C H A P T E R 1 3
The Crisis of the Union
1844–1860
Chapter Instructional Objectives
1. How did western expansion become inextricably linked with sectional identity during the 1840s?
2. How & why did southerners change from claiming that slavery was a “necessary evil” to defending it as a “positive good”?
3. Why did the U.S. fight the war with Mexico? What was the larger impact of this war?
4. How & why did divisions within American society during the 1850s bring the Second Party System to an end?
5. What choices were available to Americans in the election of 1860, & why was Abraham Lincoln’s victory significant?
Chapter Annotated Outline
I. Manifest Destiny
A. The Mature Cotton Economy, 1820–1860
1. By 1820:
a. The South produced more raw cotton than any other country in the world
b. To increase output, some slave owners created the gang-labor system.
2. By 1860:
a. nearly two million slaves were laboring in the lower Mississippi Valley & along the “black belt” from Mississippi through Georgia.
3. Planters justified their power by;
a. Arguing that slavery was a “positive good” that allowed a civilized lifestyle for whites
b. Slavery provided gentle care for genetically inferior Africans.
4. White politics & society in the South were deeply divided along the lines of class & religion.
5. In theory:
a. Masters had unlimited power over their slaves
6. In practice:
a. Social conventions & black resistance limited a master’s power.
7. The institution of slavery became a part of the fiber of American life, & white southerners wanted to extend its sway across the entire continent.
B. The Independence of Texas
1. The Adams-Onís Treaty (1819)...