American History Tellers - The Age of Jackson | Manifest Destiny | 6

Episode Date: May 2, 2018

“Manifest Destiny” is a uniquely American idea. The phrase captured the sense of inevitability—and entitlement—many citizens still feel. But in the 19th century this idea consumed American’s thought and identity.In the minds of white settlers moving westward, expansion was key to protecting American democracy.But white settlers weren’t equipped for the wild, harsh, and desolate newly-American landscape they found. Those who did make it to California had Mexican governance to deal with - and they would deal with it however they saw fit to make California part of the United States. More war and bloodshed haunted the 1840s, and officially fulfilled Jackson’s autocratic legacy. We hope you enjoyed this arc on American History Tellers. We’ll be back with a brand new series soon.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's June 8th, 1845, in Nashville, Tennessee. You hurry up the steps of a stately white mansion, clutching your medical bag. Rushing past the elegant columns framing the veranda, you pound on the front door. The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson's estate. A moment later, a black woman opens the front door.

Hannah, the head of Jackson's household, and a slave. She recognizes you. You've been here many times before. She steps aside to let you in. How is he? It won't be long now, sir. She leads you through the entry hall and into Jackson's bedroom on the first floor. As you enter the room, you spot the portrait of his deceased wife, Rachel, over the mantle.

Jackson is lying in bed, his eyes closed, his face ashen. You see at once that Hannah is right. After years of poor health, the hero of New Orleans is facing his final days. You don't know it, but lead bullets lodged where Jackson's adopted children have gathered. They've all grown into strong and prosperous people, but their apprehension today is palpable. You approach Andrew Jackson Jr. He doesn't have much time left. You should go in now. Thank you, doctor. You follow Hannah back to the entryway. Would you like a cup of tea? No, thank you. She leaves you and heads back to the bedroom. You stand by the window, looking out at the yard and Rachel's tomb at the edge of the garden. Its Greek columns rise gracefully above the gentle arching willow and hickory trees Jackson planted on either side. He once told you he chose that spot because it was her favorite. That was almost

20 years ago now. He'll join her out there soon. Doctor, doctor, come quick. The children are standing over the bed. Their father's face is like a carved mask. You've seen that look countless times before. You know what it means. As you kneel closer, Jackson's lungs shudder with one more breath. His last. You place your fingers to Jackson's wrist. There is no pulse. He has passed. And with that, Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory, King Andrew I, sharp knife, and seventh president of the United States, is dead. He leaves his country very different from where it was during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. It is larger. It is dead. He leaves his country very different from where it was during the Battle of New Orleans in

1815. It is larger. It is stronger. It is forging ahead and expanding ever westward. It's also about to be torn apart. With Audible, there's more to imagine when you listen. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, new ways of thinking. And Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as a part of your everyday routine without needing to set aside extra time. As an Audible member, you choose one title a month to keep from their ever-growing catalog.

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From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. Our history. Your story. I'm Lindsey Graham. This is the sixth episode in our series on the age of Jackson, Manifest Destiny. We ended the last episode with the election of James Polk, who visited Jackson at the Hermitage on his way to his inauguration. The two men had much in common. Polk and Jackson both believed that the United States should continue to his inauguration. The two men had much in common. Polk and Jackson both believed that the United States should continue to grow in territory. Polk even suggested that expansion was inevitable. President Polk took office March 4, 1845, under a dreary rain. When he stood to deliver his inaugural address, he looked out on a sea of umbrellas. But the new president's outlook was

sunny. The United States had just annexed Texas, and the young country was flexing its territorial muscles. Polk made westward expansion a centerpiece of his speech. Wherever Americans settled, Polk promised, the federal government would extend its protection over them. And that didn't just mean in Texas. Polk's gaze stretched all the way across the continent to the Pacific coast. Our title to the country of Oregon is clear and unquestionable, he proclaimed to the crowd. Before long, a new catchphrase, Manifest Destiny, was appearing in the press. The phrase captured the sense of inevitability and entitlement many citizens felt. Expansion of the United States across North America would only be a matter of time.

