cotton production in the south, spread of slavery across the lower south. Social/cultural: spread of reform movements and evangelical Christianity in the north tied in with urbanization, population growth, immigration, and related social changes. The abolitionist movement, though a minority, was a strong and vocal radical reform movement that intensified the debate over slavery by emphasizing the moral case. Expansion: the major debate over the war with Mexico was over the expansion of slavery, and the Wilmot Proviso, followed by "popular sovereignty" in the 1848 presidential campaign gave a preview of the crisis to come. The Crisis of the 1850s: the crisis reaches its culmination when 7 southern states attempt to withdraw (secede) from the rest of the country between December 21, 1860 and February 2^nd^, 1861 and form a new nation, the Confederate States of America. The final straw was the election of Abraham Lincoln, and everyone seemed to know that would be the result if Lincoln won. How and why did they reach that point? That slavery, more specifically the issue of slavery in the territories, is the key issue is not in question. It's the obvious subject of every major debate and even something like the American Party which was not formed in response to slavery, ends up splitting over slavery. But the question is why compromise over slavery no longer works. *It is important to be able to development an argument that addresses why the middle ground that might allow compromise is eroded across the decade -- to evaluate how the unfolding events affect the politics in the north and the south.* The way people viewed each other -- the terms they used, what they accused the other of doing or planning to do and why -- is all part of the answer. The major events (After the Mexican War) are the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, the LeCompton Constitution, John Brown's raid, and the election of 1860. It is essential to understand and be able to explain the specific ways that each of these fed into the crisis. Other factors also play a role -- the Ostend Manifestor, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Fugitive Slave Act, Sumner-Brooks, Bleeding Kansas, the panic of 1857, the Republican Party platform, the secession conventions, all fit in with explaining what happens, as does the prevalence of terms such as "black Republicans" or the "slave power." A major point is understanding why both have reached a point where compromise with the other seems impossible. For example, southern whites become increasingly convinced that they must leave the union to protect slavery -- that the north is abolitionist -- and they see any challenge to slavery as a threat on their lives. The case of Natchez-Under-the-Hill helps explain this attitude and can be related to John Brown's Raid as well. Another example is the Republican platform and why the party was able to win in 1860. To simply oppose slavery would not be enough -- there were other important parts of the party's appeal, and the story of Chauncey Jerome and the Lowell Mills helps explain the Republican appeal in the north.