WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 You know, usually when we talk about history, 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:06.459 we tend to look for these neat... clean chapter 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:09.359 breaks. Right, like a major war ends or a treaty 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.779 is signed or a new century begins. Exactly. But 00:00:12.779 --> 00:00:15.980 I want you to imagine waking up on July 4th, 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:19.640 1826. Oh, that is a big day. It is exactly 50 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:22.460 years to the day since the Declaration of Independence 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:25.460 was approved. The entire country is out celebrating 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:28.640 this this massive golden anniversary. Right. 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.800 And on that exact same day, both Thomas Jefferson 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:34.990 and John Adams die. It really is one of the most 00:00:34.990 --> 00:00:37.369 stunning coincidences in all of American history. 00:00:37.509 --> 00:00:39.850 I mean, the two biggest surviving architects 00:00:39.850 --> 00:00:42.609 of the nation passing away exactly on the nation's 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:44.689 50th birthday. It feels like something a Hollywood 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:46.590 screenwriter would get fired for writing, right? 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:48.770 Because it's just it's just too on the nose. 00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:50.710 Oh, absolutely. They'd say it's completely unbelievable. 00:00:50.909 --> 00:00:52.869 But we are starting there for a reason today, 00:00:52.869 --> 00:00:56.329 because today we're taking a deep dive into the 00:00:56.329 --> 00:00:58.950 four decades that really forged modern America. 00:00:58.969 --> 00:01:02.729 We're looking at the years between 1820 and 1859. 00:01:02.990 --> 00:01:05.510 And we've gathered a really massive stack of 00:01:05.510 --> 00:01:07.530 historical records, research, and contemporary 00:01:07.530 --> 00:01:10.069 accounts for this. Yeah, and if you are listening 00:01:10.069 --> 00:01:12.030 to this, you probably have a mental image of 00:01:12.030 --> 00:01:16.129 the 19th century as this, I don't know, slow, 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:20.430 sepia -toned era of horse -drawn carriages and 00:01:20.430 --> 00:01:22.569 quiet farms. Right, the very textbook version 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:25.870 of history. Exactly. And our mission today is 00:01:25.870 --> 00:01:29.090 to... completely shatter that image. We want 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:32.329 to rescue this era from the dry pages of a textbook 00:01:32.329 --> 00:01:34.930 and show you that it was actually this chaotic 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:37.469 high speed roller coaster. Oh, yeah. Technological 00:01:37.469 --> 00:01:41.230 booms, political meltdowns, profound social upheaval. 00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:44.209 It was an era where the foundations laid by people 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:47.010 like Adams and Jefferson were, well, they were 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:49.030 stress tested to their absolute breaking point. 00:01:49.069 --> 00:01:51.590 OK, let's unpack this, because to really understand 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:54.129 the political chaos of this era, we first have 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:56.629 to understand how rapidly the country was physically 00:01:56.629 --> 00:01:58.989 and economically changing. The speed of it was 00:01:58.989 --> 00:02:01.709 just staggering. It was. And an analogy actually 00:02:01.709 --> 00:02:03.670 hit me while I was reviewing our sources. We 00:02:03.670 --> 00:02:05.950 tend to think of rapid technological and economic 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:08.150 shifts as a strictly modern phenomenon, right? 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:09.990 Yeah, like something that only happens in our 00:02:09.990 --> 00:02:12.800 lifetime. Right. But looking at the period from 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.979 1820 to 1859, it feels exactly like the 1990s 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:20.139 dot com boom. Oh, that is a fascinating comparison. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.319 The sheer velocity of change was entirely unprecedented 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:25.319 for the people living through it. Right. I mean, 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:27.020 think about the perspective of someone living 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:29.580 back then. In a single lifetime, you go from 00:02:29.580 --> 00:02:33.419 relying entirely on like muscle and wind to a 00:02:33.419 --> 00:02:35.719 totally interconnected world. Yeah. The timeline 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:39.240 is wild. Like in 1825, the Erie Canal is finally 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.599 completed. Which was a massive deal. Oh, huge. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.639 And then right after that, in 1831, Cyrus McCormick 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.039 invents the Mechanical Reaper. Which completely 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:50.099 revolutionizes agriculture basically overnight. 