The Ostend Manifesto, written during President Franklin Pierce's administration, was a secret document that was created for the United States to acquire Cuba. The idea behind it was that the addition of Cuba to the nation would recreate the balance between slave states and free states (Cuba would become a slave state as it was close to the south, under the Missouri Compromise line).
While it was discussed in many previous administrations, the idea of taking Cuba never really moved past the hypothetical debate. Since President Pierce was a southern Democrat, he was in favor of the acquisition of Cuba to put a halt to the continued discussion of slavery in the states. Cuba was just 90 miles off the coast of the United States and would easily be added to the union to restore the balance.
At this period, the Spanish empire's grasp was weakening on the area (they had lost some states to the United States) and was ready to give up its control over Cuba. While the US was willing to give some amount of money to Spain, they were not willing to pay a great amount, especially since Spain "would prefer to see it sunk into the ocean."
The person credited with the ideas for the Manifesto was Pierre Soulé, a former Senator from Louisiana. Three American diplomats met in Ostend, Belgium in October of 1854 to discuss the acquisition of Cuba. After this Manifesto was written, the House of Representatives became aware of it and demanded for it to be released to the public.
Northerners were outraged by the southern effort to increase their power and amount of slavery in the country. The Pierce administration was greatly damaged by this issue, which would later lead to the final separation that ended up in the Civil War.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostend_Manifesto
https://www.britannica.com/event/Ostend-Manifesto
https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h147.html
I think this event is really interesting because it reminds me of the Hartford Convention, when the Federalist party met secretly, and in that case, it backfired as well. In the case of the Hartford Convention, it lead to the demise of the Federalist party, but in the case of the Ostend Manifesto, like you said, it damaged the Pierce administration and the union of the country.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you wrote about how Ostend Manifesto contributed to the gap between the North and the South and went further than simply describing the document. I think that it is interesting to point out the progression in terms of Cuba and the United States' relationship between 1854 and 1898. In 1898, the United States decided to declare war on Spain in order to support the Cuban revolution - despite President Grover Cleveland's proclamation of neutrality in 1895. Over the course of four decades, the United States went from trying to impose colonial imperialism in Cuba to supporting them to fight for their independence, which is really amazing.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/intro.html
I think this is a great example to show the growing divide between the north and the south, even though they were all part of one union. This is similar to what the Northerners did with the Wilmot Proviso in that they tried to prohibit slavery in any territory gained from Mexico. The growing tensions between slave states and non-slaves grew so extreme in America that they decided to gain power by gaining foreign territories. I agree with your point that by trying to do this, it would later lead to the start of the Civil War but I also think that decisions such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act contributed, too.
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