WEBVTT 00:14.530 --> 00:16.360 Professor David Blight: There was trouble in the air. 00:16.360 --> 00:21.870 I left you the other day with Henry Clay sloshing down some 00:21.867 --> 00:26.137 brandy on a late night in mid-January 1850, 00:26.140 --> 00:31.020 to try to come up with ways of solving the great political 00:31.022 --> 00:35.652 challenges they faced between the sections and over the 00:35.648 --> 00:37.788 expansion of slavery. 00:37.790 --> 00:40.210 They were doing this, in great part, 00:40.206 --> 00:43.586 because gold had been discovered in California. 00:43.590 --> 00:50.910 This is an original photograph of panners, gold-miners--white, 00:50.910 --> 00:57.270 Asian and who knows, probably somebody mixed black. 00:57.270 --> 01:00.570 01:00.570 --> 01:04.100 If California wasn't ready for statehood in 1850, 01:04.096 --> 01:08.356 it's possible there wouldn't have needed to be a Compromise 01:08.358 --> 01:10.858 of 1850; but it was. 01:10.860 --> 01:15.190 And already in its inception, people realized how big 01:15.193 --> 01:18.043 California was. And they already realized, 01:18.042 --> 01:20.472 North and South, that part of it was north of 01:20.465 --> 01:23.435 the Missouri Compromise Line and part it was south. 01:23.439 --> 01:27.199 Would that vast territory of California become a free state 01:27.198 --> 01:28.428 or a slave state? 01:28.430 --> 01:32.010 01:32.010 --> 01:35.650 The South's greatest spokesman, its intellectual leader of its 01:35.648 --> 01:38.628 states' sovereignty and states' rights position, 01:38.629 --> 01:43.959 delivered what became known quickly that year as "The 01:43.959 --> 01:46.009 Southern Address." 01:46.010 --> 01:49.060 And in it, Calhoun said many things, warning the country what 01:49.055 --> 01:51.335 the South might do, or at least the Deep South 01:51.340 --> 01:53.710 might do. But he captured it in this 01:53.706 --> 01:57.056 ending of the speech: "If you," and he's pointing to 01:57.055 --> 01:59.935 Northerners, "who represent the stronger 01:59.935 --> 02:03.795 portion cannot agree to settle on the broad principle of 02:03.796 --> 02:06.626 justice and duty, say so; 02:06.629 --> 02:11.419 and let the States we both represent agree to separate and 02:11.424 --> 02:15.304 part in peace. If you are unwilling we should 02:15.296 --> 02:17.566 part in peace, tell us so; 02:17.569 --> 02:22.739 and we shall not--and we shall know what to do when you reduce 02:22.737 --> 02:26.377 the question to submission or resistance. 02:26.379 --> 02:31.059 If you remain silent you will compel us to infer by your acts 02:31.056 --> 02:34.016 what you intend. In that case, 02:34.017 --> 02:39.047 California will become the test question. 02:39.050 --> 02:42.510 If you admit her, under all the difficulties that 02:42.506 --> 02:46.246 oppose her admission, you compel us to infer that you 02:46.250 --> 02:49.850 intend to exclude us from the whole of the acquired 02:49.849 --> 02:53.229 territories of the West, with the intention of 02:53.227 --> 02:56.417 destroying irretrievably the equilibrium between the two 02:56.416 --> 02:57.166 sections." 02:57.170 --> 03:01.030 03:01.030 --> 03:05.850 And one of the oldest ideas in our political culture is that 03:05.852 --> 03:10.272 great conflict comes when there's an issue around which 03:10.266 --> 03:13.696 two sides--let's assume there are two, 03:13.699 --> 03:18.099 sometimes there are more than two--but if there are two sides 03:18.097 --> 03:24.087 on a great issue of conflict, when one side or the other 03:24.090 --> 03:29.550 cannot accept the result; when a vital interest is 03:29.551 --> 03:32.891 somehow at stake that they will not, or cannot, 03:32.887 --> 03:36.367 or choose not, to accept a political outcome. 03:36.370 --> 03:40.000 03:40.000 --> 03:44.190 That's the question in the 1850s: can compromise, 03:44.190 --> 03:49.080 some kind of coalition and consensus around this question 03:49.078 --> 03:52.918 of slavery's future--future in the West, 03:52.919 --> 03:56.129 future in the American political culture, 03:56.131 --> 03:59.911 future within the Constitution--can some kind of 03:59.905 --> 04:01.185 center hold? 04:01.190 --> 04:06.010 04:06.009 --> 04:09.339 Now, Clay invited Daniel Webster to deal with this 04:09.342 --> 04:13.292 because Webster's obviously the most--at that point in time 04:13.287 --> 04:17.637 Daniel Webster was the most famous Northern Whig politician. 04:17.639 --> 04:20.699 He was from abolitionist Massachusetts. 04:20.699 --> 04:24.109 He was anti-slavery, though never a card-carrying 04:24.113 --> 04:26.393 abolitionist to say the least. 04:26.389 --> 04:29.179 He was a great lawyer, many said the greatest orator 04:29.177 --> 04:32.457 in the United States--those were usually the ones that hadn't 04:32.456 --> 04:34.256 heard Frederick Douglass yet. 04:34.259 --> 04:38.189 He'd been in Congress since 1823, almost as long as Clay. 04:38.190 --> 04:41.140 He'd been in the Senate since 1844. 04:41.139 --> 04:47.429 He was seen in some ways as the lion and the spokesman of New 04:47.431 --> 04:51.181 England. He had been the great voice in 04:51.175 --> 04:54.945 the Nullification Crisis debates of 1830. 04:54.950 --> 04:59.040 04:59.040 --> 05:02.780 He had been a voice of union but also law enforcement 05:02.776 --> 05:06.796 then--that famous phrase that he had become known for, 05:06.800 --> 05:09.750 "Liberty and union, now and forever, 05:09.750 --> 05:11.690 one and inseparable." 05:11.689 --> 05:17.359 Webster always seemed to be the union man, at the same time he 05:17.355 --> 05:19.765 was an anti-slavery man. 05:19.770 --> 05:23.980 Henry Clay from Kentucky; founder of the Whig Party; 05:23.980 --> 05:27.730 candidate for President three and four times over. 05:27.730 --> 05:32.390 The organizational genius in some ways behind the Whig Party 05:32.387 --> 05:35.227 and its so-called national system, 05:35.230 --> 05:39.970 the idea of using government for economic and social change 05:39.973 --> 05:43.903 in the lives of immigrants and everybody else. 05:43.899 --> 05:48.729 Clay of Kentucky, slave-holder--he owned about 60 05:48.729 --> 05:54.589 people--hemp plantation farmer, original founder of the 05:54.588 --> 06:01.538 American Colonization Society, a border state political titan, 06:01.540 --> 06:07.360 with great influence in the Congress, pulls in Webster and 06:07.360 --> 06:11.650 says, "Daniel, we got to save the union, 06:11.649 --> 06:15.399 because look what Calhoun and company in the Deep South are 06:15.403 --> 06:18.163 threatening. What will we do? 06:18.160 --> 06:22.010 How will we solve this?" 06:22.009 --> 06:25.439 I mentioned the other day that when Clay introduced his five 06:25.436 --> 06:29.146 measures, which were known first as the Clay Measures and then as 06:29.153 --> 06:33.063 the Compromise Measures, he stood up in the Senate, 06:33.061 --> 06:37.101 with great theater, and held a piece of what he 06:37.097 --> 06:40.517 said was George Washington's coffin. 