Growth of a Nation (…2 Nations?)

As a result of the American Revolution, Britain ceded it's territory east of the Mississippi

What a Deal!

In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase nearly doubles the size of the young nation

– In 1819, Spain cedes Florida to the U.S. in return for the nullification of a Five Million

Dollar debt

Manifest Destiny

• Many Americans dreamed of a empire stretching from the

Atlantic to the Pacific

• They believed it was our nation’s “Manifest Destiny” to

overspread and possess the whole continent

Soon Thereafter, Mexico Wins Independence from Spain

Texas

• Southern farming spreads into Mexico• Mexico does not allow slavery• Texans Rebel against Mexico

Remember the Alamo?

• Texans gain their “independence” but seek admission to the U.S. as a state

Texan Independence

War with Mexico

• After nearly 10 years, the US decides the time is right to annex Texas.

• Mexico protests – war is declared

New Land!

• War ends with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo

• The U.S. obtains land in what is now California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas (1.2 million square miles!)

• The Gadsen Purchase completes our southwest territory which is referred to as the Mexican Cession.

Results of the Mexican War

Gadsen Purchase

Slave States vs. Free States

• As U.S. territory grows, new states are created.

• States in the North are considered Free States (no slavery)

• Southern states are considered Slave States.

• …it’s not necessarily all about slavery.

A Divide Exists:Slave States vs. Free States

• The creation of slave states vs. free states is mostly about economic and political power.

• The abolition (antislavery) movement is still in it’s infancy.

Slave States vs Free States

Life in the North

• Greater population – 2.5 times more than South . . . . Why?

• More railroad track -70% of U.S. total

• More industrial – 90,000 more factories than in the South

• Wealthier - In 1860 – produced over $1.3 billion more in goods!

Harrisburg, PA 1855

Raleigh, NC 1873

Life in the South

• Primarily agrarian -

“Cotton Is King!”By 1860, over half of US exports were Southern cotton!

Cotton Boll: front and side views

Life in the South, cont.

• Weaker financial system. $160 million LESS in Bank Deposits than the North.

• Outdated transportation – river commerce and water shipping instead of railroads.

• Slavery!

Slave-Owning

Population (1850)

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

Why does the South want Slave States?

• The South needs to expand their agricultural economy and sees the addition of new states as perfect answer.

• Political Reason: The addition of a new Slave States would mean 2 more Senators and additional Congressmen in the House of Representatives which would give Southerners more power!

Protecting a Way of Life• Southerners needed

to at least maintain an equal number of slave states to free states that would mean equal representation in Congress otherwise, legislation would be passed that would not be agreeable to the Southern way of life!

How do we keep the balance of power and let the South expand?

• Slave states vs Free states

• Admitting new states may shift the balance of power

• We Either Fight or …….Lets Compromise!

The Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Maine is admitted as a free state• Missouri is admitted as a slave state,

but what about the future?...• Slavery is not allowed in any new

western states created above Missouri’s southern border.

Missouri Compromise

Uh Oh – more land, more issues

• Slave states vs Free states again…• What area is free and what is

slave?• How will we keep the balance of

power between the North and South the same?

• TIME TO COMPROMISE . . . AGAIN!

The Compromise of 1850(Slave states vs Free states again…)

• California -free state• Texas - slave state• Sale of slaves abolished in D.C.• Fugitive Slave Act -Escaped slaves had to be returned

The government and all its citizens were now required to return slave owner’s “property”

Escaped slaves are now the responsibility of the government.

The Fugitive Slave Act!

Northern Outrage!

• Even Free Blacks now feared of being forced back into slavery

• Thousands flee to Canada

• Abolitionist movement now becomes a powerful force

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1852 Sold 300,000 copies in the first year.

2 million in a decade!

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

HarrietBeecherStowe(1811 – 1896)

So this is the lady who started the Civil War.

-- Abraham Lincoln

…and the Nation is still growing

• The territory that now makes up Kansas and Nebraska are lobbying hard to become states!

• Both are above Missouri’s southern border – so should they be free or slave?

• If they were one or the other – what would that do to the balance of power in the U.S.?

Kansas – Nebraska Act - 1854

“popular sovereignty” let the inhabitants vote to decide free or slave for themselves!

• Pro-Abolition and Pro-Slavery forces flood Kansas to sway the vote

BLOODY KANSAS!

John Brown

•1856•A militant abolitionist who led a few others into a pro slavery settlement outside of Lawrence, Kansas. They hacked five men to death with swords.

Tragic Prelude by John Steuart Curry (Kansas State Capitol in Topeka)

• This rise in violence is known as “Bleeding Kansas”

• The violence in Kansas increased the animosity

between north and south

Kansas Nebraska

Dred Scott - 1857• Slaves are

property!• Slaves (and

former slaves) were not citizens

• Property rights are guaranteed by the Constitution (5th amendment)

The Missouri Compromise is therefore unconstitutional!

John BrownOn October 16, 1859, Brown and 21 other men

-- 5 blacks and 16 whites -- raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia with the

intention of obtaining enough weapons to arm a violent slave revolt!

I’m John Brown Hero or Terrorist?

You decide…

How does the South React?

How does the North React?

Election of 1860• Birth of the Republican Party

• Who was their first candidate?

• The Republicans win the election without winning any Southern States

• The South sees this as a complete loss of political power in Washington

Lincoln only wins 40% of the popular vote.

That means that 60% of Americans did not vote for him!

South Carolina

• …the first to Secede!• Followed over the

next few months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee

Union and Confederacy

Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861