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Analyze the causes and consequences of the pro-slavery and abolitionist groups' respective beliefs in their own superior moral identity.

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Explain how both the North and South felt threatened by the other side's ability to control the federal government and legislate against the interests of their region

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Explain the impact of territorial acquisition in intensifying sectional conflict.

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Analyse the degree to which and the ways in which the shift of pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces to more extreme positions worsened the sectional crisis.

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How did territorial acquisitions lead to the intensification of sectional conflict in America? What were the specific results of these acquisitions?

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What were the beliefs of Americans on the issue of slavery, and what were the results of their perspectives?

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What were the results of pro-slavery and anti-slavery Americans moving to more extreme viewpoints?

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How did the Northern and Southern regions differ in their political beliefs, specifically in beliefs that threatened the opposing region?

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-1840s: United States acquired more than a million square miles of new territory; settlers had many hopes and ambitions, justified their goals with “Manifest Destiny” ideology (340)

-Manifest Destiny- cited Western expansion for superior race of white people with northern European origins; groups like Indians and Mexicans unfit (340-341)

-Southerners encouraged by Mexico to settle in Texas for fertile soil; immigrants like Stephen F. Austin led revolts to establish Texas as independent nation (failed); led to battles between Texas and Mexico (342)

-1850s: Old Northwest migrants journeyed to more western territories for economic opportunities i.e. California gold rush; traveled on Oregon Trail (343-344); Indians were generally helpful, but still had many conflicts with settlers, leading to around 400 deaths (345)

-Annexation of Texas led to more conflict between Texas and Mexico and eventually the Mexican War (348); America won the Mexican War, gaining a new territory in the process (350)

-Gadsden Purchase: Secretary of War Jefferson Davis sent James Gadsden to Mexico; bought a strip of land that facilitated a southern route for the transcontinental railroad for 10 million dollars; increased the sectional rivalry between the North and South (355)

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-With fears of acquiring a large slave territory, U.S. government did not allow Texas into the union; northern senators defeated treaty for Texas presented by Secretary of State Calhoun as it extended slavery (343)

-Election of 1844: Democrats nominated James K. Polk, a strong supporter for the annexation of Texas (followed through with his promise) (347)

-Antislavery Democrat David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced the Wilmot Proviso, an amendment prohibiting slavery in any Mexico-acquired territory (351)

-Polk proposed plan to extend the Missouri Compromise line, ban slavery north of the line and permit it south of the line; politicians could not agree, issue remained unsolved (351)

-Free-Soil Party formed during 1848 election out of antislavery Whigs and Democrats who supported the Wilmot Proviso; nominated Martin Van Buren; elected 10 members to Congress (351)

-Zachary Taylor believed territories could settle the question of slavery on their own once they were granted statehood; asked Congress to grant statehood to California and New Mexico (353)

-All Northern state legislatures (except one) adopted resolutions prohibiting slavery in the territories (353)

-Henry Clay proposed a compromise to satisfy both the North and the South; included the admission of California as a free state; defeated in Congress after 6 months (353)

-President James Buchanan admitted Kansas into the Union as a slave state; pro-slavery legislature called for a constitutional convention; despite the majority of Kansas citizens opposing slavery, Buchanan pressured Congress to admit Kansas under Lecompton constitution; constitution rejected, Kansas later admitted as a free state (359)

-Election of 1860: in addition to debating over slavery, Republicans argued that the South was holding back the North and its economic interests; Republican Abraham Lincoln elected over Democrat Stephen Douglas

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-Slavery conflicts reopened with territorial expansion (341)

-Southern settlers in Texas wished to legalize slavery (342)

-Southerners believed that all Americans had equal rights in the new territories, including the right to move property (i.e. slaves) (351)

-As more and more people settled in California, slavery of Indians thrived; killed by “Indian hunters”; brought the issue of slavery in territories to attention, pressured the national government to resolve issue (352)

-Southerners resisted efforts in northern states to prevent officers from returning runaway slaves to their owners and by antislavery forces in Washington D.C. to abolish slavery completely (353)

-Ostend Manifesto: involved the seizing of Cuba by force; leaked to public; antislavery northerners outraged, saying Franklin Pierce was conspiring to bring a new slave state into the Union; resparked debates over issue of slavery (355)
-Northern Beliefs: ”Free-Soil” ideology caused increasing tensions among the North and the South; Northerners argued that their American right was to own property, control their own labor, and have access to advancement opportunities (in their eyes, slavery threatened their rights); believed that slavery preserved a Southern aristocracy where no one had the opportunity to improve themselves (357)

-Southern Beliefs: Meanwhile, ever since the Nat Turner uprising in 1831, Southerners believed slavery assured their economic security through the mass growing of cotton; argued it was good for the slaves, as they faced better conditions than those of industrial workers in the North; served as the basis for the southern way of life (358)

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-Many Southerners, even moderate southern leaders, began to talk about secession from the Union (353)

-Many Americans were all-for or completely against slavery; i.e. John Brown, an anti-slavery Kansas abolitionist who murdered 5 pro-slavery settlers in an event known as the Potawatomie Massacre (356)

-Guerrilla warfare and other forms of violence made the region known as “Bleeding Kansas” (357)

-After making a speech targeting Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was repeatedly beaten by Butler’s nephew Preston Brooks in an act of revenge; Sumner seen as hero in North, Brooks seen as hero in South (357)

-Dred Scott v. Sandford: Missouri slave Dred Scott argued he was liberated because his residence in free territory; Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled Scott could not bring a suit in the federal courts because he was not a citizen (he was property); a big loss for the anti-slavery movement; Northerners furious, Southerns elated; increased the separation between the North and the South (359)

-Several southern states eventually followed through and withdrew from the Union in the early 1860s (359)
-1859: Abolitionist John Brown of Kansas raided and seized control of a U.S. arsenal in Virginia, believing he could foment a slave insurrection; unsuccessful in his plan, later sentenced to death; believing Brown was endorsed by the Republican Party, Southerners believed the North was fully committed to producing a slave insurrection