06:40.520 --> 06:43.060 What were the issues in 1850? 06:43.060 --> 06:47.260 I hope you've seen enough of the outline; 06:47.259 --> 06:50.499 if not--it's gone for the moment. 06:50.500 --> 06:51.790 The issues are on the map. 06:51.790 --> 07:06.500 07:06.500 --> 07:10.420 The issues are that California in the west is ready for 07:10.420 --> 07:14.690 statehood, overnight, because of that vast migration 07:14.686 --> 07:18.836 of miners, by sea, by land, and by imagination. 07:18.840 --> 07:22.310 07:22.310 --> 07:25.070 There'd always been a brewing issue in the U.S. 07:25.065 --> 07:28.835 Congress and in the District of Columbia about the fact that the 07:28.838 --> 07:31.588 District of Columbia, the capital of the United 07:31.594 --> 07:34.054 States, was a slave trading center. 07:34.050 --> 07:36.290 Northern congressmen, of all stripes, 07:39.970 --> 07:45.680 blocks down the street from the United States Capitol was a huge 07:45.681 --> 07:48.911 slave jail. People said that when the wind 07:48.912 --> 07:52.952 was right you could smell it, on the steps of the Capitol. 07:52.949 --> 07:58.589 Abraham Lincoln in his one term in the House called it a human 07:58.590 --> 08:01.850 livery stable. Foreign visitors would come and 08:01.854 --> 08:05.484 they would say--they would stand in awe at that majestic Capitol 08:05.481 --> 08:08.821 as it was being built and the dome was being completed, 08:08.819 --> 08:13.699 and then they would ask, "Where's the slave jail, 08:13.696 --> 08:16.436 can we see a slave jail?" 08:16.439 --> 08:19.319 So there were a lot of Northerners now who were saying, 08:19.322 --> 08:22.262 "Okay, there's going to be some big compromise now about 08:22.259 --> 08:24.429 California, about slavery in the West. 08:24.430 --> 08:25.290 What are we going to do about this? 08:25.290 --> 08:29.450 Let's deal with this question too." 08:29.449 --> 08:33.019 Thirdly, there was the question of--and this is what Southerners 08:33.024 --> 08:36.034 were exercised about--of fugitive slaves escaping into 08:36.032 --> 08:39.042 the North in that so-called Underground Railroad. 08:39.039 --> 08:42.949 And the term Underground Railroad appears for the first 08:42.952 --> 08:47.012 time openly, over and over, in public debate on the floor 08:47.008 --> 08:48.818 of the U.S. Congress. 08:48.820 --> 08:52.740 Southerners standing up and saying we need a much stronger 08:52.735 --> 08:56.715 Federal Fugitive Slave Act requiring the return of fugitive 08:56.718 --> 09:00.838 slaves because they are escaping too much in that Underground 09:00.839 --> 09:04.679 Railroad. They didn't have a clue what it 09:04.681 --> 09:09.701 really was; didn't matter. 09:09.700 --> 09:14.860 But Southerners wanted fugitive slaves retrieved to them by law 09:14.857 --> 09:18.847 under Federal enforcement, no questions asked. 09:18.850 --> 09:24.010 And then there was the problem of Texas now. 09:24.009 --> 09:26.559 It doesn't quite show it on this map properly, 09:26.558 --> 09:30.068 but the other day you remember the map of Texas--the boundaries 09:30.068 --> 09:33.238 of Texas had never been determined--to the Mexicans, 09:33.240 --> 09:37.000 much less to the Americans. 09:37.000 --> 09:40.670 And the idea here now was to--how would you kind of divide 09:40.671 --> 09:43.391 up Texas? There was no New Mexico or 09:43.388 --> 09:48.258 Arizona yet, it's just this vast territory called the New Mexico 09:48.255 --> 09:52.015 Territory. The idea was if you moved back 09:52.015 --> 09:56.235 the border of Texas about three or 400 miles, 09:56.240 --> 09:59.020 and you placed it where it actually is today, 09:59.021 --> 10:01.171 you would open up new territory, 10:01.169 --> 10:04.659 lots of it, to the establishment of at least one 10:04.657 --> 10:08.727 new, if not two new states, and those states in the 10:08.731 --> 10:12.491 Southern imagination would, in all likelihood, 10:12.491 --> 10:15.751 be slave states--they were southern. 10:15.750 --> 10:19.960 What to do with the Texas boundary? 10:19.960 --> 10:25.570 Now, Daniel Webster's support of this came at some price. 10:25.570 --> 10:29.350 It came at a huge price for his own career. 10:29.350 --> 10:32.620 The five measures that came out of their discussions--they 10:32.615 --> 10:35.475 weren't alone but they really did conceive this. 10:35.480 --> 10:40.620 The five parts of the Compromise of 1850 will be on 10:40.621 --> 10:43.091 your citizenship test. 10:43.090 --> 10:44.260 You shouldn't have U.S. 10:44.256 --> 10:47.346 citizenship if you can't name the five parts of the Compromise 10:47.349 --> 10:50.439 of 1850--I've always believed that--and the three parts of the 10:50.442 --> 10:52.932 Kansas-Nebraska Act; that should be a test of 10:52.929 --> 10:54.949 citizenship. No Lithuanian should ever get 10:54.951 --> 10:56.551 U.S. citizenship without being able 10:56.548 --> 10:58.988 to name the five parts of the Compromise of 1850. 10:58.990 --> 11:00.510 Never mind. [laughter] 11:00.508 --> 11:03.628 California would be admitted as a free state. 11:03.629 --> 11:06.419 Clay said there's no way around this, if they hold a referendum 11:06.419 --> 11:08.489 in California it's going to be a free state; 11:08.490 --> 11:14.090 the people who've gone there are all, they're all little 11:14.093 --> 11:16.153 people. There are all these miners and 11:16.150 --> 11:17.410 these panners, they're immigrants, 11:17.405 --> 11:19.605 they're people from Germany who've come across the sea, 11:19.610 --> 11:22.980 all in one year, to go find gold in California, 11:22.978 --> 11:26.198 and they're not going to be slave-holders. 11:26.200 --> 11:28.630 All right, California will be admitted as a free state. 11:28.629 --> 11:33.649 But now, remember what Calhoun had said--so what are you going 11:33.645 --> 11:35.285 to give the South? 11:35.289 --> 11:39.719 In return the South is going to get a whole new, 11:39.716 --> 11:43.856 much stronger, Federal Fugitive Slave Act, 11:43.860 --> 11:48.280 the most notorious and controversial aspect of the 11:48.277 --> 11:50.167 Compromise of 1850. 11:50.169 --> 11:53.609 Secondly, Clay said to Webster, "Let's abolish the slave trade 11:53.608 --> 11:55.298 in the District of Columbia. 11:55.299 --> 11:57.249 We have Federal jurisdiction over that; 11:57.250 --> 11:59.980 the Congress has jurisdiction over the District, 11:59.975 --> 12:03.395 let's abolish the slave trade, let's get the slave jails out 12:03.396 --> 12:06.406 of Washington. Northerners will like that." 12:06.410 --> 12:07.650 Webster said "Yeah. 12:07.650 --> 12:12.010 12:12.009 --> 12:14.069 Let's move the boundary back three, 400 miles"--it was really 12:14.069 --> 12:16.199 about 350 miles--"let's open up a whole new part of the Mexican 12:16.198 --> 12:18.368 Session, with a possible establishment 12:18.367 --> 12:21.967 of new slave states; let's let Southerners dream of 12:21.971 --> 12:26.091 two and three more states, and four to six more U.S. 12:26.090 --> 12:29.340 senators in the next three to five years. 