In the minds of white settlers, expansion was key to protecting American democracy. The bigger the country, the better it could withstand threats from hostile powers. As a young man, Andrew Jackson had argued, if our present population were confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original 13 states, American institutions could be in great danger of overthrow. Manifest Destiny was just Americans' God-given way of strengthening and spreading the cause of freedom. But whose freedom? Manifest Destiny did not take into account the tens of thousands of Native people already living in the lands Americans dreamed of inhabiting.

And Polk wasn't only thinking of resting land for Native tribes, but also from other countries, because Polk was interested in more than Oregon. He had his sights set on California, too. Mexico's War of Independence in 1821 had ended nearly three centuries of Spanish influence in California, bringing it under Mexican control. But the shift in power had demonstrated to foreign nations, including the United States, how vulnerable California could be. Mexicans living there feared that their neighbors from the United States might pose their greatest threat, and they would be right to worry. In August 1841, an expedition led by Charles Wilkes explored the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River. From that time on, U.S. officials openly discussed plans for annexing California and enlisted the British to persuade

Mexico to sell its territory to the U.S., but Mexico resisted. Around that same time, American settlers fleeing economic troubles in the East began to populate California's interior valleys. Hundreds of pioneers and wagon caravans began the difficult trek across the country, pulled west by the promise of cheap land. A year later, the Mexican government responded by banning the sale of California land to foreign settlers. But it did little good. Americans continued to stream in and found speculators still willing to sell them land. And those who couldn't find land to purchase simply squatted. Pioneers making the treacherous journey west relied on experienced guides to help them along the way, but not all advice could be trusted. An unscrupulous or inexperienced guide

sometimes preyed on naive travelers, and sometimes pioneers sealed their own fate with arrogance or ignorance. One party of settlers, the Donner Party, would fall victim to both. Imagine it's April 1846. You're sitting around the fire in Fort Bernard, Wyoming, a small trading post off the Oregon Trail. Your bones ache after a long day driving the wagon that holds your family and all the belongings you could fit.

You're headed to a better life in Northern California. But tonight, California feels very far away. You wrap your hand around a mug of hot coffee, the first decent one you've had in weeks. Two men join you at the fire, friends by the look of it. The first you know, James Clyman. He has a reputation back east as a real mountain man. You don't know his friend, but he introduces himself as Reed. He's got a copy of the same book you do back in the wagon.

Lansford Hastings, Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California. Clyman jesters at it as the two men take up seats around the crackling fire. Don't tell me you're reading that fool thing. Of course I am. Plan to follow it too. And why shouldn't I? Because the man's an idiot, or a liar. Hastings says his cutoff is shorter. Takes you right into California instead of up north to Oregon. Hastings hasn't even seen most of that trail. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about to me. The sooner we get out west, the sooner we can stake our claim. I'm telling you, I've been through there on horseback, and it can't be done. You'll get all caught up in those mountains, freeze to death, or starve. You're going to eat that fine feather bed you got in the back? That bed will be put to good use as

I rest on my prime plot and wait for the rest of you to arrive. You've got oxen and wagons, women and children. You stick to the main trail. Even then, you'll be lucky to get through. You're entitled to speak your mind. But if there's a shorter route, we're going to take it. With that, the man tosses the rest of his coffee into the fire and stalks off. You've been listening closely. Reed sounds like he's planning to take the same route you are, south of South Lake, through the Sierra Nevadas, and into California.

Kleiman is cursing at his friend under his breath. You lean forward. You say Hastings' cutoff is no good? Kleiman suddenly looks very tired. Let me put it this way. I'd rather fight Blackhawk again than risk that route in the winter. Well, that decides it then. You feel a pang of regret.

What if Reed is right? And all the good land is snapped up by the time you get there? For a moment, you wonder if you're making a mistake. But then you think of your two little girls, and your wife. She's going to have another baby soon, and it's been a very hard journey for her. No, best not to chance it. You leave Kleiman at the fire, and hurry back to your campsite to begin charting a new trail. James Kleiman was right.

