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- In the most famous Boston case, a biracial group of armed abolitionists led by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, stormed the federal courthouse in 1854 to try to save escaped slave Anthony Burns
- The rescue effort failed and a deputy marshal was killed
- President Pierce sent marines, cavalry, and artillery to Boston to reinforce the guard over Burns and ordered a ship to deliver him back to slavery
- When the effort by lawyers to argue for his freedom failed, Boston's raised money to buy his freedom
- The U.S. attorney enforced the Fugitive Slave Law which blocked the purchase
- During the 185s, 322 black fugitives were sent back into slavery, only 11 were declared free
- The Fugitive Slave Law forced northern communities to confront the full meaning of slavery
The Election of 1852
- The democrats had a wide variety of Candidates, Lewis Cass, Stephen Douglas, and James Buchanan.
- Franklin Pierce easily won the 1852 election, 254 electoral votes to 42.
"Young America": The Politics of Expansion
- Pierce entered the White House in 1853
- The "Young America" movement began as a group of writers and politicians in the New York Democratic Party who believed in the democratic and nationalistic promise of "manifest destiny"
- By 1850, their goals were only to conquer Central America and Cuba
- During the Pierce administration, several people invaded Caribbean and Central American countries, with the intention of extending slave territory
- William Walker was the best known filibuster, he invaded Nicaragua 3 times
- The first time he came ruler and encouraged settlement by southern slave owners
- The other times he tried to regain control but failed, and was captured and executed in his last attempt
THE CRISIS OF THE NATIONAL PARTY SYSTEM
- The Kansas-Nebraska Act proposed to open up the lands...
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