Reasons For Westward Expansion

During the 19th century, westward expansion was becoming a possibility for the North and South regions of the United States. The North and South’s economy relied on two completely different industries: manufacturing and agriculture. Their work force was made up of two different people groups: immigrants and slaves. Both regions wanted to expand westward for different reasons. The South wanted to expand their economic power west. Northerners feared the expansion of southern agriculture west would bring more slave states. However, neither side knew whether or not slavery would be allowed in the western territories. As events like the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, and “Bleeding Kansas” and John Brown’s raid took place,

Northern and Southern states started realizing that both sides were very different from each other. The question of westward expansion revealed that the North and South had different identities and brought upon events that would push the sides further and further away from each other, resulting in the Civil War.
First off, the regional differences between the North and South contributed to the rising tension of the question of westward expansion.

The North dominated the manufacturing industry and the South dominated the agricultural industry. The North contained half of the “manufacturing establishments in the country in 1860” and “produced more than two-thirds of the manufactured goods.” The South had “cotton production [booming] in the lower South” and “cotton constituted nearly two-thirds of the total export of trade in the United States.” The amount of labor required to keep up with southern agriculture would require a continuous workforce. The North had a continuous cheap workforce themselves: immigrants. About 2.5 million immigrants from Europe came to America in the 1850s. Because “few immigrants settled in the South,” the South didn’t have a continuous workforce. The South had to depend on slaves for their workforce.

Even though the South had a great advantage of agricultural economic control, they had to depend greatly on the North for manufacturing because of their poor transportation. When the option of westward expansion came to be, the South could see it as an opportunity to expand their agricultural economy to make up for their dependence on northern manufacturing. However, the North realized the danger of the South wanting to expand westward. The South’s economic power could grow and with their agriculture, would also come their slaves, but would slavery be allowed

west?
With the introduction of the Popular Sovereignty idea, which suggested states decide whether or not slavery is allowed, the possibility of an imbalance of political power between free and slave states was real. In 1849, there was a balance of free to slave states. Both sides knew the other could gain a state and its representatives in Congress by expanding west. The Popular Sovereignty idea only came to action in the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state, abolished slave trade in Washington D.C., and allowed Popular Sovereignty in the Utah and New Mexico territories. To the North, the introduction of Popular Sovereignty only showed that political power in the South was growing. Before the Compromise of 1850, all the North had voted to abolish slavery west. By allowing the possibility of slavery west, this showed the North that the South had a complete disregard for the North’s decision.
Not only did the Compromise of 1850 introduce popular sovereignty, but it put the Fugitive Slave Law into motion. This law made it a federal crime for anyone, including the North, to withhold information about a runaway slave. The North was being forced to help the very thing they were trying to get rid of. This infuriated the North and they started gathering in mobs around cities. The South had once again gained political control over the Northern states and the different ideals between these regions becomes more apparent.
With the Missouri Compromise in action, there was no need to have to deal with the question of slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory. It settled the issue forever and seemed untouchable to northern free states. However, with the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, this sacred compromise would soon be destroyed. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed popular sovereignty in the territories left over from the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri Compromise was created to make sure slavery would not extend north of the 36˚3’ line, but now slavery was possibly opened to those territories. The South’s political power was growing more and more and it looked as if their “cotton kingdom” was dominating the United States.
As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, both citizens of the North and South flooded into Kansas.

Both regions wanted to try and gain another state, so both sides took to create a government within the territory. Pro-slavery southern settlers held an election that legalized slavery, but anti-slavery northern settlers wouldn’t have it and held their own election, abolishing slavery and then petitioned for statehood. However, they were denied statehood by Congress and were seen as traitors. Federal marshals were sent to arrest them, but they fought back causing both sides to fire at each other.

This event was known as “Bleeding Kansas” and showed that either side was willing to kill and die for their cause. This awakened the eyes of Americans and showed the true separation of the North and South. There was no going back. These two regions were no longer fighting for the preservation of the United States, they were fighting to tear their own people apart. There was a clear distinction between the goals of the North and the goals of the South. They did not want to work together. They only wanted political domination for their

party.
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry further separated the identities of the North and South. John Brown was anti-slavery and raided the federal arsenal with a group of men in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. His intention was to distribute the guns to slaves and create an uprising in the South. He never succeeded in his plan and was arrested then executed. The South thought that the North supported John Brown’s radicalism. This further separated the South from the North for the South now thought of the North as the enemy who wanted to destroy all white plantation owners in the South.