12:29.340 --> 12:33.900 Let's let them feel secure that California may come in as a free 12:33.902 --> 12:38.392 state and get two new senators and the number will now be 16 to 12:38.393 --> 12:42.243 15, free to slave states"--people 12:42.241 --> 12:45.131 were counting. The idea was "yes, 12:45.134 --> 12:48.694 but maybe the South gets two or three out of the Mexican 12:48.693 --> 12:49.473 Session." 12:49.470 --> 12:53.050 12:53.049 --> 12:55.999 And then lastly how would slavery be determined in that 12:56.003 --> 12:57.773 southwest; the big issue, 12:57.771 --> 13:00.711 how do you do it, by what principle? 13:00.710 --> 13:07.310 Clay said popular sovereignty, let the people have a 13:07.306 --> 13:12.606 referendum and vote--liberal democracy. 13:12.610 --> 13:17.620 So that statehood for any territory in the Mexican 13:17.620 --> 13:23.350 Session, except for California here--this is the stuff of 13:23.346 --> 13:27.046 compromise, don't look for hard principles 13:27.050 --> 13:31.250 here--except for California, everything else in the Mexican 13:31.245 --> 13:35.075 Session will be determined on popular sovereignty. 13:35.080 --> 13:38.110 The people who settled the territory at some stage of the 13:38.105 --> 13:40.315 territorial process--it could be early, 13:40.320 --> 13:45.760 it could be late--will vote whether slavery shall exist. 13:45.760 --> 13:48.140 So look at the five measures. 13:48.140 --> 13:53.440 California will be a free state; slave trade--trade, 13:53.439 --> 13:57.579 not slavery itself--will be abolished in the District of 13:57.577 --> 14:00.367 Columbia. Two issues the North will like. 14:00.370 --> 14:04.000 14:04.000 --> 14:06.960 The Texas boundary moved back, opened a new territory, 14:06.964 --> 14:10.324 new possible southern states, and that Fugitive Slave Act. 14:10.320 --> 14:13.420 Two measures Southerners would really like. 14:13.419 --> 14:15.279 And by the way, when Clay suggested the 14:15.276 --> 14:17.716 Fugitive Slave Act to Webster, Webster says "No, 14:17.720 --> 14:21.030 no, no, I can't take that home to Massachusetts, 14:21.032 --> 14:23.502 it won't fly, you can't do that." 14:23.500 --> 14:25.200 Clay said, "You have to do that." 14:25.200 --> 14:26.640 Webster said, "I can't do that." 14:26.640 --> 14:28.980 Clay said, "You have to do that; have some more brandy." 14:28.980 --> 14:30.890 Webster said, "Okay." 14:30.889 --> 14:36.949 [Laughter] I don't know how much brandy 14:36.947 --> 14:40.197 they drank. And popular sovereignty of 14:40.197 --> 14:42.367 course, it's American democracy, let them vote; 14:42.370 --> 14:46.160 it's an appeal to both sides, two for each side and one for 14:46.164 --> 14:46.954 everybody. 14:46.950 --> 14:51.010 14:51.009 --> 14:54.679 It is a great compromise, in a sense, but how is it 14:54.680 --> 15:00.030 actually passed is crucial; and of course its substance is 15:00.033 --> 15:02.503 crucial. The way it was finally passed 15:02.497 --> 15:05.127 is that once--and by the way, there was no certainly 15:05.132 --> 15:06.942 whatsoever that this would work. 15:06.940 --> 15:10.030 15:10.029 --> 15:14.909 After Clay initiated the debate with an emotional appeal for 15:14.913 --> 15:19.963 union, Daniel Webster spoke in what became known in his career 15:19.963 --> 15:24.933 and in American history as the "7^(th) of March Speech." 15:24.929 --> 15:29.879 He held forth for three hours in one of his classic 15:29.882 --> 15:33.362 philippics. It began with the famous lines, 15:33.360 --> 15:37.390 "I wish to speak today not as a Massachusetts man nor as a 15:37.386 --> 15:39.926 northern man, but as an American. 15:39.929 --> 15:43.479 I speak today for the preservation of the Union." 15:43.480 --> 15:47.660 And he appealed to his fellow Northerners to vote for the 15:47.655 --> 15:51.675 Fugitive Slave--to vote to make northern states legally 15:51.681 --> 15:55.411 complicit in the return of fugitive slaves in their 15:55.408 --> 15:59.508 neighborhoods. He got groans and he got jeers 15:59.514 --> 16:01.174 and he got cheers. 16:01.169 --> 16:05.769 Everybody said one of the greatest speeches ever made in 16:05.773 --> 16:07.283 the U.S. Senate; 16:07.280 --> 16:10.910 and it ruined Webster's career. 16:10.909 --> 16:14.589 Poets started writing about, as Wittier did, 16:14.593 --> 16:17.423 "the Devil and Daniel Webster." 16:17.419 --> 16:22.259 Calhoun was unable to deliver his speech--it was the 4^(th) of 16:22.264 --> 16:27.014 March--he was too sick; he will be dead by the fall. 16:27.009 --> 16:31.869 It was delivered by James Mason, his colleague. 16:31.870 --> 16:33.640 Calhoun was carried into the U.S. 16:33.642 --> 16:36.182 Senate in a chair; he couldn't walk, 16:36.175 --> 16:39.945 they literally carried him in, sat him down. 16:39.950 --> 16:44.860 He stared at his shoes, while Mason delivered his 16:44.855 --> 16:50.885 speech in which Calhoun said that the South had to stand now 16:50.885 --> 16:53.975 as one, for a slave society and for 16:53.983 --> 16:58.223 states' rights and for the protection of what he constantly 16:58.223 --> 17:00.493 argued were minority rights. 17:00.490 --> 17:05.860 17:05.859 --> 17:10.929 Calhoun's speech--arguably, I think from an interpretative 17:10.932 --> 17:14.972 mode now--frightened, frightened--especially some 17:14.973 --> 17:18.963 Northerners, into voting for a compromise they hated. 17:18.960 --> 17:20.090 17:20.089 --> 17:25.529 It may have even frightened some border state Democrats and 17:25.525 --> 17:30.955 Whigs, to vote for this thing, some of which they hated. 17:30.960 --> 17:33.650 Like any great compromise--if any of you have ever been on 17:33.652 --> 17:36.712 major--political committees, dorm committees and so on, 17:36.714 --> 17:40.324 you got to pass something, but you got two or three things 17:40.321 --> 17:42.551 on the Bill. And there are these people who 17:42.553 --> 17:44.743 hate item number one, and these people who hate item 17:44.735 --> 17:47.255 number two, and these people who hate item number three. 17:47.259 --> 17:50.419 What happens if you vote on all three at the same time? 17:50.420 --> 17:53.290 Everybody's got something to vote against. 17:53.289 --> 17:57.579 So the way the Compromise of 1850 was passed--and it was 17:57.579 --> 18:00.459 passed largely by the young Stephen A. 18:00.464 --> 18:03.744 Douglas, who took over the management. 