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:52.240 Literally overnight. I mean, you go from hand 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.800 harvesting wheat to a machine that can do the 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:56.800 work of a dozen men in a fraction of the time. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:00.520 Exactly. And the hits just keep coming. By 1836, 00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:03.680 Samuel Colt invents the revolver. And then, get 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.740 this, by 1858, they are successfully laying the 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:09.530 transatlantic telegraph cable. communication 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:12.729 there is hard to overstate. Right. That is the 00:03:12.729 --> 00:03:15.409 leap from sending a letter on a boat that takes 00:03:15.409 --> 00:03:18.830 weeks to communicating almost instantly across 00:03:18.830 --> 00:03:21.229 an entire ocean. I always tell people imagine 00:03:21.229 --> 00:03:23.909 if tomorrow scientists announced we could instantly 00:03:23.909 --> 00:03:26.310 communicate with a research colony on Mars. Oh 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:29.169 wow yeah. That is the level of perspective shattering 00:03:29.169 --> 00:03:32.050 speed we are talking about for someone in 1858. 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:35.909 And what's fascinating here is that this explosion 00:03:35.909 --> 00:03:39.229 wasn't just geographical and it wasn't just technological. 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:42.110 It changed the laws, didn't it? It forced massive 00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:44.789 legal and structural changes to the very fabric 00:03:44.789 --> 00:03:49.020 of the country. The law had to race. often unsuccessfully, 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.039 honestly, just to catch up with the technology. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:53.860 So give me an example of how the law was lagging 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:56.379 behind all this progress. Well, look at the Supreme 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:59.939 Court case, Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824. The core 00:03:59.939 --> 00:04:01.900 issue there was about who gets to control the 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.139 waterways now that steamboats exist. Because 00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:06.979 suddenly people can travel upstream easily. Exactly. 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:09.620 So New York tried to grant a monopoly to one 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:12.800 specific steamboat operator, but another operator, 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:15.460 Thomas Gibbons, said, no, I have a federal license. 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:17.759 And a brilliant little detail hidden in our research 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.420 is that Gibbons' business manager was actually 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:23.220 a young Cornelius Vanderbilt. Wait, the future 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.839 railroad and shipping tycoon? Vanderbilt. The 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.120 very same. He's operating right at the bleeding 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.779 edge of this transportation revolution. Wow. 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:32.819 So the Supreme Court had to step in and say, 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.759 wait, if goods and people are crossing state 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.040 lines faster and more frequently than ever before, 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.720 who is actually in charge? And what did they 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.279 decide? They ruled that the federal government, 00:04:43.579 --> 00:04:46.040 not the individual states, has the authority 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.220 to regulate interstate commerce. The federal 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:52.040 government literally had to assert control just 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:54.959 to keep this rapidly accelerating economy functioning. 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:57.300 So technology is literally forcing the government 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:59.579 to redefine its own power. Precisely. And you 00:04:59.579 --> 00:05:01.980 see it again in 1837 with another Supreme Court 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:04.459 case, Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge. 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.899 What happened there? So a private company had 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:09.819 a long -standing charter to operate a toll bridge 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:12.620 in Massachusetts. But as the population just 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.829 boomed, the state wanted to build a second toll 00:05:15.829 --> 00:05:18.089 -free bridge right next to it to handle all the 00:05:18.089 --> 00:05:21.589 traffic. But wouldn't the new free bridge totally 00:05:21.589 --> 00:05:23.569 destroy the business of the old toll bridge? 