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During the 1840’s and 1850’s the idea of Manifest Destiny – or that it was the
American’s God-given right to expand westward to spread civilization, even if that meant
pushing other people off that land – exploded. A large issue at this time was western expansion
and the stance on whether to annex Texas, Oregon Country, and California. Acquiring this land
was achieved through the Mexican-American War. Northerners were against expansion, and
Southerners supported it. The war created much tension between the North and South, increasing
The turning point can truly be seen when the increase in sectionalism increased. Many
northerners were very against western expansion since the disputed areas that were possibly
going to become part of the United States were below the 36°30' line. This meant they would
become slave states. Southerners were obviously for this expansion, seeing it as a possible way
to acquire more farm land, and keep the institution of slavery secured for a little while longer.
This was when the North and South had started to consider themselves separate from the other,
which can be connected to how they didn’t have a problem fighting each other in the Civil War.
It was almost as if each side didn’t consider the other “truly” American.
The biggest effect of the Mexican-American War was the amount of land gained from it,
which was one of the largest territorial expansions of the United States. While this was a positive
effect of the war, it also led to the question of how to decide if the new states would be slave or
free states. The Missouri Compromise couldn’t work in the situation of the new land because
California would be half-above, and half-below the 36°30' line. The Missouri Compromise was
ultimately replaced with the Compromise of 1850. It decided that California would be a free
state, Texas would be a slave state, and any new states could decide through popular sovereignty,
The Compromise of 1850 didn’t solve the problem of how to decide if a state would be
slave or free completely. This conflict came up multiple times before the Mexican-American
War, as seen with the Missouri Compromise. The Compromise of 1850 was just another delayal
of the Civil War, as was the Missouri Compromise before it. Slavery also obviously still existed
after the Mexican-American war, seeing as the slave/free state debate was still happening. This
of course didn’t help with the racism towards black people in America. Along with the racism
against black people, there was also racism towards Mexican-American people living in the
While the Mexican-American War created more problems then it solved, it is definitely a
turning point in the debate of slavery. Expansion wouldn’t have been controversial had slavery
not existed. It also did not resolve the issue of how to balance slave and free states, and thus
created more tension between the North and South. Though more land was gained, the Mexican-
American War can be traced back to as a cause of the Civil War due to the increased