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Compare the attitudes and practices regarding slavery and race relations in the North and the South. How did the reliance on cotton production and slavery affect the South economically, socially, and morally, and how did this reliance affect its relations with the North? What were the economic strength and weaknesses of the "Cotton Kingdom"?
What led to the rise of the spirit of "Manifest Destiny" in the 1840s, and how did that spirit show itself in the American expansionism of the decade? How was the "Manifest Destiny" of the 1840s -- particularly the expansion into Texas and Mexico -- related to the sectional conflict over slavery? What were the causes and consequences of the Mexican War?
Explain how the issue of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico disrupted American politics from 1848-1850. What was the effect of the morally powerful slavery debate on American political parties? What caused the demise of the Whig Party, and the rise of the Free Soil and Republican parties?
How similar was the Compromise of 1850 to the Missouri Compromise of 1820? Point out the major terms of each and how they both attempted to deal with the issue of slavery. How did each sectional compromise affect the balance of power between North and South? Why could sectional issues be compromised in 1820 and 1850, but not in 1854?
The Kansas-Nebraska Act re-ignited the slavery issue after the Compromise of 1850. What were the causes of the Kansas-Nebraska Act? Describe the Kansas-Nebraska Act and explain why it stirred the sectional controversy to new heights. How and why might the Civil War have come even if Douglas's bill had not been enacted?
Why were proslavery southerners so eager to push for further expansion in Nicaragua, Cuba, and elsewhere in the 1850s?
What fundamentally motivated the new American engagement with China and Japan in the 1840s and 1850s? What were the treaties negotiated by Caleb Cushing and Matthew Perry?
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How did reliance on cotton production and slavery effect the south economically?
ReplyDeleteThe South was dependent on cotton production and they needed slaves to work on their plantations. It was the base of their economy. The North was manufacturing in factories (more developed, more options, more goods) and didn't need slaves to do the work. The North therefore opposed slavery.
The South wanted to sell cotton directly to Europe but the industry in the North wanted the majority of cotton to be processed in their factories. The customs policy was an example how that was supported.
The South was also known as the "Cotton Kingdom" due to the large production of cotton and the people in the South believed that they were the leading cotton export in the world. The South was a one-crop economy meaning that it relied mostly on just cotton and this reliance on just one resource made severely hindered the South when the demand for cotton decreased.
DeleteWhat led to the rise of the spirit of "Manifest Destiny" in the 1840s?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the Americans believed that it was their God-given right to do such. Also, nationalism peaked and made the Americans want to expand as well. They felt as though they should extend their way of life and liberty farther.
This spirit showed itself in the gaining of Texas up until the Rio Grande, the expansion far west into the Oregon Territory, and the addition of California.
DeleteWhat gave rise to nationalism?
DeleteThis spirit was also shown in the attempts to gain Latin American countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua even through force if it was necessary.
DeleteThe Kansas-Nebraska act made each of these territories into states. Each state would use popular sovereignty to decide what to do about slavery. People who were pro-slavery and antislavery moved to Kansas, but some antislavery settlers were against the Act.
ReplyDeleteThe Kansas- Nebraska act repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had outlawed slavery above the 36' 30' latitude in the Louisiana territories and reopened the national struggle over slavery in the western territories..
DeleteSenator Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois) was behind the act!
DeleteThe Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed but there were many protests. The Act was denounced by anti-slaverites as "squatter sovereignty." The Act offended abolitionists and Free Soil supporters known as the "barn burners." Lastly, the Southerns, "fire eaters", considered any limitation on slavery to be intolerable.
DeleteWhy were proslavery southerners so eager to push for further expansion in Nicaragua, Cuba, and elsewhere in the 1850s?
ReplyDeleteBasically, pro-slavery Southerners like William Walker wanted to conquer lands like Cuba and Nicaragua so as to expand the territory that would be open to slavery. This idea was spelled out most famously in the Ostend Manifesto, which advocated taking Cuba by force if necessary. By this time (the 1850s) the issue of slavery seemed to be decided with the continental US. There seemed to be no room for slavery to grow. Therefore, many Southerners wanted to take more land outside the US so as to increase the power of the slave states relative to the free states.
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 declared that the US would buy Cuba from Spain, but if Spain refused the US would take Cuba by force. The US tried to display rational reasons for obtaining Cuba. The Minister to Spain, Pierre Soule, met with the Minister the Britain, James Buchanan, and the Minister to France, John Y. Mason,at Ostend, Belgium, do discuss Cuban annexation.
DeleteGreed and Arrogance played a major role in the spirit of "Manifest Destiny" in the 1840's.
