Discuss the expansion of the US between 1800&1850 & its affect on the national d

Question: Discuss the expansion of the US between 1800&1850 & its affect on the national divisions that led to Civil war
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The US expanded lots:

Louisiana Purchase
Florida
Oregon Country
Texas
Mexican Cession

Southerners were generally strongly pro-expansion, while Northerners (especially those from New England) were less so!. Southerners wanted the nation to expand west because there was great money to be made in growing cash crops - especially cotton - using slave labor; the only thing missing was the land on which to grow the crops!. Westward expansion allowed the Cotton Kingdom to expand into Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas!.

Northerners were skeptical of expansion!. For one thing, westward expansion and the inclusion of more states in the Union meant a loss of political power for the older, smaller states of the Northeast!. As the century wore on and as the evils of slavery crept into the consciousness of more and more northerners, objection to expansion became tantamount to an objection to the expansion of slavery!. The Republican Party was formed in the 1850s by northerners who were committed to stopping the spread of slavery into the newly acquired territories of the west!.

Ultimately, it was expansion itself that led to the first great crisis that culminated in the Civil War!. As new territories were acquired, those territories obtained the requisite population to join the Union!. Congress was very careful to keep the balance between free and slave states as equal as possible, but the gold rush in newly-acquired California in 1849 meant that a (free) state was to be added without another slave state to achieve balance in government!. While a compromise was reached, it was not a lasting one, and violence broke out in Kansas (over popular sovereignty), Virginia (John Brown and Harpers Ferry), and finally South Carolina (Fort Sumter)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

EVERY time a territory increased it's population to 100,000 - enough to apply for statehood - There arose a contest to decide
whether it should be a slave state, or a free state!. Every time there was such a contest, North and South were set at odds!.
And every time, the arguments for/against slavery were set out in the public imagination once again!. In short, expansion of the US meant slavery was an issue for constant discussion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You may want to check out Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin!. She talks about individual politicians, some from expansion states, who eventually became part of Lincoln's cabinet!. It's a great read--she really brings the people and the issues to life, starting around 1830 up until Lincoln's assassination!.Www@QuestionHome@Com