18:03.740 --> 18:08.790 He was about 38-years-old at this point, Senator from 18:08.786 --> 18:12.956 Illinois, a young titan--small as he was, 18:12.960 --> 18:17.410 five foot six--a young titan of the Democratic Party from 18:17.406 --> 18:21.106 Illinois. He was really the parliamentary 18:21.106 --> 18:26.026 manager in the midst of the debates from March into the 18:26.029 --> 18:31.019 summer of 1850. There were threats of disunion 18:31.022 --> 18:37.512 from Southerners every other day--brave threats in Southern 18:37.505 --> 18:41.165 newspapers. So what Douglas did is a 18:41.174 --> 18:43.984 classic parliamentary maneuver. 18:43.980 --> 18:47.020 18:47.019 --> 18:51.759 He voted on each bill separately and ultimately called 18:51.760 --> 18:56.140 it the Omnibus Bill, and in each case managed just 18:56.143 --> 18:59.903 enough of a narrow majority--getting enough 18:59.900 --> 19:04.230 Northerners, especially Northern Democrats, 19:04.229 --> 19:10.029 to vote for that Fugitive Slave Act, which they tended to hate, 19:10.029 --> 19:14.049 and then just enough Southern--what's left of the 19:14.048 --> 19:19.068 Whigs--to vote for the end of the slave trade in the District 19:19.070 --> 19:25.090 of Columbia. And it passed in early August 19:25.091 --> 19:27.921 1850. Henry Clay, ill, 19:27.915 --> 19:33.015 terminally sick, had gone home to Kentucky. 19:33.019 --> 19:34.899 He'll be out of the picture and out of American history before 19:34.901 --> 19:35.581 the end of the year. 19:35.579 --> 19:39.479 Calhoun was dying at that very moment--was dead, 19:39.475 --> 19:41.625 I believe, by September. 19:41.630 --> 19:45.530 Webster was now to be denounced politically forever in his own 19:45.527 --> 19:48.527 political party and in his own Massachusetts. 19:48.529 --> 19:52.539 But the Compromise passed and in some ways the nation 19:52.537 --> 19:54.847 celebrated, or so it seemed. 19:54.850 --> 19:58.060 19:58.059 --> 20:00.979 The Compromise of 1850 did, in some ways, 20:00.976 --> 20:04.546 save the Union, at least at that point in time. 20:04.550 --> 20:09.030 20:09.029 --> 20:11.779 But as David Potter, the best historian of this 20:11.778 --> 20:14.528 we've ever had, said, it was far more--and it's 20:14.526 --> 20:17.746 the best way to remember it I think--it was far more an 20:17.752 --> 20:20.622 armistice than it really was a compromise. 20:20.619 --> 20:23.709 It began to collapse almost as fast as it passed. 20:23.710 --> 20:27.450 There were huge rallies and marches in northern cities 20:27.449 --> 20:30.129 celebrating the saving of the Union. 20:30.130 --> 20:33.180 People were frightened; I mean, business interests in 20:33.177 --> 20:36.407 the north--not just in New York City where the banks all were, 20:36.410 --> 20:39.650 but now in this colossus of Chicago, this burgeoning 20:39.646 --> 20:42.736 railroad center in the West, in Cincinnati, 20:42.744 --> 20:46.414 Detroit--worried, what if there is disunion, 20:46.414 --> 20:50.534 what happens to the economy, what happens to trade? 20:50.530 --> 20:53.580 20:53.580 --> 20:58.040 So there were great rallies. 20:58.039 --> 20:59.769 At the same time, the State of Georgia met its 20:59.770 --> 21:02.040 legislature by December 1850 and passed what they called the 21:02.039 --> 21:04.309 Georgia Platform and sent it all around the rest of the Deep 21:04.308 --> 21:06.478 South. And it said they--it said the 21:06.476 --> 21:09.946 State of Georgia gave only its conditional acceptance to the 21:09.946 --> 21:14.156 compromise measures, waiting to see whether the 21:14.155 --> 21:17.115 North acted in good faith. 21:17.119 --> 21:20.069 In other words, "we don't trust you." 21:20.069 --> 21:22.589 Some Northern State legislatures said, 21:22.587 --> 21:24.877 "oh really?" And they passed resolutions 21:24.882 --> 21:27.122 saying "we don't think we trust you either." 21:27.120 --> 21:33.530 21:33.529 --> 21:38.039 There were vehement protests against the Fugitive Slave Act. 21:38.039 --> 21:41.549 The Fugitive Slave Act, above all else, 21:41.553 --> 21:45.903 in this crisis, caused much further conflict. 21:45.900 --> 21:49.010 21:49.009 --> 21:52.589 It led directly to an estimated 20,000 African-American free 21:52.588 --> 21:54.828 blacks--well, free blacks and fugitive 21:54.832 --> 21:57.682 slaves, so many of them--living in the 21:57.684 --> 22:01.114 northern states--and in some cases, whole church 22:01.106 --> 22:05.476 congregations from cities like Philadelphia and Boston--moved 22:05.475 --> 22:11.985 north of the border into Canada, between 1850 and roughly 1857, 22:11.989 --> 22:19.499 '58, when there was another small wave, after the Dred Scott 22:19.502 --> 22:22.132 decision. This will lead now to 22:22.127 --> 22:24.897 the--established in that Fugitive Slave Act of special 22:24.895 --> 22:29.495 Federal magistrates whose job, whose sole job it was now--this 22:29.500 --> 22:35.540 is a whole new level of Federal adjudication of fugitive slaves. 22:35.539 --> 22:39.519 Magistrates were now appointed to go all over the north to 22:39.523 --> 22:43.843 retrieve fugitive slaves--well, to set up a police apparatus to 22:43.843 --> 22:47.353 retrieve fugitive slaves, and then to conduct courts to 22:47.351 --> 22:49.171 determine their identity. 22:49.170 --> 22:52.640 And in the Fugitive Slave Act itself it determined, 22:52.643 --> 22:56.333 or it said, that those magistrates would be paid twice 22:56.326 --> 23:00.356 as much money--they actually would be paid $10.00 for every 23:00.355 --> 23:04.725 fugitive slave they convicted of being that person and sent them 23:04.732 --> 23:08.242 back to slavery, and $5.00 for every acquittal. 23:08.240 --> 23:13.010 23:13.009 --> 23:14.919 Now I know $5.00 doesn't seem like much, but on the face of 23:14.920 --> 23:17.060 that you look at that and think, "Now wait a second, 23:17.057 --> 23:20.217 this is blind justice--you're going to give me twice as much 23:20.215 --> 23:22.245 money to convict you as acquit you? 23:22.250 --> 23:25.820 Hey, I need a meal too." 23:25.820 --> 23:32.020 23:32.019 --> 23:33.639 It led now to famous fugitive slave rescues, 23:33.644 --> 23:35.424 like the rescue of Jerry McHenry in Syracuse, 23:35.420 --> 23:38.220 New York in 1851, in a violent rescue by 23:38.223 --> 23:42.543 abolitionists who spirited--who killed one of his captors and 23:42.535 --> 23:44.615 carted him off to Canada. 23:44.619 --> 23:48.349 It led to the famous rescue of Shadrach Minkins in early 1852 23:48.350 --> 23:52.210 in Boston, a fugitive slave from Virginia who was working in an 23:52.205 --> 23:54.625 abolitionist coffeehouse in Boston, 23:54.630 --> 23:56.580 retrieved by slave catchers, taken to a jail, 23:56.578 --> 23:57.728 broken out of that jail. 23:57.730 --> 24:01.500 One of the jailers murdered on the spot by a mob of 24:01.503 --> 24:04.223 abolitionists led by Lewis Hayden, 24:04.220 --> 24:08.710 himself a fugitive slave from Kentucky, who lived in Beacon 24:08.709 --> 24:13.659 Hill in Boston and dared Federal magistrates to come to his house 24:13.663 --> 24:18.003 and try to retrieve Shadrack Minkins by putting an entire 24:17.997 --> 24:21.397 posse on the street, and a keg of gun powder in 24:21.395 --> 24:23.845 front of his door, which he threatened he would 24:23.845 --> 24:26.025 blow up if any magistrate got near it. 24:26.029 --> 24:28.589 And that night they spirited Shadrach off to Concord, 24:28.587 --> 24:31.237 Massachusetts where the descendents of abolitionists to 24:31.242 --> 24:33.802 this day like to argue which house he stayed in, 24:33.799 --> 24:38.719 and then off across Route 2, across northern Massachusetts 24:38.717 --> 24:43.547 and on up into Canada where Shadrach remained the rest of 24:43.548 --> 24:46.738 his life as a grocer in Montreal. 