ReplyDeleteManifest Destiny created a belief that Americans had the right to expand as far as they wanted to, or in Americas case as far as they could (from Atlantic to Pacific)
DeleteThe term was created by John O'Sullivan in 1845 and in the 1800s began to represent the American ideology in the face of an industrializing world. Another aspect of Manifest Destiny was spreading Western ideals to "civilize" the West and the Native Americans that resided there. Manifest Destiny was fueled by the Louisiana Purchase and the annexation of Texas.
DeleteHow did "greed and ignorance" play a role in manifest destiny??
DeleteExplain how the issue of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico disrupted American politics from 1848-1850. What was the effect of the morally powerful slavery debate on American political parties?
ReplyDeleteAfter the end of the Mexican American War in 1848, a heated discussion over slavery in the acquired territory disrupted and further sectionalised American politics. Southern Democrats sought to expand slavery into the new area, arguing that it was under the 36' 30 parallel and therefore under the Missouri Compromise should become slaveholding. However, in the Northern states, they feared that introduction of new slaveholding territories would cause an imbalance in political power that would act in the south's favour. Northern Republicans introduced the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in all the newly acquired territories. However, this frightened the Slave states of the South, because they, too, feared an imbalance of slave/free states in the legislature. This controversy served only to polarise the American political stage.
Why were proslavery southerners so eager to push for further expansion in Nicaragua, Cuba, and elsewhere in the 1850s?
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1850's, the Senate's votes were balanced between slave states and free states and the South had been looking for land within their spheres of influence, most new territories of that time had been westward and tended to flock toward the free states point of view, so that they could gain a slave state and therefore votes in the senate. By gaining territory in Cuba/Nicaragua, this would allow for territories that were south of the 36-30 parallel and also territory that had already been taking advantage of slavery, such as Cuba who had been using slavery on their very productive sugar plantations. If Cuba were to become a state it would indefinitely become a slave state and in turn add votes in the senate towards a pro slavery point of view.
Desires of expansion in Latin America by both the US and Britain nearly led to a conflict that was resolved by the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850, which stipulated that neither Britain or America could seek exclusive control of a future isthmian waterway.
DeleteWhat were the treaties negotiated by Caleb Cushing and Matthew Perry?
ReplyDeleteIn 1844, Cushing negotiated the Treaty of Wangxia. This agreement granted to American merchants the same rights as Britain based upon the "most-favored-nation" principle. On July 14, 1853, Perry and his flotilla of what the Japanese termed "black ships" arrived off of Edo. Perry presented to representatives of the Japanese shogunate a letter from President Millard Filmore requesting the establishment of commercial relations. Masking an implied military threat, Perry announced that he would depart but come back the next year to receive a reply from the shogunate. Returning to Edo Bay the following February, Perry waited two weeks before disembarking his ship to a gracious reception by the Japanese. On March 31, the Commodore and his Japanese counterparts concluded the Treaty of Kanagawa, which guaranteed protection for shipwrecked sailors and opened two remote ports for trade and as sources of coal for American vessels.
What were the economic strength and weaknesses of the "Cotton Kingdom"?
ReplyDeleteAn advantage of the one crop system in which the south was engaged meant that they could gain money fast, and had large political and economic sway with the rest of the world. the problem is, it gave the south the false hope that they could make it on their own. The south was completely dependent on this one crop that could fail, causing them to sink into depression. Plantation agriculture also did not attract many immigrants to the South, so the fact they relied on cotton for income limited the south's population growth outside of slaves. Plus, it left the south behind in terms of industrialization, the rest of the country and Europe were both becoming more industrialized quickly.
What fundamentally motivated the new American engagement with China and Japan in the 1840s and 1850s?
ReplyDeleteIn the 1840s and 50s, American merchants and missionaries pushed China and Japan to open their ports to visitors. This push was caused by an increase in the Manifest Destiny belief, which pushed Americans to believe it was their responsibility to civilize and then exploit the Asian countries. American merchants were interest in Japan's vast coal resources, which could satisfy even the growing industrialization of the U.S. Missionaries saw it as their responsibility to their religion to push Christianity in the countries that rejected Western ideals, believing that although they rejected Catholicism, Protestant Christianity would be welcomed and widely accepted.
What were the treaties negotiated by Caleb Cushing and Matthew Perry?
ReplyDeleteThe treaties that were negotiated by Caleb Cushing and Matthew Perry include the Treaty of Wanghia that was between the United States and China in 1844 negotiated by Caleb Cushing that allowed America to exercise a sovereign law in an outside territory. Matthew Perry took a role in negotiating the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1845 between Japan and the United States that ended Japan's seclusion that had dated from 1639-1854 and was also the first treaty signed between Japan and a Western country in the 19th century.
I think its important to give some background on who exactly Caleb Cushing and Mathew Perry were, Caleb Cushing was an American diplomat who served as a US Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General under president Pierce. While, Mathew C. Perry was Commodore of the US Navy commander who served in many wars including the Mexican-American War and the War of 1812.
