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The Dream of an Empire for a Union Divided
Julia Griffin
AP US History
Mr. Harley
01/25/12
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.htm8/3/2019 Julia Griffin's Civil War Paper
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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
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