The expansion west rose the question of how and if slavery would still continue which is known as the slave debate. This conflict was about the northern states depended on free labor rather than slave labor compared to the south. In the case of northern farmers they pushed for innovation. For example, better plows, improving planting and harvesting methods. The construction of ways of transportation such as roads, canals, and railroads. In the south it was …show more content…
significantly different. The main source of income was the slave trade and King Cotton. With the new found discovery of the cotton gin, the demand for the product just increased in the United States. And with a higher demand for cotton it increased the demand for slaves.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought the discussion of slavery back up again. This opened up new territory that could become a slave state and expand slavery in the south. And it was just that, Louisiana officially became part of the Union as a slave state in 1812. It was able to bring in more capital for the south, but it did not help them evolve, they stayed stagnant. In 1808, the United States outlaws the Atlantic slave trade but it still continues. It looked as though slavery would not come to an end in the U.S.
More and more Northerners came to disapprove of slavery, they slowly became to believe that the expansion of slavery was hurting their own liberties.
But their own opinions were not reflected in the pro- slavery majority that sat in Congress. Some Northerners were opposed to slavery, but they were angst the way its spread westward interfered with their own economic growth. Other Northerners saw slavery morally wrong, for example the Quakers were opposed to slavery. That how could one be Christian and own another human being. The pro-slave south was unable to let go of the institution because it was their economic backbone and without it they had nothing. In 1820 the new territory on Missouri applied for statehood, this was the spark that turned into a flame with the debate over slave vs Free states. This became known as the Missouri Compromise. It caused tensions because it was west of the Mississippi River and outside the boundaries of the Union. In order to keep the states balanced, Congress came to the decision of making Missouri a slave state and Maine a slave state. This so called balance did not reflect the population because the north had a much larger population than in the south. Other states were added to the Union, Texas, which caused more tensions between both the north and
south.
The Compromise of 1850 tipped the glass with the having Texas as a slave sate and California as a free state. Many questions that were asked by anti-slave believers was when would slavery end, were we just going to split the nation in half? Events stared to unravel during this time such as the Mexican American war and Bleeding Kansas which made the state spiral into civil war.
The debate about slavery was the main factor that caused the American Civil War. It was never addressed during the time of independence and congress and presidents kept pushing the issue under the rug to keep the peace between the north and the south.