Deletecomparison of northern and southern stances on slavery.
ReplyDeleteThe south saw it as a good, positive economic opportunity and good for the nation as a whole, but after Hinton r. Helper's book, the Impending Crisis of the South, persuaded the north that the institution of slavery actually hurt economy and held whites back which created an abolitionist movement supported by both racists and non-racist northerners.
Helper's book also opened the eyes of many poor, non-slaveholding southerners to the detrimental effect that slavery had on their society. Since the ultimate goal of many poor whites was to rise to the societal position of plantation owner ( the antebellum Southern American dream), this new information served to disrupt southern society and create southern unrest within the lower classes of whites. This book helped to undermine the position of the south on slavery.
DeleteWhat were the causes and consequences of the Mexican War?
ReplyDeleteThere were a few causes of the Mexican American War. One was manifest destiny. The U.S. believed it had the right to expand its borders, but Mexico did not want to give up land. Another cause was in 1845 when President Polk instructed John Slidell to off off up to $25 million for New Mexico and California, but Mexico felt insulted so they refused the offer. After that Zachary Taylor was sent with an army to the disputed territory in Texas. The Mexicans attacked them resulting in sixteen casualties. In 1846 the U.S. declares war. The consequences of the war included 13,000 Americans killed with Northern Mexico and Texas added to the United States.
Taylor was attacked because he was invading Mexico.. at east in the eyes of Mexico. At the time there was roughly a 100 mile wide stretch of land that Mexico and the US disputed, the lowest point of which was the Rio Grande. In order to legitimize war with Mexico, Taylor was ordered to advance to the Rio Grande, thus provoking the Mexican army into attacking, which in turn allowed the US to declare war on Mexico.
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ReplyDeleteWhat fundamentally motivated the new American engagement with China and Japan in the 1840s and 1850s?
ReplyDeleteThere were two main motivations,religion and economics, that led to new American engagement with China, specifically, in the 1840's and 1850's. The first motivation would be religion, people in the U.S. began too see that it was America's "manifest destiny" to christianize the savage Chinese and Japanese people. The second motivation would have been Economic because the Qing dynsaty in China, a isolationist goverment who only allowed one port, the port at Guangzhou, for trade with the western world, however when the Qing dynasty fell, the Chinese began to open up more trade with the western world mainly for Opuim, but the U.S. began to try to sell their goods in Chinese markets for a profit. So, because of the fall of the Qing isolationist dynasty, the U.S. saw to move upon its relgious and economic motivations to trade in China during the 1840's and 1850's.
What caused the demise of the Whig Party, and the rise of the Free Soil and Republican parties? The two great Whig leaders Clay and Webster had both died between the nominating convention and the 1852 election. Without their dominant leadership, the Whig Party began to unravel. It was torn in two directions by the issue of slavery, with Southern Whigs trending towards what they felt were the more sympathetic Democrats. Northern Whigs had already begun to defect to the Free-Soil Party and from 1854 on to the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteHow and why might the Civil War have come even if Douglas's bill had not been enacted?
ReplyDeleteThe Kansas-Nebraska, as opposed to being a defining moment in a series of events leading to the Civil War, was nothing more than a place holder. While it did result in increased tensions between pro- and anti-slavery factions across the country, really any event that caused disagreement between the factions wold have resulted in the same tensions. The situation had deteriorated so much between the factions that even the slightest event would have set them off, as evidenced by the increasing frequency of the so called "Compromises."
The Compromise of 1850 is similar to the Missouri Compromise in the fact that both were made in order to balance the interests of the North and South, rather than completely resolve the issues at hand. The Missouri Compromise established the the Mason-Dixon line, which determined which states could slave states and which could be free states. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted as a free state and for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia to satisfy the North, and it opened the New Mexico and Utah territories to popular sovereignty and created a more stringent fugitive-slave law in order to appease to the South.
ReplyDeleteCompare the attitudes and practices regarding slavery and race relations in the North and the South.
ReplyDeleteSlavery was always the economic power of the South. Slaves were used on plantations to reap what their masters were sewing. As for the North, though, its economy was based on industry. When the North imposed the "Tariff of Abominations", the South saw it as a way for the North to be rid of slavery, but subtly. Since that point, the South had their eyes on the North and thought of them as opposing their way of life. With the stress of slavery between the two, war was almost in sight.
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ReplyDeleteWhy were proslavery southerners so eager to push for farther expansion in Cuba?
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1850's the "Cotton Kingdom" was looking to expand it's cotton farms and gain more access to the world trade. Cuba had soil that could grow cotton and it had the best access to the world market so the South could export cotton around the world. Leading up to the Civil War the South's one-crop economy was beginning to slowly fail and they needed Cuba to push their economy forward.