In the Election of 1844, James K Polk ran for the Democrats and Henry Clay ran for the Whigs. Although not expected to win, Polk won by a large margin. Polk's Four-Point Plan was going to lower tariffs, restore the Independent Treasury System, acquire California, and settle the Oregon dispute. He succeeded in all of them. When trying to get California from Mexico, they were denied even with the offer of $25 million. He sent troops down to the border of Texas at the Rio Grande. Mexican troops attacked first and began the war. The war ended fairly quickly and the United States gained the Mexican Cession which included parts of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and the disputed land in Texas.
In the Election of 1848, expansion problems were the main issue. Lewis Cass endorsed Popular Sovereignty as a solution to the issue. Taylor decided to stay out of the issue entirely while Van Buren hated expansion completely. Taylor won because he did not get involved. The Wilmot Proviso, another conclusion for expansion was almost passed in Congress but did not pass within the Senate. The Compromise of 1850 was to deal with the expansion of slavery in the United States. The five bills that made up the Compromise were: California was to become a slave state, the Mexican Cession left the decision of slavery up to popular sovereignty, land between Texas and New Mexico was to be given to New Mexico a with the federal government giving Texas $10 million, the slave trade was banned in Washington D.C. and a harsher Fugitive Slave Law was to come into effect. Taylor who was not going to pass these died off suddenly and Millard Fillmore became the 2nd “accidental president”. He then signed the Compromise of 1850. When California became a free state, some southern politicians, fire eaters, threatened to secede.
Immediately after the Compromise of 1850, the Decade of Crisis begins. The Election of 1852 had 3 candidates running. They were Franklin Pierce of the Democratic Party, Winfield Scott of the Whig Party, and John Hale of the Free-Soil Party. The Whigs ran a former war general since it had worked before. Pierce won the election, and the Whig Party died out after this election. The Whigs were very disorganized ultimately died out because of their acceptance of the Fugitive Slave Law.
The South began to look for land outside of the country. Some examples are Mexico, Baja Mexico, Caribbean Islands, and Central America. William Walker went to Nicaragua and took over, declaring himself President. In 1860, Nicaragua rebelled and killed Walker. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty forbade Great Britain and the U.S. from securing an area for a canal. The Ostend Manifesto was an offer to Spain to purchase Cuba for $120 million, but if Spain denied the U.S. would fight for it. This deal was kept a secret from the North, and when the North found out about it, President Pierce backed down with the offer. The Gadsden Purchase bought a piece of New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico for $10 million. This land was to be used for construction of a railroad.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was created by Stephen Douglass and it organized the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska. This act destroyed the Whigs and severely hurt the Democrats. As a result the Republican Party emerged from the Whigs, Free-Soil, Know-Nothings, and some Democrats. Because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, an event called Bleeding Kansas occurred. Abolitionists and slavery supporters rushed to Kansas to vote in Popular Sovereignty. Slavery supporters and abolitionists fought each other in a series of battles that can be considered as a mini civil war. Abolitionists like John Brown were sought for by the government because of his murdering. After the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre, John Brown went to Harper's Ferry, Virginia and raided the federal arsenal there.
The Election of 1856 had three candidates. They were James Buchanan of the Democrat Party, Millard Fillmore of the Know-Nothing Party, and John Fremont of the Republican Party. James Buchanan wins this election. In 1857, the Dred Scott v. Sandford case proved that slavery was legal anywhere. The government could not take away private property, and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
The Election of 1860 was the election that ultimately dissolved the Union. This election produced four candidates. They were Stephen Douglas of the Northern Democrats, John Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party, and Abraham Lincoln of the Republicans. Lincoln wins the election without winning a single electoral or even popular vote in the South. Four days after the election, South Carolina seceded, and within six weeks, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. After the fall of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded.
The Civil War began with the fall of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. The Election of 1864 occurred during the Civil War. Lincoln ran for the Constitutional Union Party and George McClellan ran for the Democrats. Lincoln wins although being under criticism for the war. On April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. On April 14, 1865 Lincoln and William Seaward went to see the play Our American Cousin, but Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Boothe and died the next day.
