Julia Griffin's Civil War Paper

8/3/2019 Julia Griffin's Civil War Paper

1/6

The Dream of an Empire for a Union Divided

Julia Griffin

AP US History

Mr. Harley

01/25/12


2/6

Griffin 2

In the period following the war of 1812, the nation began to develop a grand goal,

allegedly its destiny. The predecessor of ideas like a city on a hilltop, Manifest Destiny, the

belief that America was fated to expand across the continent and the practice of such expansion,

that created a dynamic atmosphere surrounding American politics of the time period. While it

was seen as a positive belief, it resulted in sectional tensions and war with Mexico. But the

ramifications of this stubborn insistence on westward expansion didnt end there the tensions

and conflicts created by the alleged providence of the nation resulted in the most deadly conflict

in our nations history.1 The belief that America was destined to expand across the continent

Westward expansion resulted in the diversification of the American economy: the west

provided ample farmland for the production of food, which freed up space in the north and south

for manufacturing and cotton production. This regional specialization, known as the American

System, was promoted by Henry Clay and Adams supporters. As for its policy implications,

Clay suggested that it be supported by infrastructural projects and tariffs on imported goods to

support american industry. This split created the development of separate societies for each

region, each with its own economic interests. The controversy surrounding tariffs was by far the

most heated the north appreciated tariffs because they made American goods more competitive

domestically, but the southerners saw them as a blight to their financial resources.

The first proposition of secession came over thirty years before the civil war began.

South Carolina, displeased with the Tariff of Abominations, as they called it, protested and

refused to enforce the tariff, since it came at a time in which cotton prices were already quite

low, and growers couldnt afford to pay higher prices. The South Carolina Exposition and Protest

argued that since the constitution was a compact made among the states, a state had the right to

nullify any federal law that operated against its best interests until three-fourths of all the states

decided the question in a special convention. If the federal government persisted in enforcing the

law within the nullifying state or used force against it, that state in turn had the right to secede

from the Union [These] ideas would later become a rallying point for those who would

eventually break from the union in 1861.2

The Mexican American war was also a direct consequence of Manifest Destiny, and

contributed to the coming of the Civil War. Polk originally attempted to purchase the land, but
http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm


3/6

Griffin 3

after that fell through, he sent troops to Texas in order to provoke war, at which he was

successful. In order to gain the territory of New Mexico and California, Polk expended the lives

of over 13,000 American troops,3 in the name of expanding the Union for the purpose of

enlightening the world. According to Grant, a Lieutenant in the war, the fighting in Mexico

inured soldiers to violence.4 Not only that, but the war also strengthened the army, providing

both future Union and Confederate officers with battle experience. As Grant said in his memoirs,

he knew and fought along side many future leaders of both the Confederate and Union armies,

including Robert E. Lee. The war also exacerbated sectional tensions: many Northerners

believed that Polk, a Southerner, was trying to gain land for the slaveholding South.5 And once

the territory had been gained, a political battle over whether the new territory should allow

slavery ensued.

Starting with the Missouri compromise in 1820, the issue of admitting new, western

territories to the union became a dividing issue between Northern and Southern politicians. Both

felt the need to gain more states for their side, or at the very least, maintain a balance between

slave and free states. For this reason, Missouri and Maine were admitted simultaneously, to keep

the amount of representation for each side even, but instead of assuaging the tensions, both sides

accepted the deal only grudgingly, and maintained strong reservations about the plans laid out in

the deal. Northerners felt that it served the southern agenda by allowing Louisiana Purchase

territory south of 36-30 to join the union as slave states. Southerners worried that the

compromise gave congress the ability to legislate on issues of slavery. While the animosity was

diffused, the two sides were by no means back on the same page.