24:46.740 --> 24:49.330 And there were many, many other fugitive slave 24:49.325 --> 24:51.735 rescues now. There was a fugitive slave 24:51.738 --> 24:54.458 rescue at Christiana, Pennsylvania in 1851. 24:54.460 --> 24:55.840 It was really at a farm. 24:55.839 --> 25:01.239 A slaveholder named Gorsuch and a posse of only five or six men 25:01.239 --> 25:05.679 cornered a group of his former slaves, four of them, 25:05.680 --> 25:08.890 in a barn. A group of abolitionists, 25:08.893 --> 25:12.723 black and white, defended them in a gun battle. 25:12.720 --> 25:14.740 One of Gorsuch's sons was killed. 25:14.740 --> 25:17.630 The fugitive slaves escaped. 25:17.630 --> 25:21.320 They ended up going across upstate New York. 25:21.319 --> 25:25.419 Two of them ended up in Frederick Douglass's house in 25:25.416 --> 25:27.146 Rochester, New York. 25:27.150 --> 25:30.290 Douglass drove them personally in a carriage to the wharf on 25:30.291 --> 25:30.931 Lake Erie. 25:30.930 --> 25:35.040 25:35.039 --> 25:38.989 And when he bid them goodbye, one of them gave him the 25:38.993 --> 25:43.023 revolver that he had used at Christiana, a memento that 25:43.021 --> 25:45.931 Douglass kept the rest of his life. 25:45.930 --> 25:54.580 Resistance to slavery was now direct, sometimes violent. 25:54.579 --> 25:57.549 The Underground Railroad had become an over ground railroad. 25:57.549 --> 26:01.459 It was no longer caught up in the romance of a whole lot of 26:01.459 --> 26:04.559 people spiriting people to secret hideaways. 26:04.559 --> 26:07.969 It was sometimes now a matter of gun violence. 26:07.970 --> 26:11.070 26:11.069 --> 26:13.249 And one could argue that the most important thing to happen 26:13.253 --> 26:14.763 in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act, 26:14.759 --> 26:19.729 and therefore the Compromise of 1850, was the publication of 26:19.733 --> 26:22.013 Uncle Tom's Cabin. 26:22.009 --> 26:24.359 Harriet Beecher Stowe, that brilliant, 26:24.359 --> 26:27.849 very short, little woman, who had lived for quite awhile 26:27.851 --> 26:31.191 with her husband Calvin Stowe, who was a theologian teaching 26:31.191 --> 26:32.981 in Cincinnati, had lived in a house on a hill 26:32.984 --> 26:35.814 in Cincinnati for several years, where she first met slave 26:35.812 --> 26:38.952 women--where she first met fugitive slaves coming through 26:38.954 --> 26:40.744 Cincinnati, and may have hid a few. 26:40.740 --> 26:44.030 26:44.029 --> 26:46.769 Heard their voices, tried to learn their dialect, 26:46.768 --> 26:50.018 and wrote the greatest novel of the nineteenth century, 26:50.019 --> 26:52.569 and still on any list, any short list, 26:52.568 --> 26:56.698 of the best selling works of literature in the history of the 26:56.701 --> 26:57.391 world. 26:57.390 --> 27:01.010 27:01.009 --> 27:03.809 That sugar-coated, anti-slavery story of several 27:03.806 --> 27:05.766 characters--Eliza, young Eliza, 27:05.769 --> 27:09.509 light-skinned with her baby, escaping across the Ohio, 27:09.507 --> 27:12.677 jumping from iceberg to iceberg to iceberg. 27:12.680 --> 27:15.760 The Ohio doesn't have icebergs anymore; 27:15.760 --> 27:20.010 didn't have many then either. 27:20.009 --> 27:23.879 Or Uncle Tom himself, the most important Christ-like 27:23.880 --> 27:26.840 figure in all of American literature. 27:26.839 --> 27:31.279 Harriet Stowe wrote a brilliant book, whatever anyone wants to 27:31.278 --> 27:34.978 say about it. She made everybody complicitous 27:34.983 --> 27:36.673 in the slave story. 27:36.670 --> 27:40.160 The most despicable character in the book is Miss Ophelia who 27:40.160 --> 27:42.760 was born in Vermont, who's racist to the core, 27:42.755 --> 27:45.905 who can't stand black people and goes down South preaching at 27:45.912 --> 27:48.072 Southerners what's wrong with slavery, 27:48.069 --> 27:51.569 at the same time she can't get near black people. 27:51.569 --> 27:55.989 And in some ways the most admirable character in that book 27:55.985 --> 27:58.305 was a Southern slave holder. 27:58.309 --> 28:01.559 And actually the most evil character--the most heinous 28:01.562 --> 28:04.882 character is Miss Ophelia--but the most evil character, 28:04.877 --> 28:06.777 of course, is Simon Legree; 28:06.780 --> 28:10.020 28:10.019 --> 28:13.559 and Simon Legree was himself from New England. 28:13.559 --> 28:19.079 The whole world was suddenly reading a work of fiction about 28:19.075 --> 28:23.225 slavery. It sold 300,000 copies in the 28:23.227 --> 28:29.767 first year, by far broke every sales record of any book ever 28:29.772 --> 28:32.992 published, ever, anywhere. 28:32.990 --> 28:36.890 Reprinted into at least 20 languages in its first five 28:36.886 --> 28:38.426 years of existence. 28:38.430 --> 28:40.940 Made into stage plays within two years. 28:40.940 --> 28:46.870 It brought an awareness to the slavery problem as never before. 28:46.870 --> 28:51.010 28:51.009 --> 28:55.099 And in the election, the Congressional off-year 28:55.102 --> 28:58.842 elections of 1852, for every four votes, 28:58.839 --> 29:04.519 for every four votes cast for Franklin Pierce--the Democrat, 29:04.520 --> 29:09.720 who will win--one copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 29:09.720 --> 29:13.090 somewhere in the United States. 29:13.089 --> 29:16.879 I mean, name a book today that we could even imagine doing 29:16.875 --> 29:17.335 that. 29:17.340 --> 29:21.010 29:21.009 --> 29:23.449 Would that there was a novel [laughs] 29:23.445 --> 29:27.025 that our electorate was electrified by in some way. 29:27.030 --> 29:34.020 29:34.019 --> 29:40.819 Now, in the wake of the Compromise of 1850 the country, 29:40.815 --> 29:45.845 now though, had to face this question, 29:45.849 --> 29:48.669 not just what you're going to do with the Mexican Session 29:48.665 --> 29:51.225 territories--that's going to take a little while. 