Alright, time for another update then I'm off to bed. No more updates after this one until at least Monday as I'm going away for the rest of the week.
Part Nineteen: Coming Changes
Foreign Happenings:
While the United States was experiencing increased sectionalism and technological innovations, Europe was undergoing a series of changes as well. In what would become known as the Midcentury Revolutions, France went from being a monarchy to a republic, the Austrian Empire was reformed, and the stage was set for Italian Unification. There were attempted changes in some of the German states, but none of them got very far.
In France, after the death of king Louis-Philippe in early 1850, the wave of revolutions and rebellions was kicked off as many Parisians, inclduing Orleanists and Republicans, gathered to protest the continuation of the monarchy in his son. After a week of revolts and virtual lawlessness in Paris, a provisional government was able to be formed. After months of deliberation, elections were organized in the country and Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected the first titular president of the Second French Republic.
Meanwhile, in the Americas, Mexico's internal conflicts continued. In fact, as time went on the instability in Mexico heightened. During the 1840s Mexico had no less than twenty changes in the presidency, with Antonio López de Santa Anna and Anastasio Bustamante each holding the presidency four nonconsecutive times during the decade. The struggle between the various factions in the Mexican government often led to brief civil wars or insurrections in different provinces of the country, but all of these were put down forcefully. This instability would continue for many years to come, until finally shattered as the United Provinces of Central America had in the 1830s.
Mexico's instability caused many problems among its neighbors. With many Mexicans eager to get away from the violence and civil strife, the populations of the neighboring countries swelled. The populations of San Diego and Yuma in California doubled between 1840 and 1850 while new towns were settled along the Verde River. The Republic of Rio Bravo and Republic of Yucatan also saw massive immigration and this put a strain on their economies. The United States and other countries offered aid to Yucatan and Rio Bravo, but it only alleviated the economic strain somewhat. Unemployment and crime became a problem in the cities, and corruption in the government eventually led to these countries increasingly falling under foreign influence.
Election of 1852:
Throughout the 1852 election, slavery was by far the dominant issue. In the Whig primaries, Vice President Taylor had fallen out of fashion with the Whig party members and many southerners for his vacillating stance on the expansion of slavery and was replaced by fellow Virginian John Botts. Scott also struggled, but eventually gained the nomination, narrowly defeating Daniel Webster. The Democrats chose rising star Stephen Douglas for their presidential candidate, while Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis was chosen as the vice presidential candidate.
With Scott's slightly abolitionist notions on slavery having been brought out over the course of his term, many Southern states turned against him. This combined with Douglas's promotion of popular sovereignty for deciding slavery in the territories and the Democrat nomination of a candidate from the Deep South for vice president, the Whigs lost much of their fervor and as a result, the election. This would be the last election that the Whig Party would participate in, as in the next few years the party fractured along northern and southern lines.
Aside from the national election, slavery was also important in the state elections. The banning of slavery was on the ballot in both Missouri and Delaware in that year. In Delaware, the vote went in favor of banning slavery as the practice had declined in the state over the last decade, and the final slaves were manumitted with payment from the state in 1853. In Missouri, however, the vote was much closer, and was generally divided between those in the north of the state in favor of banning slavery and those in the south of the state who were against it. In the end though, slavery was upheld in Missouri in 1852.
Douglas/Davis: 168
Scott/Botts: 142
