Nick Rubin
Gaul
U.S. History
30 January 2015
After the signing of the constitution, it is evident that the Northern and Southern halves of the United States developed along different lines. The South remained predominantly agrarian with an explosion in cotton production, while the North became more and more industrialized. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed. This led to disagreements on many issues, like tariffs, taxes, and states rights, but when vast new tracts of land were added after the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican Cession, the expansion of slavery was the burning issue that led to the disruption of the union. Between 1776 and 1860, territorial compromises and political negotiations helped preserve unity: the Missouri compromise in …show more content…
However, when the Dred Scott case declared them unconstitutional, tensions between the North and the South exploded, resulting in a full-blown Civil War once Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Between 1820 and 1854, Congress enacted three compromises to settle the disputes over slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 proposed to regulate slavery in the western territories by clearly defining free and slave territories. In order to maintain a balance of power in the Senate between slave and free states, the act prohibited slavery in new states of the Louisiana Purchase territory North of the 36 30 parallel. It also admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free one. After America’s 1848 victory in the Mexican-American war, the Mexican Cession left them with a huge tract of land, consisting of the present day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. With this new land, the issue of the expansion
Gaul
U.S. History
30 January 2015
After the signing of the constitution, it is evident that the Northern and Southern halves of the United States developed along different lines. The South remained predominantly agrarian with an explosion in cotton production, while the North became more and more industrialized. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed. This led to disagreements on many issues, like tariffs, taxes, and states rights, but when vast new tracts of land were added after the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican Cession, the expansion of slavery was the burning issue that led to the disruption of the union. Between 1776 and 1860, territorial compromises and political negotiations helped preserve unity: the Missouri compromise in …show more content…
However, when the Dred Scott case declared them unconstitutional, tensions between the North and the South exploded, resulting in a full-blown Civil War once Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Between 1820 and 1854, Congress enacted three compromises to settle the disputes over slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 proposed to regulate slavery in the western territories by clearly defining free and slave territories. In order to maintain a balance of power in the Senate between slave and free states, the act prohibited slavery in new states of the Louisiana Purchase territory North of the 36 30 parallel. It also admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free one. After America’s 1848 victory in the Mexican-American war, the Mexican Cession left them with a huge tract of land, consisting of the present day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. With this new land, the issue of the expansion