29:51.230 --> 29:53.520 Northerners, a lot of Northerners are pissed 29:53.515 --> 29:56.595 off about the nature of the Utah Territory Bill and the New 29:56.598 --> 30:01.218 Mexico Territory Bill, because there are--Southerners 30:01.218 --> 30:06.938 immediately propose slave territories for Utah and New 30:06.940 --> 30:09.620 Mexico. But the real question, 30:09.624 --> 30:13.424 by 1853 and early 1854, was all of the territory that 30:13.418 --> 30:16.988 was left of the Louisiana Purchase--the Kansas and 30:16.993 --> 30:21.793 Nebraska Territories, which is simply what they were 30:21.788 --> 30:24.008 at that point in time. 30:24.009 --> 30:27.709 Now, it is worth stopping for a moment to realize that not every 30:27.705 --> 30:32.035 American woke up in 1851, '52, '53, and worried every 30:32.041 --> 30:37.341 moment of every day about the expansion of slavery. 30:37.339 --> 30:40.699 They are worried about it, and it proves to us, 30:40.700 --> 30:43.840 without question, that there was a political 30:43.841 --> 30:47.641 crisis abrewing that the electorate cared about. 30:47.640 --> 30:51.010 30:51.009 --> 30:53.899 But it's worth remembering that a lot of Americans were 30:53.904 --> 30:56.534 preoccupied with the same things they always were: 30:56.531 --> 31:00.811 price of wheat, a sick cow, wages at a textile 31:00.811 --> 31:05.921 mill, a son who wants to marry and needs land, 31:05.920 --> 31:11.080 a daughter who wants to marry an Irishman, or, 31:11.078 --> 31:16.008 most of all, all those Catholics arriving in 31:16.007 --> 31:20.017 New York City and Philadelphia. 31:20.019 --> 31:24.189 Huge numbers of Irish Catholics--they're going to 31:24.189 --> 31:28.269 Catholicize America, they're going to turn every 31:28.272 --> 31:31.662 small outhouse into a confessional. 31:31.660 --> 31:34.940 We laugh today, it's easy to laugh at this, 31:34.943 --> 31:39.793 but nativism caught hold in the early 1850s--more on this a bit 31:39.790 --> 31:44.560 later with the breakup of the American party system as we take 31:44.559 --> 31:46.669 it through the 1850s. 31:46.670 --> 31:49.300 But a lot of Americans were really worried about those 31:49.295 --> 31:49.885 Catholics. 31:49.890 --> 31:53.010 31:53.009 --> 31:56.719 But the Kansas-Nebraska Act--or the establishment now of the 31:56.715 --> 32:00.035 territories of Kansas and Nebraska and what to do with 32:00.043 --> 32:03.813 them--was front and center on the agenda of the United States 32:03.811 --> 32:05.571 Congress by late 1853. 32:05.569 --> 32:09.449 In the wake now of numerous of these celebrated, 32:09.447 --> 32:12.497 violent rescues of fugitive slaves, 32:12.500 --> 32:16.520 the attempts to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act in some parts 32:16.523 --> 32:20.413 of the north where it was very successfully prosecuted, 32:20.410 --> 32:23.790 and dozens and dozens and dozens of fugitive slaves were 32:23.786 --> 32:25.256 returned to the south. 32:25.259 --> 32:28.479 But in some celebrated cases they weren't. 32:28.480 --> 32:31.840 32:31.840 --> 32:36.550 Quickly. The most celebrated case of all 32:36.546 --> 32:40.056 came in the spring of 1854 at the very time Congress is 32:40.058 --> 32:43.568 debating this thing called the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 32:43.569 --> 32:46.869 and people are politically waiting with baited breath to 32:46.869 --> 32:49.929 find out what are they actually going to do here? 32:49.930 --> 32:55.080 We had the rescue in Boston of a fugitive slave named Anthony 32:55.081 --> 32:59.461 Burns, who was a young guy in his early twenties. 32:59.460 --> 33:04.140 He had escaped out of Virginia, up to Boston by sea. 33:04.140 --> 33:07.890 He too was working in--actually a store at one point, 33:07.892 --> 33:10.492 in a coffee shop at another point. 33:10.490 --> 33:14.240 He was even distributing copies of William Lloyd Garrison's 33:14.241 --> 33:15.471 Liberator. 33:15.470 --> 33:21.800 He hadn't been there even a year and slave catchers found 33:21.799 --> 33:24.059 him, captured him. 33:24.059 --> 33:27.409 Now, after Shadrach Minkins got out of Boston in 1852, 33:27.411 --> 33:31.141 the Anthony Burns rendition case captured the imagination of 33:31.141 --> 33:33.601 the nation, because Franklin Pierce, 33:33.600 --> 33:37.000 President of the United States, moved Federal troops, 33:37.000 --> 33:39.830 about 3000 of them, into the streets of Boston to 33:39.834 --> 33:43.084 guard the courthouse and to guard the jail and make sure 33:43.082 --> 33:45.152 nobody broke Anthony Burns out. 33:45.150 --> 33:50.320 It became a test case for the Democratic Party of 33:50.317 --> 33:53.327 Massachusetts. And on the day Anthony Burns 33:53.330 --> 33:55.680 was marched--he was convicted--marched from the jail 33:55.681 --> 33:58.121 down to the wharf and put on a ship back to slavery in 33:58.124 --> 34:00.294 Virginia, the abolitionist community, 34:00.288 --> 34:02.308 black and white, of Boston and all of 34:02.313 --> 34:04.523 Massachusetts, gathered in Boston. 34:04.519 --> 34:08.489 They held an all-night vigil with candlelight outside of the 34:08.485 --> 34:11.505 jail and they draped the streets of Boston, 34:11.510 --> 34:15.890 or some of the streets, in black crepe, 34:15.894 --> 34:19.874 in mourning. Burns was sent back to Virginia. 34:19.870 --> 34:22.720 His story is amazing though. 34:22.719 --> 34:29.309 His owner then sold him--he was too famous--sold him to North 34:29.311 --> 34:32.241 Carolina. And one day a white woman in 34:32.239 --> 34:35.679 North Carolina wrote a letter to her sister in Amherst, 34:35.679 --> 34:41.319 Massachusetts and said, "Helen, that slave named Burns 34:41.315 --> 34:46.715 that they captured up in Boston, he's living on the farm next 34:46.717 --> 34:49.097 door. Isn't that interesting?" 34:49.099 --> 34:53.159 And her sister wrote from the First Baptist Church of Amherst, 34:53.163 --> 34:55.963 Massachusetts, back to her sister and said, 34:55.960 --> 34:59.750 "Really? What if we could raise some 34:59.746 --> 35:02.286 money to purchase him? 35:02.289 --> 35:03.899 Would you talk to your neighbors?" 35:03.900 --> 35:04.770 She talked to her neighbors. 35:04.770 --> 35:06.060 One thing led to another. 35:06.059 --> 35:07.869 Abolitionists, beginning in Amherst, 35:07.873 --> 35:10.933 Massachusetts and then around the State of Massachusetts, 35:10.929 --> 35:13.919 raised the money, made the offer, 35:13.919 --> 35:17.469 and Anthony Burns' freedom was sold. 35:17.470 --> 35:22.900 And he came North, by 1856. 35:22.900 --> 35:25.940 He first arrived in Amherst, Massachusetts where he was 35:25.938 --> 35:28.308 celebrated. They took him out on the 35:28.314 --> 35:29.484 road--Exhibit A. 35:29.480 --> 35:33.010 35:33.010 --> 35:37.880 Then he went to Canada, and he died in 1860 prematurely 35:37.881 --> 35:41.761 of disease--lonely, lost, almost unknown. 35:41.760 --> 35:46.040 35:46.039 --> 35:48.939 But it was in that environment now, that Congress has to decide 35:48.935 --> 35:50.705 what to do with Kansas and Nebraska. 35:50.710 --> 35:52.410 Now here was the situation. 