Texas had recently earned its freedom from Mexico and the Southerners wanted it. After being argued about in the election of 1844, James K. Polk pushed and pushed to get Texas until it was finally added to America. In 1845 Texas was officially added to the United States as a slave state. After the addition of Texas, many Southerners also wanted to gain the other land in the south, such as California and New Mexico. The attempt to get this land, eventually started a war with Mexico. The Americans had won and the war had just ended. In 1848, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed after the war with Mexico, giving up land such as present day California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of Colorado. Then, in 1854, America gained what
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Fugitive Slave Act:
In 1850, an act was passed that was a controversial topic in congress. This was called The Fugitive Slave Act. A senator named Henry Clay had proposed a compromise to stop fighting over issues in congress. He had five parts to his plan. One, was that California would become a free state, the second was that the territory in New Mexico would have no slavery restrictions, thirdly, the border between New and Texas would be settled, the fourth part that the trade of slaves who be prohibited in the District of Columbia, and the last part was that the fugitive slave law would be enforced.
This compromise of Clay’s caused a big debate in Congress. People such as John C. Calhoun were against Clay’s proposal. He thought that slavery would need to be allowed in California because if not, the union may be split apart by seceding Southern states. If the new states such as New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and California all became Free states, which was likely, the balance of slave and Free states would be unbalanced. The Southern states talked about seceding if these states came in as free. Clay’s proposals were rejected and didn’t make it through the congress because some people didn’t agree with all five proposals. Later that year, Zachary Taylor, the president at the time, died and was replaced by Millard Fillmore, who agreed with some of Clay’s compromise. A man named Stephen A. Douglass chose to take the compromise issue into his own hands. He split …show more content…
Tensions grew even higher than before after the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was published in 1852. A woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe was the author of the book and was against slavery. Her book was and was about the life of a slave. The book showed the cruelty of slavery and the mistreatment of slaves in the south. The South was enraged about how the book described slavery and stated that it was inaccurate. The south was so opposed to the book that they banned its sales in the South. On the other hand, it was very successful in the north and rose attention the problem of slavery. Many people who were undecided on the issue saw reasoning to side with the abolitionists.
This book was important because it strengthened the anti-slavery cause up in the North by showing the truth of slavery. It also was significant because it separated the North and South more than before by increasing the amount of anti-slavery and pro-slavery supporters. Because of this, the North thought that the Southerners were brutal and cruel people and the South thought that the North was out to get them. This separation was a reason for the Civil War and how our country became divided into the Union and
Fugitive Slave Act:
In 1850, an act was passed that was a controversial topic in congress. This was called The Fugitive Slave Act. A senator named Henry Clay had proposed a compromise to stop fighting over issues in congress. He had five parts to his plan. One, was that California would become a free state, the second was that the territory in New Mexico would have no slavery restrictions, thirdly, the border between New and Texas would be settled, the fourth part that the trade of slaves who be prohibited in the District of Columbia, and the last part was that the fugitive slave law would be enforced.
This compromise of Clay’s caused a big debate in Congress. People such as John C. Calhoun were against Clay’s proposal. He thought that slavery would need to be allowed in California because if not, the union may be split apart by seceding Southern states. If the new states such as New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and California all became Free states, which was likely, the balance of slave and Free states would be unbalanced. The Southern states talked about seceding if these states came in as free. Clay’s proposals were rejected and didn’t make it through the congress because some people didn’t agree with all five proposals. Later that year, Zachary Taylor, the president at the time, died and was replaced by Millard Fillmore, who agreed with some of Clay’s compromise. A man named Stephen A. Douglass chose to take the compromise issue into his own hands. He split …show more content…
Tensions grew even higher than before after the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was published in 1852. A woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe was the author of the book and was against slavery. Her book was and was about the life of a slave. The book showed the cruelty of slavery and the mistreatment of slaves in the south. The South was enraged about how the book described slavery and stated that it was inaccurate. The south was so opposed to the book that they banned its sales in the South. On the other hand, it was very successful in the north and rose attention the problem of slavery. Many people who were undecided on the issue saw reasoning to side with the abolitionists.
This book was important because it strengthened the anti-slavery cause up in the North by showing the truth of slavery. It also was significant because it separated the North and South more than before by increasing the amount of anti-slavery and pro-slavery supporters. Because of this, the North thought that the Southerners were brutal and cruel people and the South thought that the North was out to get them. This separation was a reason for the Civil War and how our country became divided into the Union and