The North opposed the Ostend Manifesto, viewing it as an attempt to expand slavery into new territories and potentially lead to war with Spain. They saw it as a Southern effort to gain more slave-holding states and increase their influence in Congress. The Manifesto was widely criticized and ultimately abandoned due to strong backlash and opposition.
Franklin Pierce was the President when the Ostend Manifesto surfaced.
1854
Spain
Americans condemed Bunchans Ostend Manifesto because it was against the system of slavery and was felt to be destroying Republican values. info from wikipedia
The Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto, written by the Americans, was controversial because it unnecessarily tried to provoke a war with Spain. The U.S. wanted Spain to cede Cuba and be admitted to the union as a slave state.
The Pierce administration's schemes to acquire Cuba
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The Ostend Manifesto failed because it proposed that the U.S. purchase Cuba from Spain, which was seen as aggressive and expansionist by many, including antislavery groups who feared it would lead to the spread of slavery. The public outcry and international opposition to the Manifesto led the U.S. government to abandon the idea.
When the people of the United States heard about the Ostend Manifesto they were angered. This hurt President Pierce's chances at presidency. This also helped splinter the Democratic Party.
The Ostend Manifesto, issued in 1854, intensified sectionalism by articulating the desire of pro-slavery advocates to expand U.S. territory into Cuba, which they viewed as a potential slave state. This document alarmed anti-slavery factions in the North, as it seemed to endorse the expansion of slavery, further polarizing the nation. The ensuing debates heightened tensions between free and slave states, contributing to the growing divide that ultimately led to the Civil War. Thus, the Ostend Manifesto not only reflected existing sectional tensions but also exacerbated them by promoting the idea of territorial expansion for the sake of slavery.
Ostend Manifesto