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Main cause of the spanish american war
Main cause of the spanish american war
19th century american sectionalism
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The Mexican-American War was not a major turning point in the debate over slavery, it merely highlighted the growing sectional tensions. These growing tensions had existed long before slavery and would continue to increase in tenacity in the years leading up to the Civil War. Prior to the Mexican-American War, there was already growing sectional differences about how slavery should be handled. There was an effort to keep the balance of free and slave states so neither side would have an edge politically, such as when Missouri would only be admitted as a slave state as long as Maine, a free state would be there to balance it out. After the Civil War when popular sovereignty was put in place to determine whether slavery would be allowed, violence
reached an increased level in Kansas. Long before the Mexican American War was the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Even at this time in history, the north and the south had strong views on the expansion of slavery. Neither side would be willing to give up its power, the balance of free and slave states had to be maintained. A slave state, Missouri, would not be admitted unless it had a free state to balance it out. This was due to the fact that the sectional divisions already existed, and neither one would be willing to let the other have more political power. Slave uprisings also strengthened these sectional differences, such as Nat Turner’s Rebellion. This resulted in widespread panic in the south and caused many southerners to further limit what they would allow slaves to do, like religious gatherings. In the north this increased abolitionist movements that southerners resented. Already, the sectional tension was increasing. The Mexican-American War highlighted these preexisting sectional tensions, the debate over how to handle slavery in new land was not a new one. As seen with the Missouri Compromise, both sides had their opinions on how to handle the expansion of slavery. The Wilmot Proviso proposed the ban of slavery in all of the newly acquired land. The North supported this while the south greatly resented it. Then The Compromise of 1850 was passed. It prevented the Wilmot Proviso, and allowed popular sovereignty instead, it also passed the controversial Fugitive Slave Act. This debate showed that nothing had changed since the Missouri Compromise, they would still go back and forth fighting about how to handle slavery. Like every other decision, it couldn’t please everyone, so it increased sectional tensions as well, especially the Fugitive Slave Act.