-Advocates of abolition
-War with Mexico
-New third parties
-Growing nativism

[SLIDE 1]

The antislavery movement gradually gained momentum, but different views on the matter persisted. Some thought a gradual end to slavery would be less disruptive and that repatriation, or as it was called, colonization, should be the final outcome. William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most outspoken opponents of slavery, and his views more more extreme. He wanted an immediate end to to slavery with no expatriation of freed slaves. His extremist rhetoric angered many, and there were bounties on his head. More than once he had to be placed in protective custody to save him from mobs. Frederick Douglass  was seen by abolitionists as proof against slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as American citizens. Douglass was actually more moderate than Garrison and eventually had a falling out with him. He believed in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution and felt it could be used in the fight for justice. He was willing to engage in dialogue with anyone, even slaveholders. A freed slave woman gave herself the name Sojourner Truth after experiencing a religious conversion. She became a vocal spokesperson for both abolition and women's rights. Sojourner Truth is best known for a speech she gave that has come to be known as "Ain't I A Woman," but the original form of the speech has been lost. It was printed afterwards with a Southern slave dialect, but Sojourner Truth was from upper NY State and spoke a dialect of Dutch until she was nine, so it is certain the version that was printed does not represent her actual words. David Walker brought a more radical voice to the abolitionist movement and inspired later black leaders and activists. He emphasized that black people would have to be active in their own liberation through individual moral improvement, including education, which would frighten whites by proving they were not inferior,  and through temperance, and self-regulation. Other African-Americans were active in the abolition movement, including minister Henry Highland Garnet.

[SLIDE 2]

Many people were sympathetic to the more moderate antislavery proposals, and so in 1840 two new, more moderate groups formed: the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, a splinter group of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and the Liberty party, a political party that put forth its own presidential nominee. In 1844, the Liberty party acted as spoilers enabling Polk to win the president. In the following election, as the antislavery movement gained momentum, they united with the antislavery elements of the Whigs and Democrats to form the larger Free-Soil party.

[SLIDE 3]

Because Mexico had not ratified the Treaty of Velasco, the southern border of Texas was still unsettled. Apart from that issue, Polk wanted an America that stretched to the Pacific Ocean. He sent John Slidell to Mexico with an offer to buy New Mexico, California, and settle the border with Texas, but he was prepared for war if negotiations failed, as he expected. The militarism displayed by the U.S. put Mexico on the defensive, and it declared war on the U.S., followed by the U.S. declaring war on Mexico. Many Americans, particularly in the Northeast, opposed the war, believing that a Southern oligarchy controlled Southern politics and would end up controlling national policy if the South achieved more control through annexation of additional territories south of the Missouri Compromise line. David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania representative, proposed an amendment to the appropriations bill for the war, stating that slavery would not exist in any territories gained in the war, but the bill failed in the Senate, where the South had an equal voice. The House finally passed an appropriation for the war without reference to the question of slavery.

[SLIDE 4]

The war with Mexico resulted in Texas, New Mexico, and California coming into U.S. control with the border established at the Rio Grande. The U.S. would pay $15 million and any reparations owed to Americans. President Polk was displeased because he felt the U.S. should have annexed all of Mexico. Nonetheless, the outcome was a victory for American nationalism and manifest destiny.

[SLIDE 5]

James Polk chose because of ill health not to run for a second term. The Democrats fielded a moderate on slavery for president and a vice presidential candidate from the slave state of Kentucky. The Whigs also tried for a balanced ticket between a slaveholder and a slavery moderate. Antislavery factions joined together as a third party, the Free-Soil Party, and fielded former president Martin Van Buren as their candidate. Taylor is elected but is unable to accomplish his agenda. He dies of a stomach ailment after only 16 months in office.

[SLIDE 6]

Growing numbers of voters were disaffected with both parties. A Whig plan to attract immigrant voters backfired when it alienated two of the Whig's core components, artisans and evangelicals, who for different but perhaps overlapping reasons viewed immigrants as a threat. A new, xenophobic coalition would form from different disaffected elements.

[SLIDE 7]

Growing numbers of disaffected voters were disgusted with American leadership in both parties. This disaffection was expressed in different groups that coalesced into the nativist Know-Nothing movement, a secret group that was anti-Catholic, xenophobic, and hostile to immigration. It started originally as a secret society but became increasingly vocal and briefly gained a formal political voice as the American Party.