Territorial Expansion and Slavery

940 Words4 Pages
Territorial Expansion and Slavery Jacob L Young HIS 115 08/02/2012 Jonathan Tietz Territorial Expansion and Slavery Compare the number of free and slave-holding states and territories throughout the timeline. How did Congress deal with the issue of slavery as new states were admitted and new territories acquired? How did these actions affect the tensions between the North and the South? According to " government: 1800 -1850s Expansion Of Slavery In The U.s." (2007), “by the beginning of the 19th century, slavery in the U.S. was firmly established with a series of statutes and penal codes enacted in various states to regulate the activity of slaves and all conduct involving slaves and free blacks. With the Louisiana Purchase, the question of slavery became both geographical and political, and ushered in a period of national debate between pro- and anti slavery states to gain political and economic advantage. But by 1820, Congress was embroiled in the debate over how to divide the newly acquired territories into slave and free states. The Missouri Compromise—also referred to as the Compromise of 1820—was an agreement between the pro- and anti-slavery factions regulating slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in new states north of the border of the Arkansas territory, excluding Missouri. Constitutionally, the Compromise of 1820 established a precedent for the exclusion of slavery from public territory acquired after the Constitution, and also recognized that Congress had no right to impose upon states seeking admission to the Union conditions that did not apply to those states already in the Union.” What were some of the arguments centered on slavery and territorial expansion? How did the Compromise of 1850 fail to solve them? In January 1850, Henry Clay presented a bill that would become known as the
Open Document