The application for statehood of California in 1850 created similar problems. California

applied to be admitted as free, but Southerners wished to split it into two states, one free and the

other slave, in an attempt to regain a balance. For the first time since South Carolinas

Nullification movement, secession was once again proposed. According to John Calhoun,

Northerners planned to make war on a domestic institution upon which are staked our property,

our social organization, and our personal safety.6 Suddenly, secession was considered a

reasonable option, since Southerners felt that their rights were being violated: as the nation

expanded, the halves of the nation argued over expanding their influence in congress.
http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htm


4/6

Griffin 4

When Kansas applied for statehood, the Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the Missouri

compromise previously seen as the just guideline for the entry of states. Both Kansas and

Nebraska were given the right to choose whether to enter as a slave or free state, though both

were north of the previously set 36-30 line. It passed, but not without much tensions, that, once

the voting on slavery commenced, grew even stronger. One could argue that the fighting known

as Bleeding or Bloody Kansas was the first battle of the civil war, in which free-soil and

proslavery forces engaged each other in combat. This whole situation developed so much

resentment that a fist/cane-fight occurred within a congressional session. Overall, the rancor

between the Southern and Northern states was felt around the nation.

Finally, as continually rising tensions came to a crux, South Carolina seceded from the

union, followed by the States bordering the Gulf and Georgia, Followed by North Carolina,

Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee after the Northern Attack on Fort Sumter. Besides the decision

following the Nullification, Manifest Destiny ensured that Northerners would not allow these

states to secede from the union. The dream, the plan, the destiny of the country depended on the

nation spreading across the continent, and at the same time, states were trying to leave,

destroying what so many held dear that the United States would spread freedom across North

America. For this reason, Northerners werent about to give up on the Southern states that

wanted to secede. In the American Revolution against Great Britain, eventually the English lost

interest in the American colonies and allowed them their freedom. In most successful

revolutions, the former power decides that ruling whatever land is rebelling isnt worth the

energy. But the Union wasnt about to let go of territory when it was so intent on acquiring it,

and the southern states began to fight for independence.

From divergence through friction and animosity to violence, the American desire to

extend the boundaries of the nation nearly irrevocably split the South and North. While both

sides supported Manifest Destiny, the acquisition of territory brought up issues which created

partisan and sectional divides, namely, slavery, which had been the proverbial elephant in the

room since the writing of the Constitution. Soon, both sides were at arms, and, once a shot, the

election of Lincoln, was fired, America became a battlefield for angry compatriots to resolve

their issues through violence.


5/6

Griffin 5

Notes

1 http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm

2 Maier, Inventing America

3 http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htm

4 http://www.bartleby.com/1011/

5 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-

american-war/

6 Maier, Inventing America
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm


6/6

Griffin 6

Works Cited

Maier, Pauline.Inventing America. New York: GGS Book Services, Inc., 2006.

Civil War Home. Casualties in the Civil War. Last modified November 1, 2004. http://

www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm

About.com Military History. Mexican-American War: Aftermath & Legacy. 2012 http://

militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htm

Grant, Ulysses S.Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. New York: Bartleby, 2000. Accessed January

25, 2012. http://www.bartleby.com/1011/

PBS The Mexican American War. 2010 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/

features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/

Works Not Cited

Salisbury, W. Allen. The Civil War and The American System. EIR History, New York, 2003.

Accessed January 25, 2012. http://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/

files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdf

Rozweng, Edwin C. Causes of the American Civil War. Amherst: D. C. Heath and Company,

1972.

About.com American History. Top Five Causes of the Civil War. 2012 http://

americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htmhttp://about.com/http://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htmhttp://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htmhttp://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htmhttp://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htmhttp://about.com/http://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://larouchejapan.com/japanese/drupal-6.14/sites/default/files/text/Civil-War-and-the-American-System.pdfhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://www.bartleby.com/1011/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://militaryhistory.about.com/od/mexicanamericanwar/a/MexicanEnd.htmhttp://about.com/http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm

Julia Griffin's Civil War Paper

Documents

Transcript of Julia Griffin's Civil War Paper