Filibustering in the 1850s
As we now know it, filibustering refers to “the parliamentary tactic used in the…Senate by a minority of the senators—sometimes even a single senator—to delay or prevent parliamentary action by talking so long that the majority either grants concessions or withdraws the bill” (Encyclopedia Britannica). However, at the time that Hannah Crafts was writing her novel the term “filibustering” referred to something quite different.
Filibustering in 1850s America was “the attempt to take over countries at peace with the United States via privately financed military expeditions” (Encyclopedia Britannica). According to Robert May, “…The invasions seriously endangered U.S. relations with Spain and other European powers…[President Millard] Fillmore's second annual message to Congress…in December 1851, gave…twice as much attention to the Cuban invasions as to the North-South crisis over slavery.” Although “The Neutrality Law of 1818” made filibustering illegal, May argues that “it would be a mistake to assume that American leaders, many of them avid territorial expansionists, shared an unwavering commitment to eradicate private expeditions” (May 7). He furthers, arguing that “from time to time, federal authorities prosecuted filibusters for violating the neutrality laws. Yet there were occasions when federal authorities found it convenient to overlook, or even assist, filibuster plots in the expectation that they might eventuate in U.S. territorial growth” (May 7-8).
Filibustering grew out of the popular ideology of Manifest Destiny, which argued that America should expand its territory from “sea to shining sea.”
“Spurred by land hunger and by the desire of proslavery Southerners to add future slave states to the Union, filibusterers were active during the decade prior to the [Civil War]…The high point of American filibustering was reached under William Walker, a Californian who first tried to take Mexican Baja (Lower) California and then turned his attention to Nicaragua. In 1855 Walker took advantage of a civil war in Nicaragua to take control of the country and set himself up as dictator. In May 1856 President Franklin Pierce recognized the Walker regime” (Encyclopedia Britannica).While there were many filibusters who undertook expeditions in many Latin American countries, William Walker’s story is particularly relevant to the Bondwoman’s Narrative because her owner, John Hill Wheeler, was the U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua at the time that Walker seized control of the country. Furthermore, he recognized Walker’s government, even though it was against the wishes of the Secretary of State – William L. Marcy. Walker himself notes this in his book, The War in Nicaragua written in 1860:
“…the Secretary of State at Washington, remote from the scene of trouble, constantly wrought on by the ministers of foreign countries, and dreading the effect the new Nicaraguan movement would have on old political organizations in the United States, was always averse to any action which might favor the Americans in Nicaragua. Not many days, however, after Mr. Wheeler recognized the Walker government, facts occurred showing in a strong light the good policy of the American minister” (Walker 232).Walker was eventually thrown out of power after he tried to take over the Accessory Transit Company which was owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt raised a significant amount of support against Walker and was able to have him removed from power. Walker tried to regain power twice and the second time was arrested by British Troops in Honduras and was executed in 1860 (Encyclopedia Britannica 2009). As for filibustering, “it came to an end with the start of the American Civil War. Land hunger was never quite so strong again as the United States turned from an agrarian to an industrial nation. With the abolition of slavery, Southern support for such conquests disappeared” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Works Cited
"Filibuster." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 28 Nov. 2009
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206845/filibuster>.
"Filibustering." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 28 Nov. 2009
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206848/filibustering>.
May, Robert E. Manifest Destiny’s Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America. 2002. University of
North Carolina Press. Print.
Walker, William. The War in Nicaragua. 1860. New York: S. H. Goetzel & Co. Electronic. Retrieved
November 27, 2009 from <http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/william-walker.htm.>
No comments:
Post a Comment