00:05:23.790 --> 00:05:25.550 Like, who would pay? Right, they wouldn't. And 00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:28.329 under older interpretations of the law, that 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:30.730 original private contract would be sacred. You 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:32.699 couldn't just ruin their business. Right. But 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.079 the court actually reversed earlier precedents. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.339 They ruled that private property rights could 00:05:37.339 --> 00:05:39.259 be overridden if it was for the public good. 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.459 So progress literally trumped old contracts. 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:45.319 Exactly. The sheer momentum of progress, the 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:48.480 absolute need for new infrastructure was literally 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:51.800 rewriting the rules of ownership. And while all 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:54.379 this legal scrambling is happening, the map itself 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:56.579 is just exploding outward. I mean, during this 00:05:56.579 --> 00:05:58.939 exact same window, the Oregon Trail comes into 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:01.699 heavy use in the 1830s and 40s. Which is moving 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:03.759 thousands of people across the continent. Yeah. 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:05.779 And then you have the annexation of Texas in 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:09.839 1845. The California Gold Rush kicks off in 1849, 00:06:10.019 --> 00:06:12.680 which completely changes the, well, the demographic 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:14.620 center of gravity in North America. Right. Suddenly 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:16.980 the West Coast is a major hub. And then the Gadsden 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:19.680 Purchase from Mexico in 1854. The country is 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.459 just dev - Vowering territory at an unbelievable 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:25.139 rate, which brings us to a really critical breaking 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:29.339 point I want you to imagine taking a 13 passenger 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:33.160 wooden carriage Right. OK, picture it. And suddenly 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.319 bolting a massive heavy industrial steam engine 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.220 to it. Oh, the frame is just going to splinter. 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:41.279 Exactly. As the map expanded and the economy 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:44.199 accelerated, the sheer weight of this growth 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:46.519 caused the executive branch of the government 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:48.800 to buckle under the pressure. It really did. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.459 Which brings us from the physical expansion of 00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:54.379 the country straight into the institutional chaos 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:57.060 it triggered. And it was chaos. Because we look 00:06:57.060 --> 00:06:59.959 at the presidency today as this, you know, incredibly 00:07:00.139 --> 00:07:02.980 fortified, stable institution. But reading through 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:05.180 the historical record for this deep dive, the 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:07.680 turnover and the sheer drama in Washington during 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.639 this period is staggering. You have to remember, 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:14.060 institutions built to govern 13 coastal colonies 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:17.319 were suddenly trying to manage a sprawling continental 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:20.759 empire. Severe friction was inevitable. Well, 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:22.300 let's talk about that friction, because some 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:26.040 of this totally blew my mind. In 1832, the Supreme 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:28.939 Court rules in favor of the Cherokee Nation in 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:31.279 a case called Worcester v. State of Georgia. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:34.079 A huge landmark case. Right, and they're basically 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:36.120 saying the states don't have the right to impose 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:39.160 regulations on Native American land. And President 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:42.459 Andrew Jackson just... He just ignores the ruling. 00:07:42.819 --> 00:07:44.579 He essentially says, you know, the Chief Justice 00:07:44.579 --> 00:07:46.680 has made his decision, now let him enforce it. 