35:52.409 --> 35:57.009 It was in part a big deal because what was firing the 35:57.014 --> 36:01.094 American imagination now was not just the west, 36:01.087 --> 36:04.007 but it was the railroad west. 36:04.010 --> 36:06.110 Who would build these railroads, where would they be 36:06.106 --> 36:08.116 built, and where would its eastern terminus be? 36:08.119 --> 36:12.539 Would the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad be 36:12.535 --> 36:14.995 in the North, Chicago--or maybe St. 36:14.996 --> 36:18.826 Louis, in a slave state--or maybe further south in New 36:18.833 --> 36:21.153 Orleans, or maybe Memphis? 36:21.150 --> 36:23.720 Or maybe there'd be two of them--maybe you could have a 36:23.716 --> 36:26.516 compromised transcontinental railroad built--two of them. 36:26.519 --> 36:29.989 Well then people said, "no, wait, it's going to be 36:29.991 --> 36:34.031 hard enough to build one of them over those mountains." 36:34.030 --> 36:37.540 The Chairman of the Senate Territories Committee, 36:37.541 --> 36:41.271 a very powerful position in these years, was Stephen 36:41.272 --> 36:46.172 Douglas. He's now about 40-years-old in 36:46.167 --> 36:53.127 1854, a political genius with a few terrible flaws. 36:53.130 --> 36:57.910 Douglas wanted the terminus of the transcontinental railroad to 36:57.909 --> 37:02.779 be in Illinois, in Chicago, and to go across 37:02.783 --> 37:09.533 the north to the northwest into northern California. 37:09.530 --> 37:13.140 Douglas's approach to slavery though is terribly important 37:13.137 --> 37:15.677 here. It is in some ways, 37:15.675 --> 37:17.655 all of the story. 37:17.659 --> 37:21.999 Stephen Douglas believes that climate would solve the problems 37:22.004 --> 37:24.044 of slavery. He's famous for all these 37:24.040 --> 37:26.440 speeches he would make where he would say, "you know, 37:26.440 --> 37:31.490 if the soil is good and the temperatures are right, 37:31.492 --> 37:35.032 then slavery will probably exist. 37:35.030 --> 37:37.520 Where the soil is not proper and the temperatures aren't 37:37.519 --> 37:40.099 right, or if you've got mountains, slavery won't exist. 37:40.100 --> 37:42.580 Climate will solve the problem." 37:42.580 --> 37:44.430 Now wouldn't that be great? 37:44.429 --> 37:47.339 We'll just lift--all of our great political troubles are 37:47.336 --> 37:49.816 just lifted off our shoulders by the weather; 37:49.820 --> 37:53.570 just watch the weather channel, to hell with MSNBC and CNN and 37:53.573 --> 37:57.453 all those blabbering pundits, just watch the weather channel. 37:57.449 --> 38:02.669 [Laughter] He really believed that though, 38:02.666 --> 38:08.006 and there was some reason to believe it. 38:08.010 --> 38:10.400 Now, the problem was, Southerners wanted one thing 38:10.401 --> 38:12.841 out of this and a lot of Northerners wanted another 38:12.841 --> 38:15.471 thing. But here was the question, 38:15.472 --> 38:20.502 which principal will you apply about slavery in the Kansas and 38:20.497 --> 38:22.307 Nebraska Territory? 38:22.310 --> 38:27.050 Think now of the recent past; think of the distant past--in 38:27.054 --> 38:28.844 American terms--to the Compromise of 1850. 38:28.840 --> 38:32.010 38:32.010 --> 38:35.160 One, had the Compromise of 1850 already superseded the Missouri 38:35.159 --> 38:37.049 Compromise? Think about that. 38:40.997 --> 38:44.937 parallel line dividing free territory from slave territory 38:44.944 --> 38:47.234 forever, passed back in 1820. 38:47.230 --> 38:51.030 That was that vow that Northerners concerned about the 38:51.026 --> 38:54.536 expansion of slavery could always assume the great 38:54.536 --> 38:57.326 northwest would be free of slavery. 38:57.329 --> 39:03.719 But half of California is below it and half of it's above it. 39:03.720 --> 39:07.010 39:07.010 --> 39:10.190 Had the Compromise of 1850--and half the Mexican Session is 39:10.193 --> 39:13.103 above it, and now you've said popular sovereignty will 39:13.102 --> 39:16.672 determine the Utah Territory and not the Missouri Compromise. 39:16.670 --> 39:18.790 So which rule is in play? 39:18.790 --> 39:24.290 39:24.290 --> 39:26.170 Which principle do you apply? 39:26.170 --> 39:29.050 Do you apply the oldest principle of the Northwest 39:29.047 --> 39:30.337 Ordinance from 1787? 39:30.340 --> 39:34.160 The Northwest Ordinance, folks, had said slavery shall 39:34.162 --> 39:37.122 never exist in the Northwest Territory; 39:37.119 --> 39:40.229 which became those five states of Michigan, Ohio, 39:40.232 --> 39:43.022 Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin--will never 39:43.021 --> 39:45.341 exist. Explicit territorial 39:45.341 --> 39:48.101 exclusion--that's one principle. 39:48.099 --> 39:50.149 The second principle, geographical division, 39:50.145 --> 39:52.135 Missouri Compromise, draw a line across the 39:52.143 --> 39:54.043 continent. Do you go back to that one? 39:54.040 --> 39:56.990 Or do you use the third one now? 39:56.990 --> 40:00.040 40:00.039 --> 40:02.539 The third one that's in play--popular sovereignty--just 40:02.539 --> 40:03.649 let the people choose. 40:03.650 --> 40:07.360 Forget geography, forget old laws, 40:07.355 --> 40:10.045 and have a referendum. 40:10.050 --> 40:15.010 40:15.010 --> 40:19.260 In other words--and this is the great question of the 1850s and 40:19.261 --> 40:21.871 the terrible tragedy, that, in the end, 40:21.867 --> 40:24.937 nothing worked. Would the American pragmatic 40:24.935 --> 40:27.765 tradition now--yes, we've got this-- we've got 40:27.771 --> 40:29.601 principle A, B and C here. 40:29.599 --> 40:32.149 We all want principled politicians don't we? 40:32.150 --> 40:34.960 We want principled professors and principled politicians and 40:34.961 --> 40:36.201 principled stockbrokers. 40:36.199 --> 40:38.829 But, at the end of the day, sometimes there are three 40:38.828 --> 40:39.888 principles in play. 40:39.890 --> 40:43.030 40:43.030 --> 40:45.860 Would American pragmatism continue to solve this one? 40:45.860 --> 40:50.680 Well maybe that principle is best now, but that principle is 40:50.676 --> 40:54.706 better then. Douglas wrote the bill, 40:54.705 --> 40:59.975 the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as it was called, 40:59.975 --> 41:07.505 or Act. Now, in this case, 41:07.512 --> 41:15.542 folks, numbers matter. 41:15.540 --> 41:17.670 We're going to look at a vote. 41:17.670 --> 41:20.600 But first of all, he wrote three different 41:20.602 --> 41:25.042 versions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act--this is important--he went 41:25.037 --> 41:29.697 from vaguest to most specific, because Southerners put his 41:29.697 --> 41:32.747 feet to the fire and made him do it. 41:32.750 --> 41:36.690 He first introduced a bill in December 1853--this is for the 41:36.694 --> 41:39.974 establishment of Kansas and Nebraska Territory. 41:39.969 --> 41:42.839 Everybody said, "that's nice for establishing 41:42.839 --> 41:45.449 these millions of acres and square miles, 41:45.447 --> 41:47.727 but is slavery going to exist?" 