CH 18 notes
• The Mexican American war ended making Mexicans give up texas, California, and all the areas inbetween. The antislaveryites liked the Wilmot proviso because it prohibiterd slavery in any territory gained from the Mexican American war, but southern senators didn’t use the proviso. The debate of slavery in the Mexican territories caused problems between whigs and democrats along the north and south sectional lines.
Popular sovereignty panacea
• General Lewis Cass took over from President Polk and created popular sovereignty that appealed to the public because it was a compromise between free soilers who wanted to ban slavery and the territories who wanted to keep it. Popular sovereignty could spread the blight of slavery.
General
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Democrats were upset Polk settled for part of Oregon but demanded all of texas because it would give the democratic party southern dominance. The free soilers condemned slavery but really wanted to stop white workers from getting wage earning dependence from self-employment
California gold
• The gold rush brought many americans west trying to strike it rich but most ended up dying from illness. California was full of violence and was almost never enforced by the law. President Taylor privately encouraged California to make a constitution that banned slavery and then applied to join the union.
Underground railroad and sectional balance
• When California joined the union there would be 16 free states and 15 slave states which made the system unbalanced. Slaves would runaway from their owners by the underground railroad, even though not many slaves escaped to actually make a difference in the south, the slave owners wanted to end
Capitol Hill
New leaders wanted to completely change the union instead of restoring it. President taylor who was influenced by higher law threatened to lead an army to texas to stop the treats of seizing Santa Fe. If the troops went the civil war may have started