South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War by Alice L. Baumgartner

Author:Alice L. Baumgartner
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Non-Fiction, Mexico, United States, Race, African American, History
ISBN: 9781541617773
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

ON MARCH 4, 1853, A CARRIAGE PROCESSED TOWARD THE CAPITOL. Crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue. Flags whipped against the hickory pole that had been raised for the occasion at the Union newspaper offices. From nearly every window and balcony in the city, people pushed for a view. By the time the carriage reached the Senate building, women had “entire possession” of the galleries above the chamber where the president-elect would take the oath of office. Franklin Pierce was notable for winning a majority of the popular vote in both the North and the South (the last president to do so, until 1932), but something else drew the public to Washington, DC, for his inauguration. By all accounts, the president-elect was “the most handsome man to ever serve as president of the United States.”7

Pierce’s looks might have been his greatest asset. Although he was a compromise candidate who was supposed to unite the Northern and Southern factions of the Democratic Party, the new president would help turn the slow burn of sectionalism into a blaze. Pierce felt “a profound sense of responsibility” when he took the oath of office, knowing that he was assuming the presidency at a difficult time. The seizure of lands from Mexico where slavery was abolished had shifted the balance of power in favor of the North. And Southern politicians were denouncing the Compromise of 1850 as a betrayal. The Democratic Party was meanwhile showing signs of fracture, as politicians in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi established new Southern Rights parties. Talk of secession was in the air. In his inaugural address, Pierce outlined a solution. To restore balance, Pierce proposed annexing additional slaveholding territories. From the East Portico of the Capitol, Pierce made the case that expansion “has not only shown itself compatible with the harmonious action of the States and Federal Government in their respective constitutional spheres, but has afforded an additional guaranty of the strength and integrity of both.” Indeed, he believed that “our attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important for our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace of the world.”8

Pierce did not have to say which possessions he wanted to acquire. The US government had long trained its sights on Cuba, which remained under Spanish control, and where slavery was deeply entrenched. After the US-Mexican War, the Polk administration offered $100 million for the island. When the Spanish Crown refused to negotiate, norteamericanos directed their annexationist energies toward nominally unauthorized military expeditions aimed at the “liberation” of Spanish Cuba. Between 1849 and 1851, US citizens, under the direction of the Venezuelan adventurer Narciso López, mounted three major filibuster invasions of the island.9

Pierce’s inaugural address alarmed foreign leaders. Spain clung desperately to what remained of its empire. England and France resented the growing power of the United States. Mexican leaders believed that control of Cuba determined the future of the Gulf.

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