Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
annexation of texas
analysis on the annexation of texas
historical circumstances surrounding the the louisiana purchase
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: annexation of texas
The prospect of slavery’s extension into the American West most certainly shaped sectional politics by inflaming grievances and tensions, and sparking heated and occasionally violent protests, yet compromise sometimes was reached – occasionally among strange political bedfellows – in the interest of holding off the specter of civil war. This paper will focus on the issues surrounding the possible extension of slavery into the following areas: the Missouri Territory and the Louisiana Purchase in general, Texas (annexation), the Oregon Territory, California (annexation), Nebraska (unorganized), and the Kansas Territory. The initial conflict over the extension of slavery westward focused on the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase in general and, in specific, application for statehood by the Missouri Territory. In 1819, there were 11 slave and 11 free states. In the interest of keeping the slave-state / free-state balance, a compromise decision was reached: Missouri would be admitted to the union as a slave state, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) would be admitted to the union as a free state, and slavery would not be permitted elsewhere in the Louisiana Territory north of 36°30’. The next sectional debate focused on the possible annexation of Texas, and the imbalance that would result if Texas were to be admitted as a slave state – including fears that such a large territory could be divided into multiple states. Mexico had achieved independence from Spain, but its success depended upon achieving an independent economic prosperity, and Texas seemed the key to this success. Undeveloped regions in East Texas seemed ideally suited to plantation agriculture, and Great Britain – in the midst of an industrial revoluti... ... middle of paper ... ...ka Act already had repealed this tenet of the Compromise, this court decision further challenged the idea of popular sovereignty in regard to any election result that might impose any restrictions on slavery. Regarding the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution: the constitutional convention (pro-slavery) convened, but the vote was boycotted by the free-staters, who claimed it was rigged. The legislature (anti-slavery) convened and called a second election, but it was boycotted by pro-slavery advocates. President Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution and it was passed in 1858, but anti-Lecompton Democrats in the House of Representatives put through an amendment for a new and supervised popular vote. Ultimately, although it postponed statehood for Kansas until required population levels were reached, voters overwhelmingly rejected the Lecompton Constitution.
In the book, Apostles of Disunion, author Charles B. Dew opens the first chapter with a question the Immigration and Naturalization service has on an exam they administer to prospective new American citizens: “The Civil War was fought over what important issue”(4). Dew respond by noting that “according to the INS, you are correct if you offer either of the following answers: ‘slavery or states’ rights’” (4). Although this book provides more evidence and documentation that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, there are a few places where states’ rights are specifically noted. In presenting the findings of his extensive research, Dew provides compelling documentation that would allow the reader to conclude that slavery was indeed the cause for both secession and the Civil War.
It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. Results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act were numerous and for the most part fatal to the country. The Act caused the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 to be virtually nullified, and caused compromising between the North and the South to be nearly impossible in the future.
Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.
The new territories and the discussion of whether they would be admitted to the Union free or slave-holding stirred up animosity. The Compromise of 1850 which offered stricter fugitive slave laws, admitted California as a free state, allowed slavery in Washington D.C., and allowed new territories to choose whether they wanted to be slave-holding or free was supposed to help ease tension between the North and South. Yet Southern states wanted more new territories to be slave-holders so the institution of it would continue to grow. They believed slavery was a way of life and as Larrabee said in his senate speech, “You cannot break apart this organization and this system that has intertwined itself into every social and political fiber of that great people who inhabit one-half of the Union.” (“There is a Conflict of Races”).
I will investigate the question of whether the national tariff policy between 1816 and 1832 impacted the development and acceptance of the nullification doctrine in South Carolina? I will evaluate the national tariff policy during the early 1800's and analyze how these tariffs may have impacted the acceptance and support of nullification in South Carolina. I will examine the economic conditions of South Carolina during this period and compare these conditions with the development of nullification as a political tool. I will also review the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions to look at early examples of state sovereignty.
Thesis: The nine years of Texas’s independence were long and seemed to be dragged out. Were those nine years unnecessary and could it have been done in a shorter period of time? 13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens who’d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward.
Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1850 a series of events took place that would come to be known as the Mexican war and the Texas Revolution. This paper will give an overview on not only the events that occurred (battles, treaties, negotiations, ect.) But also the politics and reasoning behind it all. This was a war that involved America and Mexico fighting over Texas. That was the base for the entire ordeal. This series of events contained some of the most dramatic war strategy that has ever been implemented.
The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.
Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were “better.” Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.
Roark, J.L., Johnson, M.P., Cohen, P.C., Stage, S., Lawson, A., Hartmann, S.M. (2009). The american promise: A history of the united states (4th ed.), The New West and Free North 1840-1860, The slave south, 1820-1860, The house divided 1846-1861 (Vol. 1, pp. 279-354).
Slavery was one of the factors that played a key role in the causes of the Civil War. The Missouri Compromise was a debate began as to whether Maine and Missouri would enter the Union as free or slave states. To be fair to the rule of the Mason-Dixon Line, Maine was admitted as a free state, and Missouri, even though it was also in the north, would enter as a slave state. The Compromise of 1850 dealt with whether California, Utah, and New Mexico would be slave or free. California was admitted as a free state, but since it made the ratio of slave to free states unequal, " it also stated that the territories of New Mexico and Utah would determine for themselves whether to become slave or free states."(Wise) The Kansas-Nebraska Act decided that any territory that became a state would have the right to vote on whether it would be slave or free, which made Northerners angry because it changed the terms of the Missouri Compromise. The constant flux of the issue of slavery grew during the years leading up to the war, as the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1859, and the Kansas-Nebraska act con...
So a major reason for Texas to be annexed into the United States was that the overwhelming majority of the population was former Americans. From the very time of winning independence, annexation of Texas to the United States was at the top of the list of things to do. But as soon as the Texas minister was sent to Washington to negotiate for an annexation, the Martin Van Buren administration said that the proposition could not be entertained. The reasons given were constitutional scruples and fear of war with Mexico. The real reason behind Washington’s excuses is slavery....
As the country began to grow and expand we continued to see disagreements between the North and South; the Missouri Territory applied for statehood; the South wanted them admitted as a slave state and the North as a free state. Henry Clay eventually came up with the Missouri Compromise, making Missouri a slave state and making Maine it’s own state, entering the union as a free state. After this compromise, any state admitted to the union south of the 36° 30’ latitude would be a slave state and a state north of it would be free. The country was very much sectionalized during this time. Thomas Jefferson felt this was a threat to the Union.
Both states entering as free states would throw the balance the Union already had going on, one free state for one slave state. So to keep the Southern states satisfied congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska acts. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise that said people living in the 2 states would get to vote on whether they would be slave states or not. When people from Missouri snuck their votes in to make the states slave states, the tensions between Southern and Northern states got even worse. A violent war broke out in Kansas between abolitionists and people who supported slavery. This of course added to the heated tensions that were already
The American Civil War was the bloodiest military conflict in American history leaving over 500 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded (Roark 543-543). One might ask, what caused such internal tension within the most powerful nation in the world? During the nineteenth century, America was an infant nation, but toppling the entire world with its social, political, and economic innovations. In addition, immigrants were migrating from their native land to live the American dream (Roark 405-407). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousand African slaves were being traded in the domestic slave trade throughout the American south. Separated from their family, living in inhumane conditions, and working countless hours for days straight, the issue of slavery was the core of the Civil War (Roark 493-494). The North’s growing dissent for slavery and the South’s dependence on slavery is the reason why the Civil War was an inevitable conflict. Throughout this essay we will discuss the issue of slavery, states’ rights, American expansion into western territories, economic differences and its effect on the inevitable Civil War.