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.149 Wait, let me stop you there. Jackson just ignored 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:52.389 a Supreme Court ruling. How does a president 00:07:52.389 --> 00:07:54.470 get away with bypassing the highest court in 00:07:54.470 --> 00:07:56.629 the land without being immediately removed? Like, 00:07:56.689 --> 00:07:59.670 what is the mechanism there? It exposes a massive 00:07:59.670 --> 00:08:01.910 structural vulnerability that people don't think 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:05.449 about. The Supreme Court has no army. It has 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:08.389 no police force. Oh, right. It relies entirely 00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:10.410 on the executive branch, meaning the president, 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:13.750 to actually enforce its rulings. So if the president 00:08:13.750 --> 00:08:16.519 simply refuses to do so... and Congress refuses 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.040 to impeaching for it, the court is powerless. 00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:22.199 That is wild. Jackson exposed the reality that 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:25.180 the system only works if all the branches agree 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.040 to play by the rules. And Jackson didn't stop 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.259 there. He then lead us the charter renewal of 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:32.039 the Second Bank of the United States, which sparks 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:35.720 what historians call the Bank War. So why was 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:38.120 vetoing a bank such a big deal? Because that 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:40.299 bank was essentially the central stabilizing 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:43.789 force for the nation's entire currency. Jackson 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:46.049 distrusted centralized financial power, so he 00:08:46.049 --> 00:08:49.070 just dismantled it. He moved federal funds into 00:08:49.070 --> 00:08:51.509 smaller state banks. Which leads directly to 00:08:51.509 --> 00:08:55.049 the Panic of 1837. Exactly. Without that central 00:08:55.049 --> 00:08:57.730 stabilizing force, inflation runs rampant, land 00:08:57.730 --> 00:09:00.549 speculation spirals out of control, and the economy 00:09:00.549 --> 00:09:03.169 just completely crashes. So the executive branch 00:09:03.169 --> 00:09:05.590 was testing its boundaries, flexing muscles that 00:09:05.590 --> 00:09:08.250 it never used before, but often with disastrous 00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:10.809 economic consequences. Yeah, the growing pains 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:13.429 were severe. And let's look at the toll on the 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:16.970 leaders themselves. This is crazy. In 1841 William 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:20.070 Henry Harrison becomes president and dies after 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:22.669 only a month in office. Shortest presidency in 00:09:22.669 --> 00:09:25.649 history. Right. So John Tyler takes over as vice 00:09:25.649 --> 00:09:28.009 president and by September of that exact same 00:09:28.009 --> 00:09:31.789 year his entire cabinet resigns en masse except 00:09:31.789 --> 00:09:34.029 for his Secretary of State Daniel Webster. It 00:09:34.029 --> 00:09:36.289 was a mass walkout at the highest level of government. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:39.159 Tyler had vetoed a banking bill his own party 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:42.059 supported, so his cabinet abandoned him to protest 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:44.710 his use of executive power. Just left him stranded. 00:09:44.990 --> 00:09:49.210 And then between 1842 and 1843, there is an attempted 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:51.970 impeachment of President Tyler. The instability 00:09:51.970 --> 00:09:54.250 is just incredible. Fast forward a decade to 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:57.529 1853, Vice President William R. King dies after 00:09:57.529 --> 00:10:00.490 just six weeks in office. And the political parties 00:10:00.490 --> 00:10:03.490 themselves are basically combusting. Yeah, the 00:10:03.490 --> 00:10:06.269 Whig Party completely collapses in 1854. Right. 00:10:06.269 --> 00:10:08.070 And then you have the Know Nothing Party, which 00:10:08.070 --> 00:10:10.990 has this massive mushroom growth, and then a 00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:13.659 sudden complete collapse between 18— 1954 and 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:16.340 1855. It was a political landscape in constant 00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:18.679 violent flux. Which makes me want to ask you, 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.039 are we too nostalgic about past political stability? 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:23.960 Because when you and I look at the news today, 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:25.500 it's easy to think, you know, things have never 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:27.559 been messy. People say that all the time. Right. 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:30.059 But when we look back at cabinet walkouts, presidents 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:32.659 dying weeks into their terms and sudden party 00:10:32.659 --> 00:10:35.799 collapses in the 1840s and 50s, does it prove 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:37.899 that American politics has actually always been 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:40.519 a chaotic mess? I think it proves that systems 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:43.789 under unprecedented stress will inevitably fracture. 