Hastings had no idea what he was talking about. His friend James Reed was one of the leaders of the infamous Donner Party. He ignored Clyman's advice to stick to the main California trail. Instead, following Hastings' guidebook, the party set out to shave off time by crossing the brutal desert to the west of the Great Salt Lake. The searing heat and freezing temperatures took their toll. The party reached the other side exhausted and spent far too long recovering before resuming their journey.

And it didn't help that winter came early that year. As they attempted to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains in late October 1846, a storm hit. Trapped by 20-foot high snowdrifts, the Donner party slowly ran out of food. They killed and ate their oxen and their horses and boiled their hides. They captured mice and chewed on pine cones. They even killed their beloved dogs. But they were starving to death. Finally, they turned to the one source of food left, the bodies of those who had already died from starvation and hypothermia. They were starving to death. Finally, they turned to the one source of food left, the bodies of those who had already died from starvation and hypothermia.

But there were also outsiders among them, two Native Americans who had been sent to bring much-needed supplies to the stranded settlers. When they ran out of dead bodies, the settlers shot and consumed their Native American rescuers. By the time real rescue came the following April, only 47 of the original 89 people had survived. The hubris of the Donner Party would come to stand for the dark side of the shining promise of Manifest Destiny. The rush of American settlers entering California inflamed tensions with Mexico,

but it was the fate of Texas that pushed relations between the two countries to a breaking point. In March 1845, Congress voted to approve the annexation of Texas, formally taking possession of what Mexico still considered its territory. The president of the Texas Republic was disappointed. Anson Jones had dreamed of establishing Texas as a powerful, independent nation, but now it would just be another part of the United States. The politicians in Mexico, though, were more than disappointed. They were angry.

The Mexican minister to the United States denounced the annexation as an act of aggression. Mexico cut diplomatic relations on March 6, 1845. Amid these tensions, Polk was determined not to waste any time in securing Texas. In June 1845, he ordered General Zachary Taylor to stand vigil over the Rio Grande. The river marked the border between Texas, now U.S. territory, and Mexico. Polk advised him to, Approach as near the boundary line as prudence will dictate. Any attempt by Mexican soldiers to cross the river into the United States would be seen as an act of military aggression and a declaration of war. In the meantime, the Texas Congress voted

in favor of U.S. statehood on July 4, 1845. Months passed. Then in spring of 1846, the U.S. received intelligence that a Mexican military force had crossed the Rio Grande, just a few miles upstream from Taylor's encampment. Before the U.S. could act, it needed to confirm the reports. On the evening of April 24, 1846, Captain Seth Thornton and a posse of more than 60 soldiers rode out on a reconnaissance mission. The next morning, a larger Mexican force ambushed and surrounded Thornton and his men at the Rancho de Caracillos, killing 11 Americans and capturing all the rest. They allowed one wounded soldier to escape in order to bring back word of what they had done.

It was an act of war. Taylor, the unflappable general, sent word back to the Capitol. Hostilities may now be considered to have commenced. It took two weeks for Taylor's message to reach Washington, but when it did, Polk was enthusiastic. His administration had been biding time, waiting for an opportunity to declare war against Mexico, and here was the perfect opportunity to paint Mexico as the aggressor. With the help of his Secretary of State James Buchanan and Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, Polk spent Sunday, May 10th, drafting his war message. The cup of forbearance had been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier

of the Del Norte. But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil. War exists, and notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself. I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war and to place at the disposal of the executive the means of prosecuting the war with vigor and thus hastening the restoration of peace. Secretary of State Buchanan suggested to Polk that he issue a statement making it clear that the U.S. was not going to war to gain territory, but Polk refused. In a diary entry from May 13, 1846, he made clear that his desire for territory was the very reason for the conflict.

