A Nation Divided Essay

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A Nation Divided America has gone through many tumults in history. Even before the civil war, the nation was divided, just not on boundary terms. Slavery being a big part to do with the tension, America has gone through drastic changes to become what it is today. My partner and I will be covering from the 1840s to right before the civil war. Many tense moments helped push the United States on, but these put it to war. In 1848, the United States added 500,000 square miles of land to itself for winning the Mexican-American War. There were many debates about the issue of slavery in the new lands. Lewis Cass encouraged popular sovereignty to let the people decide on the issue. Many Northerners wanted to follow the Wilmot Provisio, a document…show more content…
He won by majority against Whigs, and other Democrats for his ideas over the new land. Another man who had an important voice in the Mid-West was named Stephen Douglass. He had joined Congress in the mid-1840s, and had always been set on building a railroad to the Pacific. In January 1854, Douglass introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The plan would divide the remaining Louisiana Purchase into two territories –Kansas and Nebraska- and would allow the public to decide over the admission of slavery. Antislavery and Proslavery groups rushed to Kansas to turn the tide into their favor. Soon pro-slavery peoples had the majority, and Kansas became a slave state. But by early 1856, Kansas had two fiercely loyal governments, and the population grew angry. Soon federal congressional men came to Kansas to decide the dispute. The Pro-Slavery government was chosen for the second time. Soon, many attacks came through Kansas, a particularly famous one being the John Brown attack. John Brown, along with some of his friends, killed five pro-slavery men in Kansas that became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. Kansas soon collapsed into civil war, which got it the name, “Bleeding Kansas.” Things also heated up on congress. Preston Brooks almost killed Charles Sumner by beating him harshly with a cane. Although he lived, he was hospitalized for three years. The country was breaking

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