Expansion Of Slavery

Between the years 1846 to 1861, the United States government was in a constant argument over the idea of the expansion of slavery. The southern politicians perceived the decisions made by Congress a retaliation against the southern need to expand slavery, so their economy does not collapse due to soil degradation. The north saw the tactics used by the south as rebellious to the American form of government. Northern politicians believed the south was trying to take over the government by nationalizing slavery and corrupting the government itself. Both the southern and northern politicians began to use their passion to validate their fears about the other party. The south claimed that the north was being aggressive and inhibiting the growth …show more content…
The question of whether the south would be able to have one of the states as a slave state arose, and caused a lot of tension. The northerners said that the lands of Kansas or Nebraska would not be healthy enough to sustain a plantation. While the southerners, said that expanding slavery would help the economy and the social tensions. During this time period in the south, a lot of slave insurrections took place. As a result, plantation owners began to think spreading the slaves out would decrease the rebellious atmosphere. The Kansas-Nebraska act stated that the Missouri Compromise had to be repealed because it did not give the southern portion of the United States enough or equal opportunity compared to the north. This act can be linked as one of the main factors in the creating of the civil war and national sectionalism amongst the north and the south. Sectional division in the Kansas and Nebraska territories began to boil over when anti-slavery sentiments dominated the land. People like Eli Turner wanted to ensure that slavery would not be spread beyond the south. Turner thought by convincing northerners to move to the west and settle there would be a common abolitionist atmosphere. Once the south caught wind of Eli Turner’s plan, they began to have southerners live in Kansas, to have an established pro-slavery population. The clashing ideologies of the area left it in constant warfare over land and beliefs. All of the differing ideologies led to Bleeding Kansas. Bleeding Kansas, through the eyes of the south, was seen as something to unfairly shut out slavery from the rest of the United States and a direct attack on the stability of the southern culture. Northerners remained settled on the notion that plantation life would not be sustainable, so the southerners should keep slaves in the south. Both regional ideologies led to non-stop fighting