Victoria Wilson

Mr. Widenhofer
Honors Unites States History
1/5/18
Midterm Essay
Prior to the Civil War, the United States of America was increasing in population. Many

Irish and German immigrants flocked to the North for jobs and building better lives for their

families. The North at this time had an excessive amount of railroad and seaports which allowed

manufacturing and the transportation of people to take a less amount of time. The South

however, did not have many direct accesses to railroad and only a few seaports. Although the

South lacked in transportation, they still rely on textile manufacturers in the North. With noire

and more manufacturing slavery asp increased. The South leaned on the need of more land,

wanting to expand westward for an increase in profit. Also at this time, a movement started by

the Second Great Awakening in the North called Abolitionism threatened the Souths

advancements. The South at the time was agrarian where as the North had manufacturing and

agriculture. These fundamental differences in way of life caused a lot of national political

tensions to arise, leading to the inevitability of the Civil War.

In 1845, Texas was annexed by the United States. This annexation started a grapple for

free or slave states. With Texas being declared a slave state at the start, many southerners were

pleased. Later Texas went on to declare itself a free state aggravating the South. Also, around

this time the Mexican- American War came to an end and one half of the Mexican land mass was

received. The Mexican Cession created a huge stir by the North and the South building tensions.

It was not until David Wilmot and his Proviso that we saw a little light. Wilmot promised that

the Mexican Cession would not be open to slavery at all. This Proviso passed the House, but not
the Senate. Wilmot being considered a Northerner increased Northern and Southern tension on a

national scale.

Around 1849, South Carolina had a group of radicals called the Fire-eaters. The South

was not happy with the Norths pull in the government due to the increasing number of Northern

over Southern states. The Fire-eaters claimed they would secede if the government continued, or

not if they were appeased. Hearing this political unrest. Henry Clay proposes the Compromise

of 1850. The main points of this Compromise was that there would not be any slave trade in

Washington, D.C. and that California would be made a free state. This Compromise was passed

and for a period of time the South halted their threats secession, but the North appeared to them

as economically increasing. The South still remained free to practice slavery, even with the

abolitionists fight.

Before the Election of 1860, one of the political parties called the Whigs split leading to

the creation of the Republican Party. This new party was filled with abolitionists that threatened

the South, because of this the South threatened secession if a Republican was elected. During the

Election of 1860, there were four candidates running for the Presidency; two democrats, one

republican, and One Free Soiler. Stephen Douglass (Democrat) and Abraham Lincoln

(Republican) had debates on the ideals of popular sovereignty or majority rule, and the decision

of Dred Scott, the court case in which an African American man tried to sue the state for his

rights. Lincoln asked Douglass if an owner moves to the North with his slaves if that ruling

would be legal. Douglass being for popular sovereignty declares something the South disagrees

with. By having a split Party and neither Democrat exceedingly beat the others, the Republican

candidate, Abraham Lincoln, won the Presidency. The South being true to their word secedes
further increasing the idea that the North and South have separated. The underlying reason for

the Lincoln-Douglass debates and the Southern session was that tensions from both northern

radicals such as John Brown’s take on Harper’s Ferry and King Cotton empires caused

expansionism to become a race between both sides.

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was about 70 years prior to 1845. This ordinance

declared both Indiana and Illinois states without slavery. Tensions between the North and South

took hold increasing the Souths want for secession. Much like with the Fire-eaters in 1849, in

1787 tensions increasingly caused expansionism to become more negative than positive. The

North and South butted heads. The Northwest Ordinance exempted the later start of the Civil

War.

Both the North and the South’s increasing want/need for land caused controversy over

slavery. The North being dominantly free and the south slave increased tensions. The difference

in ways of life created an increase in national politics. With these differences, Civil War was

inevitable. Northerners and Southerners in national politics such as the Election of 1860 caused

the last straw leading to Civil War.