I told him that though we had not gone to war for conquest, yet it was clear that in making peace, we would, if practicable, obtain California and such other portion of the Mexican territory as would be sufficient to indemnify our claimants on Mexico and to defray the expenses of the war, which that power by her long-continued wrongs and injuries had forced us to wage. Polk expected to eventually add the rich state of California to the Union. But some in California were not content to simply sit back and wait for Mexico to fall to the United States. They decided to take action themselves. I'm Tristan Redman, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts.

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Imagine it's June 14th, 1846, a few minutes after nine o'clock. You're waiting in the yard outside your house, your horse saddled up and ready to go. Your friend William has told you to be ready. You won't say what it's about, just that it involves the future of California. Within moments, you spot him and several other men out on the road, and you ride out to meet him. His greeting startles you. Did you bring a gun? Well, will I need one? It's okay, I brought two.

He hands you a revolver, and you check. It's loaded. The group takes off at a gallop. You've only been in California for a few months, but already you know you made the right decision coming here. The land here is good, and there are plenty of business opportunities. Still, it's a tense time. President Polk recently declared war on Mexico, and as one of the few Americans in the area, you feel the suspicion of your Mexican neighbors.

That's why you were happy when a white rancher came by to welcome you, and the two of you became friendly acquaintances. You didn't hesitate when he asked for your help neighbors. That's why you were happy when a white rancher came by to welcome you, and the two of you became friendly acquaintances. You didn't hesitate when he asked for your help tonight, eager to cement the friendship. But as you galloped through the night together, you realize you don't know him very well. You follow the group to a large hacienda on the outskirts of town. Out front, a gnarled oak tree stretches over a wide tiled plaza, and clusters of bougainvillea shade wooden porticos. In the night air, you can smell jasmine blossoms. You don't know the place, but you don't need someone to tell you. The owner is rich.

Your friend jumps down, wraps the reins of his horse around a post, and pounds on the front door. A light comes on inside. A Mexican woman in her nightgown opens the door. Where is Senor Vallejo? He is not here. Your friend quickly loses patience. Never mind, we'll find him. Suddenly you're afraid.

What's going on here? But before William can enter, a middle-aged gentleman in a military uniform comes up behind the woman and throws open the door. By the look of him, it's Senor Vallejo. Won't you come in? He leads your party to a dining room with a big wooden table and sets down a bottle. He pours a drink.

To what happy circumstance am I owed the visit of so many people? We're making you prisoner. Senor Vallejo looks puzzled. That seems most unnecessary. May I offer you a drink? William looks thrown, but he continues as Vallejo hands him a glass. We're declaring independence for California. Castro doesn't respect the rights of American citizens,

issuing proclamations and treating us all as bandits. We're going to put a stop to these insults. It's time for this territory to join the United States. But I share your feelings. Annexation by the United States would be most advantageous for California. Clearly, William was not expecting this, but he carries on. I'm glad you agree, so you'll understand that we have to take you prisoner. That I cannot allow. It is nothing personal, but we need leverage. You would be making a mistake. At this point, you break in. William, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to help make things happen. Not like this. We won't hurt him.

We're just borrowing him for a while. William nods to the other men, who see Senor Vallejo and press the barrel of a gun into his side. Binding his hands in front of him, they force him outside and onto a waiting horse. William climbs up behind him. You coming? When you don't answer, William's face darkens. Don't you ever ask me for anything. With that, he and the other men gallop off into the night,

leaving you to wonder, with men like William leading California, what lies ahead for your new home? Almost as soon as the war with Mexico began, the United States started making moves to lay claim to California. Early on, Secretary of War Bancroft contacted the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron base in Honolulu, ordering Commodore John D. Sloat to occupy San Francisco. At the same time, an expedition led by Captain John C. Fremont started out from St. Louis towards Northern California. Fremont's exact orders haven't survived, but what's clear is that he believed his mission was to secure the Mexican

territory. He recorded in his memoirs that the possession of California was the chief object of the president. The U.S. hoped to inspire California's residents to follow Texas's example and clamor for annexation by the United States. But unlike in Texas, settlers from the United States were in the minority. In 1846, the non-native population of the Mexican territory Alta California numbered roughly 15,000 people. Most of them were Californios, people of Mexican or Spanish descent living in the territory. Of these non-Native residents, only about 800 were U.S. settlers, having largely just arrived in the state with the Pioneer Caravans. Using only these 800 Americans, Captain Fremont aimed to incite a revolution. Upon his arrival,

