Territorial Issue Essay

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Territorial Issues Before the onset of the Great American Civil War, a huge debate was raging among the citizens, and politicians of the Untied States. Slavery was the main issue that separated the Northern and Southern states, but another, more complicated issue was at hand. As settlers began to talk about the “Manifest Destiny,” and expand westward, new territories were being given statehood. The formation of these new states rose to a new question: should these new states welcome slavery within their boundaries? Three distinct positions were taken on this issue. The South, as one would conclude, pushed to make the new territories slave states. The North stood opposed to this subject, and various other parties wanted to try a new idea called popular sovereignty. The first attempt to settle this territorial dispute was a settlement called the Compromise of 1820, which was also known as the Missouri Compromise. This compromise was formed at a time when there was equal give and take method between slave and Free states, with eleven of each. The Missouri Compromise was an attempt to maintain balance in the Senate. As Maine, admitted as a…show more content…
Therefore the South and their political leaders were promoters of slavery. One of the most adamant pro-slavery politicians was John C. Calhoun. Calhoun even believed that slavery was actually great for slaves. The census of 1840 and other records showed that, northern states had abolished slavery. Needless to say, Calhoun was determined to make slavery legal in the new states, and believed that the north had motives behind their intentions to do otherwise. When addressing the Wilmot Proviso, Calhoun called it, “a scheme to monopolize the powers of the general government, to obtain sole possession of its territories and ultimately to attack our domestic

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