With the nation expanding west, the balance of power between slave and free states became questionable. The North and South had different needs, one side being industrialized while the other was agrarian and thrived off of cash crops. Legislation that passed for one half of the nation wasn’t always helpful to the other, in fact, it was most times harmful. With these differences, both the North and the South knew it was important to have equal or more representation in the government than the other in order to protect their interests. The Louisiana Purchase, which stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to slightly beyond the Canadian border, was purchased, questions arose whether this territory would be free territory or slaveholding territory. This
