Adam Cruttenden

Question: Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories

contributed to the coming of the Civil War. Confine your answer to the period 1845-1861.

The civil war was one of the bloodiest wars in U.S. history, but before the bloodshed had occurred, there

were multiple different events to anger the South and North. Therefore, the Mexican Cession,

Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas Nebraska Act contributed the most to the coming of the Civil War

and the expansion of slavery into the western territories.

First, the Mexican Cession. It was a crucial part of expansion for the United States but, it also

played a large role in the coming of the Civil War. When the United States had beaten Mexico in the U.S

Mexican War, Mexico had given up land that was part of California and land around Texas or connected

to Texas. This causes problems because, California had enough people to become a state because of the

gold rush. Therefore, California could be admitted as a state. This caused problems because this would

disrupt the equal comparison between slave states and free states in the senate. When a congressman

from Pennsylvania with the name David Wilmot heard about this problem he decided to option the

Wilmot Proviso. This was immediately turned down and angered the south because, it would make all

the Mexican Cession states/territories free and not allow any slaves. This Proviso causes huge problems

throughout the states. This was one of the main reasons for the civil war occurred, tension betwixt slave

and free states.

The second topic is the Compromise of 1850. This was created by Henry Clay and was the last

Compromise he created before he passed away. This had five different compromises, and four of them

acted toward the issues between the south and north, as well as slavery in new states/territories. The

first compromise was Popular sovereignty. This allowed people in the Mexican cession states to vote for
slavery or against it. The north is okay with this because they had more people who could go to these

newly acquired states or territories and vote against slavery. This angers the south because this would

cause more free states than slave states. The second part was, California was admitted as a free state

which angers the south. This again causes more free states than slave states. Third was the fugitive slave

law. These were stricter law that said if slaves were caught in the North they were to be returned to

their owner and if a freed person was caught hiding slaves, they were fined heavily or put in jail. This

helps the south because now they would be able to retrieve escaped slaves because police officials were

threatening and the consequences of being caught as a freed northerner holding slaves was too harsh

for them. The fourth and final part of the compromise that involved slaves was the abolishment of slave

trade in Washington D.C. . This said that there was not allowed to be slavery or slave trade in the

nation’s capital, so that the country did not look like they were still using slaves since the slave trade had

stopped. The reason this occurred in D.C. is because immigrants or people from other countries stay in

D.C. all the time and would see how the United States treats people and other countries would become

angry about this. This is bad for the south because it gets rid of a large slave port.

The third topic is the Kansas Nebraska act. This act stated that popular sovereignty would decide if

slavery would be allowed I those two territories. This cause Bloody Kansas because the south and north

both were trying to get as many people in the territories as possible so that the vote would go there

way, but a man named John Brown went to Kansas and killed people who wanted slavery. This was the

first bloodshed for slaves vs. free and was even before the Civil War. The Kansas Nebraska Act connects

with another time which is the 1820s with the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise stated

that slavery was not allowed past the 36’ 30, and was like this until the Kansas Nebraska Act disregards it

and allows slavery if voted on anyway. This would cause large problems between the north and south

and leads to tons of bloodshed in the Civil War.