-The status of California
-The Compromise of 1850
-The new labor force
-The impact of new technology
-Demise of the Whig Party
-The Young America Movement
-Planning a transcontinental railroad

[SLIDE 1]

The problem of adding new territories continued to plague the country with political power hanging in the balance. Wilmot's Proviso had tried to keep slavery out of territories gained in the war with Mexico. When it failed to pass, the problem of what to do about the question of slavery in the new territories persisted. It would take some political maneuvering, but California would be admitted as a free state.

[SLIDE 2]

After President Zachary Taylor died and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, Stephen Douglas separated the component parts of Clay's compromise bill and got to work pushing five separate bills through Congress. No one was happy with the compromise. Its strengthened Fugitive Slave provision intensified the Underground Railroad, as northerners resented being forced to help slavers in pursuit of runaways. Still, many believe the Compromise of 1850 delayed the start of the Civil War. 

[SLIDE 3]

Stephen Douglas believed that popular sovereignty—having the voters in a territory decide for themselves in a vote whether or not to allow slavery—would be an effective means of keeping national peace. This did not satisfy anti-slavery elements that wanted to limit the expansion of slavery in the hope that the institution would then naturally die out. In addition, Northerners found the new provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act intrusive. The existing Fugitive Slave Act had been widely ignored. The new provisions provided strong penalties for anyone not aiding in the capture of fugitives or found to be helping fugitive slaves. The new compromise acts would delay the onset of war, but not for long.

[SLIDE 4]

Regional economies were another factor contributing to divisiveness and the eventual outbreak of war. While in the Northeast, the agricultural segment of the economy was shrinking, in the South and West agriculture was expanding, in part to feed the factory workers of the Northeast. The growth of the railroad made it possible to ship agricultural products to the east without recourse to rivers. The railroads also transported ore from mines for the iron industry. Railroads could bring a good return on investment: investors, state and local government loans, and federal land grants all supported the building of railroads. The federal government gave land to railroad developers, who then sold plots of land along the proposed route and used the funds to finance the construction. Meanwhile, plans were advancing for a transcontinental railroad, which many hoped would unite the country, not only geographically but in cohesive sentiment.

[SLIDE 5]

Crop failures in Europe raised grain prices for American farmers, who were now able to ship grain by railroad to the east coast and from there to Europe. Western farmers were now feeding the industrial Northeast as well as Europe. The Western region grew accordingly in wealth and political influence. With advances in agricultural technology, more land was put into cultivation, which meant that farmers were not reliant on just raising food and instead could focus on cash crops. In the South, that cash crop was cotton. While Northeastern factory owners may have wanted cotton farmed with free labor, what they got was the product of the slave system they abhorred and which they helped to maintain.

[SLIDE 6]

Although slavery lay behind every political debate, most Americans were indifferent to the issue. Two-thirds of Southerners did not own slaves and were not part of the large plantation system. Most Northerners just weren't that interested. Many thought the institution was wrong but weren't motivated to do anything about it. Most people were more centrally concerned with their own lives and their own autonomy. They wanted control over the issues that mattered to them and effected their lives more directly. All sides feared the interference of outsiders in their affairs.

[SLIDE 7]

 The Whig Party was increasingly divided and lost the election of 1852 to the Democrats' Franklin Pierce, a representative of the Young America Movement.

[SLIDE 8]

Franklin Pierce was a representative of the Young America movement, a faction of the Democratic Party that was inspired by similar movements in Europe, like Junges Deutschland and Young Italy. It advocated free trade, social reform, expansion south into the territories, and support for republican, anti-aristocratic movements in other countries. It became a faction in the Democratic Party in the 1850s. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois promoted its nationalistic program in an unsuccessful effort to overcome sectional differences in the U.S.

[SLIDE 9]

President Pierce wanted national expansion. Part of his agenda was the building of a transcontinental railroad to unite the nation, but even choosing a route for the unifying railroad was a cause for division. The south wanted the business advantages that connection with the Pacific coast would bring. However, the proposed southern route had mountains in the way that would require diversion northward where connections could be made with northern railroads and would favor northern ports. The land necessary to move the railroad farther south belonged to Mexico. Pierce angered everyone opposed to slavery or Southern power by purchasing the land from Mexico.