41:47.730 --> 41:51.740 The first version that he put before Congress on January 41:51.735 --> 41:55.585 4,1854, said that a state shall be admitted from those 41:55.594 --> 41:59.454 territories, quote, "with or without slavery 41:59.447 --> 42:03.697 as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of 42:03.696 --> 42:09.016 admission." Note the vagueness. 42:09.019 --> 42:13.389 And you all know that in politics sometimes the vaguer 42:13.389 --> 42:16.109 you are, the more you get done. 42:16.110 --> 42:19.780 "With or without slavery as their Constitution may prescribe 42:19.783 --> 42:21.903 at the time of their admission." 42:21.900 --> 42:27.010 How that's to be done was not mentioned. 42:27.010 --> 42:32.970 Douglas said leave it to time, climate, and good sense. 42:32.969 --> 42:36.919 It was silent about the old Missouri Compromise Line. 42:36.920 --> 42:40.070 42:40.070 --> 42:43.420 Southerners quickly reacted and said, "Stephen"--his own fellow 42:43.423 --> 42:46.783 Democrats in the south who were now dominant in the South said, 42:46.776 --> 42:48.016 "nope, not enough." 42:48.019 --> 42:50.529 And there were a lot of powerful Southerners in the 42:50.528 --> 42:53.868 Senate. So he drafted six days later, 42:53.866 --> 42:57.946 January 10 of '54, a second version of the 42:57.946 --> 43:02.916 Kansas-Nebraska Act, and he gave a direct statement 43:02.923 --> 43:05.713 of popular sovereignty. 43:05.710 --> 43:11.840 Quote: "The decision on slavery shall be left to the people 43:11.837 --> 43:13.947 residing therein." 43:13.949 --> 43:17.909 Now he's moved one step further and said there's going to be a 43:17.907 --> 43:20.757 vote out there, and however they vote that'll 43:20.761 --> 43:25.161 determine. Again, his fellow Southerners 43:25.155 --> 43:28.035 said, "No, not enough." 43:28.039 --> 43:33.409 And there's a famous episode where as a kind of spokesman for 43:33.413 --> 43:37.543 the Southern point-of-view, a Kentucky Whig from the other 43:37.541 --> 43:40.761 party named Archibald Dixon took Stephen Douglas for a ride in a 43:40.758 --> 43:41.778 carriage one day, 43:41.780 --> 43:45.030 43:45.030 --> 43:47.590 in March of 1854 after these--excuse me, 43:47.587 --> 43:51.127 in late January--they were going to vote on it later in 43:51.127 --> 43:58.117 March--but in late January, took him for a carriage ride. 43:58.119 --> 44:00.669 And Dixon in no uncertain terms told Douglas, 44:00.667 --> 44:04.137 "no, no, what you have to do is you have to draft an explicit 44:04.140 --> 44:06.630 repeal of the Missouri Compromise Line, 44:06.630 --> 44:11.860 a specific repeal of any geographic division between 44:11.856 --> 44:15.336 slavery and freedom in the West. 44:15.340 --> 44:19.160 In other words Stephen, you have to open up the entire 44:19.158 --> 44:22.398 West to the possible expansion of slavery." 44:22.400 --> 44:26.410 Douglas didn't want to do that--he knew this was going to 44:26.407 --> 44:30.337 cause a bad time in the north--and he is alleged to have 44:30.343 --> 44:33.513 said back to Dixon, quote, "By God, 44:33.511 --> 44:35.541 sir, you are right. 44:35.539 --> 44:39.869 I will incorporate it in my bill though I know it will raise 44:39.869 --> 44:41.409 a hell of a storm." 44:41.410 --> 44:45.590 And he was right. 44:45.590 --> 44:50.690 It may seem a bit odd to us today that Americans could care 44:50.691 --> 44:55.091 this much about what was to be done to Nebraska, 44:55.090 --> 44:58.610 [laughter] or for that matter with Kansas. 44:58.610 --> 45:01.560 We didn't even know about Dorothy yet, and the Yellow 45:01.561 --> 45:02.301 Brick Road. 45:02.300 --> 45:06.490 45:06.489 --> 45:09.599 But Northerners really did care, because think back again 45:09.601 --> 45:12.711 to this idea of free labor ideology--and we'll bring this 45:12.712 --> 45:15.492 up again and again in the next three lectures. 45:15.489 --> 45:20.229 The American Dream to the average Northerner, 45:20.229 --> 45:24.429 immigrant or not, was land--free land if 45:24.429 --> 45:28.119 possible, cheap land if not--a place to 45:28.123 --> 45:32.793 move to, mobility where you would never have to compete with 45:32.789 --> 45:37.059 any kind of oligarchy that could control that land. 45:37.060 --> 45:41.030 45:41.030 --> 45:44.010 The bill that he finally brought forth and that actually 45:44.010 --> 45:45.420 passed had two measures. 45:45.420 --> 45:47.360 And I'm going to leave you here. 45:47.360 --> 45:52.260 The two measures were the explicit repeal of the Missouri 45:52.258 --> 45:56.018 Compromise Line and the principle of popular 45:56.020 --> 46:00.490 sovereignty, the formula for the settlement 46:00.492 --> 46:02.952 of Kansas and Nebraska. 46:02.949 --> 46:06.919 The Kansas-Nebraska Act is, arguably, the pivotal event 46:06.923 --> 46:10.893 politically of the 1850s, that will now sectionalize 46:10.887 --> 46:14.387 American politics, break apart forever the Whig 46:14.385 --> 46:18.485 Party--what was left of it--and give birth to the first 46:18.491 --> 46:22.451 successful third party coalition movement in American 46:22.446 --> 46:27.306 History--the Republican Party, immediately--which comes into 46:27.312 --> 46:31.772 existence immediately--in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. 46:31.769 --> 46:34.909 And if you want to understand how sectional that vote was, 46:34.913 --> 46:37.233 write down that vote count in the House. 46:37.230 --> 46:42.350 Note, Northern Democrats split right in half--that's Douglas's 46:42.349 --> 46:47.129 party--but nearly half of his own party in the House voted 46:47.133 --> 46:48.983 against this bill. 46:48.980 --> 46:51.910 Southern Democrats, 57 to 2--I can't explain those 46:51.914 --> 46:54.434 two, I don't know what happened to them. 46:54.429 --> 46:58.869 Northern Whigs, 45 to 0 against this. 46:58.870 --> 47:01.670 This is a polarization, folks. 47:01.670 --> 47:03.780 We've heard a lot about that recently. 47:03.780 --> 47:06.350 Southern Whigs, 12 to 7. 47:06.349 --> 47:10.489 The Whig Party is diminishing, it's all but--it will be dead 47:10.486 --> 47:12.796 in the wake of Kansas-Nebraska. 47:12.800 --> 47:16.210 And the four Free Soilers, elected in 1852, 47:16.212 --> 47:20.192 on a platform that opposed the Fugitive Slave Act, 47:20.192 --> 47:23.932 voted, of course, against Kansas-Nebraska. 47:23.929 --> 47:30.029 That vote, 113 to 10, got the Kansas-Nebraska Act 47:30.029 --> 47:36.509 passed but in the long run with terrible results. 47:36.510 --> 47:40.140 It will break apart the American political party system. 47:40.139 --> 47:44.229 It will bring about for the first time a genuine 47:44.229 --> 47:49.359 anti-slavery political coalition that will elect a president 47:49.362 --> 47:51.192 within six years. 47:51.190 --> 47:54.000 See you on Thursday.