Expansion Of Slavery Essay

The expansion of slavery fueled the desire for american conquests in Cuba and Hawaii, the seizure of Mexican Territory located below the line of the Missouri Compromise, and the removal of the cherokee from their southern homelands. Southerners were ecstatic about gaining southern territories in which they could use slaves. First eyeing Cuba in 1854, americans attempted to add the territory as a slave state. However, the proposal was shot down by northern abolitionists. Meanwhile Hawaii was proposed to be added to the US the same year, but southerners did not support the idea when it was expected to become a free state. It was clear that many americans wanted to gain southern territory to extend the reach of slavery. As the Mexican-American War raged, …show more content…
There was also a general need for farmland, as the south was in the midst of an agricultural boom. Jackson’s southern followers understood that Indians hindered the expansion of slavery, and Jackson forced the Indians onto reservations to appease the southerners. Conversely, the organization of territories was mainly utilized to control the the spread of slavery within the country. While James Tallmadge had originally pushed for a bill that prohibited slavery in Missouri, a new territory, it became clear that the only way to settle the locations of slavery once and for all was the Missouri compromise. Through the Missouri Compromise, Tallmadge had successfully contained slavery to an area less than half the size of american territory at the time. In 1850, the Great Compromise called for the most populous and arable territory of California to be admitted as a free state, while the larger but arid territories of Utah and New Mexico were added without restrictions on slavery. Clay’s bill was ultimately passed with minor changes, slowing the growth of slavery by introducing it to lands unfit for