00:10:44.649 --> 00:10:47.730 The government of the 1840s and 50s wasn't inherently 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:50.230 flawed just because of the people in it. It was 00:10:50.230 --> 00:10:52.309 flawed because its container was too small for 00:10:52.309 --> 00:10:54.409 what the country was becoming. That makes a lot 00:10:54.409 --> 00:10:56.830 of sense. To borrow another metaphor, they were 00:10:56.830 --> 00:10:59.269 trying to pour an ocean into a teacup. And that 00:10:59.269 --> 00:11:02.029 ocean was about to start boiling because the 00:11:02.029 --> 00:11:06.889 political chaos in Washington wasn't just a bureaucratic 00:11:06.889 --> 00:11:09.230 inefficiency or bad luck with the health of presidents. 00:11:09.629 --> 00:11:12.289 It was a symptom of a much deeper, much darker 00:11:12.289 --> 00:11:14.789 fracture in the nation. Yes, the core issue of 00:11:14.789 --> 00:11:17.210 the era. Right. Every time they expanded that 00:11:17.210 --> 00:11:19.350 map, every time they added a new territory, it 00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:21.549 brought the conflict over slavery and states 00:11:21.549 --> 00:11:23.490 rights right back to the surface. It was the 00:11:23.490 --> 00:11:26.149 defining, irreconcilable difference of the era. 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:30.000 And the source material meticulously tracks how 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.299 the legislative branch tried and ultimately failed 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:36.259 to manage it. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:38.919 because you can see the government frantically 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:42.000 trying to build legislative walls to hold back 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.840 a flood. The laws just keep escalating. In 1821, 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:48.879 you have the Missouri Compromise. What was the 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:52.259 actual mechanism of that? The Missouri Compromise 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:55.830 literally drew a line across the map. It admitted 00:11:55.830 --> 00:11:58.710 Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:01.129 state, basically to keep the balance of power 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:03.750 in the Senate equal. Okay, keeping the math even. 00:12:03.909 --> 00:12:06.570 Right, and it then dictated that any future states 00:12:06.570 --> 00:12:08.690 north of that specific geographic line would 00:12:08.690 --> 00:12:11.850 be free and anything south would allow slavery. 00:12:11.990 --> 00:12:13.830 But that line couldn't hold the tension. Then 00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:17.429 we get to 1846 and the Wilmot Proviso is introduced. 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:20.129 We are gaining all this new land from the Mexican 00:12:20.129 --> 00:12:23.029 -American War and a congressman named David Wilmot 00:12:23.029 --> 00:12:25.710 tries to attach a writer to an appropriations 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:29.210 bill. And this writer would outright ban slavery 00:12:29.210 --> 00:12:31.850 in any territory acquired from Mexico. Right. 00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:34.279 It didn't pass, though, did it? It didn't pass, 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.120 but it deeply terrified Southern politicians 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.059 because it signaled that the North was actively 00:12:40.059 --> 00:12:42.679 trying to surround and eventually suffocate the 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:44.960 institution of slavery. Which brings us to the 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:48.639 Compromise of 1850. The tension around that 1850 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:51.179 compromise was immense. It was a massive package 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:53.919 deal. It admitted California as a free state. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.039 But to appease the South, it included the incredibly 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.820 harsh Fugitive Slave Act. Which did what, legally 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:02.649 speaking? This act legally compelled citizens 00:13:02.649 --> 00:13:05.070 in free states to actively assist in the capture 00:13:05.070 --> 00:13:07.669 of escaped slaves, effectively making the North 00:13:07.669 --> 00:13:09.789 complicit in the institution. And the stakes 00:13:09.789 --> 00:13:12.169 were just absolute. The records note that President 00:13:12.169 --> 00:13:14.289 Zachary Taylor threatened to veto the compromise, 00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:16.549 even if it meant civil war right then and there. 