Fremont began reaching out to Anglo residents in Monterey, assuring them that potential rebels would be received as brethren by the United States. But Mexican officials were becoming suspicious. The Americans in their midst were citizens of a hostile nation. It was best to keep tabs on them. The Mexican comandante, Jose Castro, began making inquiries into the Americans' whereabouts. The Anglo settlers, meanwhile, were becoming nervous that Castro planned to throw them out. Emboldened by Fremont, they decided to take matters into their own hands. And, as you just heard,

on the evening of June 14th, a group of Anglo settlers led by William Ide abducted a prominent Mexican landowner, Mariano Viejo, and held him prisoner for two months. The day after the kidnapping, the rebels seized the town of Sonoma and raised a flag bearing the rough sketch

of a grizzly bear. The Bear Flag Revolt had begun. The rebels made Fremont their leader and, at his urging, declared California's independence on the 4th of July. Then, they celebrated by listening to a reading of the Declaration of Independence and dancing a fandango. But the California Republic would last less than a month. The U.S. Navy arrived from Honolulu three days later and took possession of Monterey without bloodshed.

The naval commander, Commodore Sloat, declared not just an occupation, but a complete and permanent annexation of California by the United States. Several days later, Captain John B. Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth performed the same ceremony at Yerba Buena, soon to be renamed San Francisco. In Sonoma, the rebels' grizzly bear flag was replaced by the American flag. But a larger national outcry over American conduct in the U.S.-Mexican War, as well as the ever-looming question of slavery in the new state was just beginning. Back East, the war with Mexico was becoming a sharply divisive issue. The most outspoken opponents were members of the Whig Party. They took issue with Polk's insistence that it was Mexican aggression, not American encroachment, that had started the conflict. On the floor of

the House, debating the declaration of war, Kentucky Representative Garrett Davis decried its justification. That informal war exists between the two countries is undeniable, but that Mexico commenced it is utterly untrue, and I object to the preamble because it sets forth so bold a falsehood. If the bill contained any recitation upon that point in truth and justice, it should be that this war was begun by the president. Over this outcry hung the ghost of Andrew Jackson.

For many Whigs, their rage wasn't just about California. They saw Polk's action as the fulfillment of Jackson's autocratic legacy. Throughout his time in office, Jackson had routinely asserted his own power by overruling Congress. Now, Polk was doing the same thing to expand America's borders, costing American lives. Daniel Webster, a Northern politician and one of the great orators of the time, fumed, No power but Congress can declare war. But what is the value of this constitutional provision if the president, of his own authority, makes such military movements as

must bring on war. And there was another Northerner who found the president's behavior disgraceful. Abraham Lincoln believed Polk's justification for war was, from beginning to end, the sheerest deception. The president should remember he sits where Washington sat. Let him attempt no evasion, no equivocation. The blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to heaven against him. The U.S.-Mexican War highlighted the division between the Whigs and Democrats, but it also revealed deeper fissures, those between the North and the South. They would become evident in the conflict over the Wilmot Proviso. Put forth by David Wilmot, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania,

this resolution aimed to ban slavery in any new territory acquired from Mexico. Wilmot was a Northerner, but he distinguished himself from most abolitionists. His concern wasn't so much the moral implications of slavery, but its economic effect on working-class whites. When wealthy landowners had slaves, they didn't need to hire white laborers. That meant fewer opportunities for poor white families. Wilmot called his resolution the White Man's Proviso. Its purpose, he said, was to preserve for free white labor a fair country, a rich inheritance,

