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Chapter 21 of Wilentz was my favorite Chapter of “The Rise of American Democracy” yet. This specific period in time is one that I feel often gets brushed under the rug in a sense. While in every American history class there is bound to be some teachings of the Civil War, Wilentz describes specifically the true causes that lead the civil war, and the steps that the Government took to attempt to prevent the secession of the South. This chapter also brings names that are familiar to me in a more clear light with historical analysis.
As my classmate pointed out in “The Compromise of 1850. Did it Work?”, upon the conclusion of the Mexican-American War several key issues faced our country. The most apparent ones were the admittance of California, New Mexico, and Utah into the Union as states. There were numerous differentiating opinions on the correct way to go about doing this. As described in Wilentz, President Taylor wished to quickly admit California and New Mexico into the Union as free states, as he did not foresee slavery taking root in those regions. This obviously upset the pro-slavery factions who viewed this as a attack and complete destruction of the Missouri Compromise, which would lead to a permanent imbalance between the free and slave states. Henry Clay on the other hand drafted an eight step plan to have compromise between the two sides, and he worked to ratify this bill in Congress. Wilentz says of this, “Superficially, Clays compromise slightly favored the South”(344), but then goes onto to describe how the important decisions about the territories favor the North.
I found it very interesting how Wilentz describes the battles in relation to all of these contrasting views. There are all three sides that Wilentz tags with leaders: Calhoun as staunch pro slavery Southerner, Clay/Webster as seekers of compromise, and Seward as the clear Abolitionist. Having these leaders for the differing views made it very easy to follow and put the political battles in perspective. It somewhat reminds me of today, as our congress has many struggles agreeing on particular subjects. The battle for Healthcare is not all that much different than this battle in terms of different parties and people fighting for different opinions on an issue.
I also really liked how Wilentz described the role of Douglas after Clay’s version of the bill had failed. It was very interesting to see how his strategy to pass small parts of the bill at a time would prove to be effective for temporary compromise. It was also interesting to see Douglas as an actual political figure. All of my previous exposure to him is simply as the other person in the “Lincoln-Douglas Debates”. Being able to see a different side of him was very rewarding.
Also, in relation to William Seward, knowing that he would eventually be Lincoln’s Secretary of State, it made me wonder if a reason the South was so quick to succeed after Lincoln was elected was because he aligned himself with abolitionists like Seward.