00:13:16.830 --> 00:13:18.990 But he dies in office, Millard Fillmore takes 00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:22.090 over, and he signs it. Wow. If we connect this 00:13:22.090 --> 00:13:24.710 to the bigger picture, you can see the concept 00:13:24.710 --> 00:13:28.529 of inevitability taking shape. Every single territorial 00:13:28.529 --> 00:13:31.860 addition acted as a catalyst. It forced the conversation 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:34.720 every time. Exactly. Every time a new piece of 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.980 land was added, it forced the issue of state 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:40.639 sovereignty versus federal human rights back 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.480 onto the table. It demanded an answer to the 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:45.720 question of whether a new territory would permit 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.720 slavery. And the compromises totally collapsed 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.679 in 1854 when they passed the Kansas -Nebraska 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:54.500 Act. And the mechanics of this one are terrifying, 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:56.840 honestly. They really are. Because instead of 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:59.179 the federal government deciding if a new state 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:02.179 allows slavery based on that old Missouri compromise 00:14:02.179 --> 00:14:04.159 line, they leave it up to the local settlers 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:06.159 to vote on it. They called it popular sovereignty. 00:14:06.460 --> 00:14:08.960 But the result of popular sovereignty was immediate 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.379 localized warfare. Because people just flooded 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:14.600 the area, right? Yes. Radical factions from both 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:17.059 sides literally rushed into the Kansas territory 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:20.440 with guns to violently sway the vote. This directly 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:23.679 sparks the period known as Bleeding Kansas. You 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.120 have the Sack of Lawrence and the Potawatomi 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:31.059 Massacre, both in 1856. American citizens are 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:33.519 literally killing each other over the expansion 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.899 of this institution. And then the highest court 00:14:36.899 --> 00:14:39.980 in the land steps in and gives an answer that 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:42.730 shocked the conscience. of millions. Right. In 00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:45.690 1857, the Supreme Court hands down the Dred Scott 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:48.750 v. Sanford decision. Dred Scott was an enslaved 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:51.090 man who sued for his freedom because his owners 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:53.289 had taken him into free territory. But the court 00:14:53.289 --> 00:14:55.429 doesn't just rule against him. No, they go much 00:14:55.429 --> 00:14:57.830 further. They go much further. The court declared 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:00.710 that enslaved people and indeed any black person 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:03.309 descended from slaves were not American citizens. 00:15:03.769 --> 00:15:05.789 Therefore, they had no legal standing to sue 00:15:05.789 --> 00:15:08.309 in federal court at all. It was a judicial ruling 00:15:08.309 --> 00:15:10.730 that essentially attempted to legally codify 00:15:10.570 --> 00:15:13.029 the deepest fracture in the country completely 00:15:13.029 --> 00:15:15.549 removing any middle ground. Yes, it totally broke 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:18.169 down the ability to even have a debate. I mean, 00:15:18.289 --> 00:15:20.470 imagine the tension of living in a country where 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:23.610 even discussing the main issue was legally barred. 00:15:23.850 --> 00:15:26.350 We found out in our sources that back in 1836, 00:15:26.610 --> 00:15:29.330 the U .S. House of Representatives actually imposed 00:15:29.330 --> 00:15:33.450 a gag rule. Yes, this rule automatically tabled 00:15:33.450 --> 00:15:36.750 any anti -slavery petitions. You literally were 00:15:36.750 --> 00:15:39.610 not allowed to read them, discuss them or debate 00:15:39.610 --> 00:15:41.889 them on the floor of the House. And when debate 00:15:41.889 --> 00:15:45.100 is officially outlawed. Physical violence fills 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:48.919 the vacuum. Which culminates in 1856. Senator 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:52.019 Charles Sumner gives a fiery anti -slavery speech, 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:54.779 and Congressman Preston Brooks walks onto the 00:15:54.779 --> 00:15:57.759 floor of the Senate and beats Sumner nearly to 00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:59.840 death with a walking stick. The lawmakers themselves 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:01.980 were physically brawling in the halls of government. 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.039 It's hard to even picture that happening today. 