where the sons of toil, of my own race and own color, can live without the disgrace which association with Negro slavery brings upon free labor. Wilmot attached his proviso to Polk's request to Congress for additional war funding. Although the resolution passed the House, Southern senators blocked it. Polk ultimately got his war funding without the proviso. But the gauntlet had been thrown. Ten northern state legislatures went on to adopt resolutions supporting Wilmot's proviso. The Civil War was more than a dozen years away,

but the conflict over slavery was already tearing the country apart. The U.S. won its war with Mexico. On February 2, 1848, in La Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a small town outside Mexico City, the two sides signed a peace treaty. As the victor, the United States got the better deal. But many thought it was an ill-gotten victory. The National Intelligencer, a wig-leaning publication, called the treaty a peace which everyone will be glad of, but no one will be proud of.

Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass was even more forceful. They have succeeded in robbing Mexico of her territory and are rejoicing over their success under the hypocritical pretense of a regard for peace. With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States acquired an empire on the Pacific. Its territories grew to include Texas, Oregon, California, and New Mexico, the largest single expansion of U.S. territory since the Louisiana Purchase. In his message to Congress sent July 6, 1848, Polk declared that the new territories would provide benefits to the commercial world and the general interests of

mankind. The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for this vast swath of land. To Democrats, the amount was proof of the deal's fairness. Whigs, on the other hand, saw it as a buy-off so that the victors could sleep at night. Mexicans themselves barely saw a cent. Most of the money quickly passed into the hands of foreign creditors. The U.S. also acquired something else with the war's end. Nearly 90,000 former Mexican residents, now subject to American law, and an even larger indigenous population. The Native people would suffer the most. Under Mexican rule, Native Americans had been at least prized as a source of labor. But in the U.S., indigenous peoples were seen merely as

obstacles to progress, a barrier to the manifest destiny driving Americans across the continent. Over the next generation, Native people would be systematically excluded from citizenship. They would be stripped of their land, exposed to disease, and eventually massacred. In 1851, Peter Burnett, governor of what was by then the state of California, predicted that a war of extermination would render the Native people extinct. But the plight of Native people was not an issue for the United States. The fate of the slaves, however, was. The question became even further inflamed in 1848, when in the hills of California, prospectors found gold. Southern

Democrats, led by Calhoun, hoped to expand slavery into the newly acquired Mexican territories. California miners, though, worried that they would be squeezed out if they were forced to compete with slave labor. Once again, the addition of new territories threatened to upset the balance of power between North and South. And it wasn't just in the United States that the established order was being threatened. Across the Atlantic,

European citizens were toppling old regimes. 1848 would be the year of revolutions. bottle of red sriracha with a green top that's permanently living in your fridge. Did you know that the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA? We'll explore all that and more in The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy. This is Nick. This is Jack. And we've covered over a thousand episodes of pop business news stories on our daily podcast. We've identified the most viral products of all time and their wild origin stories that you had no idea about. We'll see you next time. ever. Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in

the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multi-million dollar fraud. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that define their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe. But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's

determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead. Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. In February 1848, revolutionaries overthrew the French monarchy and established the Second French Republic based on democratic principles. Revolutionary fervor spread from France to Germany and Austria, where thousands took part in demonstrations demanding liberal reforms. Many Americans, Polk included, felt that the U.S. could serve as an example of liberty to the world, but the world didn't need its own revolution. In a letter to a U.S. diplomat in Paris, Polk wrote,

The great principles of popular sovereignty, which were proclaimed in 1776 by the immortal author of our Declaration of Independence, seem now to be in the course of rapid development throughout the world. The populist Democrats greeted the rumblings of revolution with enthusiasm. Their 1848 platform rejoiced in the sovereignty of the people. They welcomed the creation of new republics, built on the ruins of despotism in the old world, and offered fraternal congratulations to the National Convention of the Republic in France. The Whigs were less decided on where they stood. Some reformers sympathized with the popular movements in Europe,