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:06.480 But while Washington was descending into violence, 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:09.460 deadlock, and institutional failure, the citizens 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:12.320 themselves were not standing still. No, not at 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.899 all. The intense friction of this era was actually 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:18.000 generating massive societal movements. And that 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.279 is the striking duality of this era. While the 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:23.980 institutions were failing, society on the margins 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:27.710 was finding its voice. You look at the 1840s 00:16:27.710 --> 00:16:30.269 and you see the territory of Oregon passing a 00:16:30.269 --> 00:16:34.250 black exclusion law in 1844, literally banning 00:16:34.250 --> 00:16:36.549 black people from living there. It's a remarkably 00:16:36.549 --> 00:16:39.370 grim piece of legislation. It is, but in that 00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:42.690 exact same era, formerly marginalized groups 00:16:42.690 --> 00:16:45.850 are finding incredibly powerful platforms to 00:16:45.850 --> 00:16:49.149 speak out and organize. The 1830s brought the 00:16:49.149 --> 00:16:51.559 second great awakening. which was a massive religious 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:54.220 revival movement. But it wasn't just about theology. 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:57.240 It shifted how people viewed their moral obligations 00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.940 to society. In what way? It spurred many to believe 00:16:59.940 --> 00:17:01.899 that to be a good Christian, you had to actively 00:17:01.899 --> 00:17:04.140 work to eradicate social evils on Earth. And 00:17:04.140 --> 00:17:06.680 the need for moral obligation was glaring, especially 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:08.880 when you look at the tragic forced displacements 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:11.160 happening at the exact same time under federal 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:13.940 authority. The Indian Removal Act is passed in 00:17:13.940 --> 00:17:17.180 1830. And by 1838, this act leads directly to 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.079 the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:21.779 their ancestral lands in the southeast to territory 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:23.700 west of the Mississippi. Which we know now is 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:27.420 the Trail of Tears. Yes. This brutal march resulted 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:30.900 in over 4 ,000 deaths. And the Second Civil War 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.859 also begins in 1835, as tribes in Florida fiercely 00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:38.079 resist this relocation. But alongside these immense 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:40.480 tragedies orchestrated by the government, you 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:43.039 see the unmistakable sparks of organized resistance 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.880 that would eventually change the world. In 1831, 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:48.559 Nat Turner leads a major rebellion of enslaved 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:51.140 people in Virginia. And that very same year, 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:53.420 William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the 00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:56.700 Abolitionist newspaper. The Liberator. Why was 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:59.119 a newspaper so important then? It was crucial 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.660 because it created a decentralized media network 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:04.339 to connect anti -slavery advocates across state 00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:06.519 lines. It gave them a shared voice. Then you 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.440 have the famous Amistad case in 1839. Enslaved 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:11.400 Africans revolted, took over the Spanish ship 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:13.799 transporting them, and ended up in U .S. waters. 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:15.700 Right, and the legal battle over their freedom 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:17.900 goes all the way to the Supreme Court in 1841. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.039 And this blows my mind. Who steps up to argue 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.619 their case? former president John Quincy Adams. 00:18:23.099 --> 00:18:26.519 It is a remarkable moment in history. A former 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:29.039 chief executive utilizing his knowledge of the 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.039 legal system to successfully argue for the freedom 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:35.039 of these captive individuals. And he does it 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:37.339 before the very court that would later issue 00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:39.880 the Dred Scott decision. And he wins their freedom. 00:18:40.109 --> 00:18:43.150 And that heat, that societal friction we've been 00:18:43.150 --> 00:18:45.210 talking about was opening doors that had been 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:47.910 nailed shut for centuries. Look at the emergence 00:18:47.910 --> 00:18:50.329 of women in the public sphere during this exact 00:18:50.329 --> 00:18:52.369 same window. All the milestones are incredible. 00:18:52.970 --> 00:18:56.089 In 1832, Maria Stewart becomes the first black 00:18:56.089 --> 00:18:58.490 American woman to give a political speech in 00:18:58.490 --> 00:19:01.029 front of a mixed audience of men and women. In 00:19:01.029 --> 00:19:04.529 1837, Oberlin College begins enrolling female 00:19:04.529 --> 00:19:07.589 students alongside men, making it the very first 00:19:07.589 --> 00:19:09.650 co -educational college in the United States. 00:19:09.710 --> 00:19:12.190 And by 1848, you have the Seneca Falls Convention 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:14.109 in New York, which was the first major women's 00:19:14.109 --> 00:19:15.910 rights convention. It's all happening at once. 00:19:16.109 --> 00:19:18.049 It is. And this raises an important question 00:19:18.049 --> 00:19:20.490 for anyone studying history. We often look at 00:19:20.490 --> 00:19:22.930 eras of peace and stability as the ideal right. 00:19:22.930 --> 00:19:25.769 But how often does extreme societal pressure, 00:19:26.450 --> 00:19:29.230 political gridlock, and outright injustice serve 00:19:29.230 --> 00:19:31.769 as the incubator for our most enduring civil 00:19:31.769 --> 00:19:33.809 rights movement? Oh, that's a powerful point. 00:19:33.950 --> 00:19:37.130 The intense friction of the 1830s and 40s is 00:19:37.130 --> 00:19:39.309 what created the heat for these movements to 00:19:39.309 --> 00:19:41.789 forge something entirely new. While the federal 00:19:41.789 --> 00:19:44.150 government was fracturing, the social fabric 00:19:44.150 --> 00:19:46.589 of the nation was being forcefully rewoven by 00:19:46.589 --> 00:19:48.809 the citizens themselves. They were demanding 00:19:48.809 --> 00:19:51.230 a different future. So what does this all mean? 00:19:51.609 --> 00:19:54.089 When you take a step back from this dense list 00:19:54.089 --> 00:19:56.849 of dates, inventions, and Supreme Court cases, 00:19:57.269 --> 00:20:00.430 you realize that the period from 1820 to 1859 00:20:00.430 --> 00:20:02.730 wasn't just a waiting room for the Civil War. 00:20:02.849 --> 00:20:05.589 No, not at all. It was the crucial era where 00:20:05.589 --> 00:20:08.750 America's modern identity was forged. Its incredible 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:11.769 industrial might, its diverse, empowering social 00:20:11.769 --> 00:20:14.789 movements, and its deepest, most fatal flaws, 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:17.289 they all crystallized right here in real time. 00:20:17.410 --> 00:20:19.109 They really did. And, you know, there was one 00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:21.170 final almost chilling detail from the historical 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:23.690 records that perfectly captures the atmosphere 00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:26.450 at the very end of this era. Oh, what is it? 00:20:26.569 --> 00:20:29.930 It's tucked away in the late 1850s during the 00:20:29.930 --> 00:20:33.089 presidency of James Buchanan. A writer at a newspaper 00:20:33.089 --> 00:20:35.970 called The Newberry Rising Sun down in South 00:20:35.970 --> 00:20:39.309 Carolina published a piece that aptly characterized 00:20:39.309 --> 00:20:42.410 the forthcoming American Civil War from exactly 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:45.089 four years distance. Wait, they saw the massive 00:20:45.089 --> 00:20:48.029 bloodshed coming perfectly. four years before 00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:50.849 the first shot was even fired. Exactly. I want 00:20:50.849 --> 00:20:53.190 you to ponder that for a moment. How often are 00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:56.420 the signs of massive world -altering historical 00:20:56.420 --> 00:20:59.220 shifts completely obvious to a few observers 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:01.680 in real time, even while the rest of the world 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.859 just goes about its daily business. Most people 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:05.420 are just trying to get through the day. Right. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.940 So what four years out predictions are being 00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:10.460 written in our own local papers right now today 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.980 that we are simply ignoring? That is a haunting 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:14.940 thought. And it brings us right back to the beginning. 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:18.359 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the 50th 00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:20.500 anniversary of the nation they built. Passing 00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:23.569 away just as the world shifted. Exactly. They 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:25.809 passed away just as the map started violently 00:21:25.809 --> 00:21:28.650 expanding, just as the engines of industry started 00:21:28.650 --> 00:21:31.130 roaring, and just as the deep cracks in their 00:21:31.130 --> 00:21:34.390 foundation began to split wide open. They passed 00:21:34.390 --> 00:21:36.950 the torch, but they passed it directly into a 00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:39.710 roaring fire. Thank you so much for joining us 00:21:39.710 --> 00:21:41.730 on this deep dive. Keep questioning the history 00:21:41.730 --> 00:21:43.029 around you, and we'll see you next time.