but many other Whigs resisted mob rule and advocated legal order. Southern Democrats, led by John C. Calhoun, were the most fearful. As the most conservative branch of American politics, they spoke out against the upheaval and worried about what revolution abroad could mean for the United States. France is not prepared to become a republic, Calhoun warned. He was particularly perturbed when the newly formed Second French Republic emancipated all slaves in the French West Indies. Even when it seemed like the whole world was turning to revolution, though, the old order reasserted itself. By the end of the year, Europe's entrenched

regimes had put down most of the revolts. On the other side of the Atlantic, liberal-minded Americans were disappointed. Margaret Fuller, a foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune who had covered the revolution in Sicily, wryly observed, I find the cause of tyranny and wrong everywhere the same. I listen to the same arguments against the emancipation of Italy that are used against the emancipation of our blacks, the same arguments for the spoliation of Poland as for the conquest of Mexico. There was a bright side to the fizzled revolutions, however. The international cotton market, which had faltered during the civil unrest, came roaring back. The New York Herald commented on November 5, 1848,

We can console ourselves with a rise in the cotton market, creating as great a sensation on Wall Street and in New Orleans as the recent revolutions did among speculators in the destiny of the human race. But the revolutions of 1848 didn't entirely remain in Europe. The race for president of the United States in that year would bring a revolution in the American political party structure. The regular order of Whigs versus Democrats that Jackson had inaugurated would disintegrate. It proved a fundamental turning point in American politics. Banking, tariffs, and other economic issues would all fall away. The question of slavery in the new territories would dominate all other issues, eventually

giving birth to a new political party. The Whigs had remained strongly opposed to what they saw as Polk's illegal war against Mexico. Their candidate in the race was war hero General Zachary Taylor. Running Taylor offered a way for the Whigs to rebuke Polk while standing by the soldiers who had fought in the war they opposed. The Democrats nominated Louis Cass, Jackson's former Secretary of War and a strong proponent of Indian removal. He was also a supporter of Manifest Destiny. As for slavery, Democrats argued the question should be left to popular sovereignty. The state should decide what's best inside their own borders. But in August 1848, a third option for voters emerged.

Radical anti-slavery Whigs and members of the Liberty Party, a group of abolitionist politicians, joined forces in Buffalo, New York, to form a new party and named Martin Van Buren as their candidate. Their platform opposed slavery in the new territories and called for free western lands for homesteaders. They called themselves the Free Soil Party after their slogan, Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men. That year's election marked the U.S.'s first modern election, in which states chose their

electors on the same day for the first time. The Free Soil Party ultimately failed to carry even a single state and earned just 10% of the popular vote, but its formation was enough to sway the election. The Free Soil Party split the Democratic vote, handing the election to the Whigs and the presidency to General Zachary Taylor. The Free Soil Party served as a election to the Whigs and the presidency to General Zachary Taylor. The Free Soil Party served as a warning to the Republic. It signaled that large portions of the North were fundamentally opposed to slavery as an institution. The divide between the North and the South was becoming impossible to ignore. Imagine it's September 26, 1850, in New York City. There's a bite in the air as you make your way down the street to your storefront. As you get closer, you see James, the porter, waiting outside for you, as he is most mornings.

No matter how early you arrive, James always seems to get there first. Good morning. Good morning. How did your daughter's birthday go last night? She liked the doll my wife made her and the cake. My boys made her a pair of roller skates. They're a little wobbly, but they're awfully proud of them. She's three years old? That's right. Well, happy birthday to her. Enjoy it. It goes by so fast. From what you can tell, James is a good husband and a good father, but he's an even better employee.

He works quietly and efficiently, stocking shelves, sweeping up the store, and fetching things for customers. You've come to rely on him over the past two years. Now you don't know what you'd do without him. You set to work restocking the cash register, and James begins unpacking a shipment of cans near the front. Suddenly, a pair of men pound on the front door. You point to the sign out front.

I'm sorry, we're not open yet. But the pounding doesn't stop. Exasperated, you open the door to explain the situation. I told you, federal marshals, you've been harboring a fugitive slave. The men push their way in. You're stunned. For a split second, James remains frozen, a single can in his hand. And he lunges for the back door, making for the alley. You're stunned. For a split second, James remains frozen, a single can in his hand.

And he lunges for the back door, making for the alley. The marshals race after him, knocking over displays. Cans go flying. You run after them, falling when your foot catches a loose can. By the time you reach the back door, the marshals have James pressed face down against the floor, his arms pinned behind his back. I'm a free man. This man is my employee. Not according to a witness.

Gustavus Brown says you belong to his mother in Baltimore. We were set free! This is a misunderstanding, Marshals. I can vouch for this man. Sir, if you continue to interfere with this arrest, we will charge you with obstructing recovery of a runaway slave. You stop talking. The Marshals haul James to his feet and out the back door.

Within seconds, they've vanished. You look down and see you're still holding the stack of bills you were counting when the marshals arrived. As you stand there surveying the wreckage of your store, you realize something. You don't even know how to reach James' wife to tell her he's gone. James Hamlet was the first African American arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act. It was part of what came to be known as the Compromise of 1850, a final push to reconcile the country's pro- and anti-slavery factions. Supported by Henry Clay, the Compromise tried to maintain the delicate balance of power between slave and free states that had kept the union together. The compromise was fiercely debated for months, and in the end, it allowed California's admission to the union as a free state and banned the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

Most controversially, it also passed the Fugitive Slave Act. The act forced Northerners to actively assist in returning runaway slaves to their owners in the South, and it called on individual citizens to participate, imposing heavy fines for noncompliance. If it was intended to increase cooperation between the North and South, it instead hardened many in the North against slavery. Feeling compelled by law to become complicit in the slave trade would stir up sympathies in the North and move those on the sidelines of the slavery issue towards abolitionism. And though many escaped slaves were sent back South, James Hamlet's story had a happier ending. After his arrest, he had a hearing, where Augustavus Brown identified Hamlet as his mother's former slave. Under the new law, Hamlet was not allowed

to testify in his own defense. After the hearing, he was handcuffed, taken to a steamboat, and sent back to prison in Baltimore. His wife did not know what had happened to him until after his disappearance. But in Baltimore, Hamlet's new owners announced that they would sell him his freedom for $800. New York's black organizations rallied to support Hamlet and successfully raised the money. A week after his arrest, Hamlet returned to New York City, once again a free man. But the bigger question of the place of slavery in the United States would not be as quickly resolved. The fragile union between North and South that Andrew Jackson had held together was crumbling.

As president, Jackson had remained a staunch supporter of the South, yet he continued to strongly assert the role of the federal government through challenges like the nullification crisis. The balance Jackson struck had kept the union together. But how was he able to play both sides so well? Jackson is often credited with strengthening the presidency, and in some ways this is true. He expanded the use of veto power and the role of patronage, and through sheer force, won several showdowns with his political rivals. He even saw off the threat of secession during the nullification crisis. But historians like Daniel Walker Howe argue that Jackson's influence mostly stemmed from the force of his personality. Successors who lacked his charisma, like Martin

Van Buren, were unable to follow his example. His power was personal, not institutional. So, when Jackson died, that power seemed to vanish with him. Jackson's real legacy was the Democratic Party. His popular appeal created it, and the decisions he made during his time in the White House became the party's policies. After his death, the Democratic Party would continue to hold many of Jackson's positions, supporting popular sovereignty, opposing a national bank, promoting territorial expansion, and protecting slavery. In the time between Jackson's heroic victory in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and the Compromise of 1850, the United States had been totally transformed. It now stretched from the Florida Everglades to the California coastline. The political landscape

had also been redrawn. Jackson had played no small part in that. But the country was also on a path to destruction. The divide between North and South, slave states and free states, would only worsen. Sixteen years after Jackson's death, those tensions would erupt when secessionist forces bombarded Fort Sumter, plunging North and South into civil war. From Wondery, this is Episode 7 of The Age of Jackson from American History Tellers. by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, sound designed, and edited by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Additional production assistance by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by Jenny Lauer,

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