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The American-Mexican war ended on February 2, 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo where Mexico gave the U.S. 15 million dollars and the land of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico, and Colorado and let Texas be its own nation. This contributed to sectionalism by spreading slavery and the Northerners didn't like it and grew separation from between the North and South.

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BRIEF EXPLANATION: The Free Soil Party was founded in 1848 in response to the issue of slavery expanding into new territories after the Mexican-American War. It was made up of anti-slavery Democrats, Whigs, and members of the Liberty Party. The party's main goal was to prevent slavery from spreading into the western territories. It supported free labor and free soil, promoting the idea that new lands should be free of slavery. The Free Soil Party's presidential candidate in 1848 was Martin Van Buren.

SUMMARY: The Free Soil Party contributed to sectionalism by deepening the divide between the North and South. The party's opposition to the expansion of slavery into new territories angered the South, which depended on slavery, while the North supported the idea of free labor. This conflict over slavery's expansion helped fuel tensions that led to the Civil War.

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Definition: Zachary Taylor was elected as the 12th US President in 1848, and ran for the Whig Party. However, a year into his term, he died in office.

Summary: Since he was a member of the Whig Party, he was very nationalist, and believed that division and secession over slavery and other issues would be harmful for the country. However, he did not believe in appeasement to the South and didn't want to expand slavery, leading to tension and further debate over slavery expansion.

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Compromise of 1850 (Passed in September 1850)

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Compromise of 1850 (Passed in September 1850)

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Explanation:

The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five laws passed by Congress aimed at resolving tensions between free and slave states following the Mexican-American War. It included the admission of California as a free state, the establishment of Utah and New Mexico territories with popular sovereignty (allowing residents to decide on slavery), the abolition of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., the implementation of a stricter Fugitive Slave Law, and the settlement of Texas's border dispute. This package of laws was meant to ease sectional tensions between the North and South.

Summary:

The Compromise of 1850 sought to address growing tensions over slavery in the United States, balancing the interests of free and slave states. While it admitted California as a free state, it also included provisions that strengthened slavery, such as the Fugitive Slave Act. Though it temporarily eased conflicts, it did not resolve the underlying issues and further contributed to sectionalism, ultimately leading to greater divisions between the North and South.

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The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by Congress in 1850 and was to help the Slave owners keep track of their slaves and be able to capture the ones that escaped to the North and bring them back to the plantation. This angered Northerners and increased tensions between the North and the South.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin/Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

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Uncle Tom's Cabin/Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

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Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It dramatized and expanded on the unknown cruelties of slavery, and the treatment of people as property.

Summary: Many people in the Northern States read the abolitionist-authored novel, and spoke out on natural and basic human rights. However, many in the South viewed slaves as less than human, and that if they were removed, the plantation-heavy economy would collapse. This led to much debate over rights and the Southern economy.

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Franklin Pierce was elected as the 14th President of the U.S. in 1852, defeating Winfield Scott with strong Southern support.

Pierce's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery in new territories through popular sovereignty, angered the North and intensified divisions over slavery, deepening sectional tensions.

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Definition: The Kansas/Nebraska Act was passed by President Franklin Pierce in 1854, and stated that the lands west of Iowa would be divided into two territories, and that slavery in the area would be a choice of the people within the region.

Summary: Clearly, having citizens with opposing views on this issue choosing whether or not to enslave people for labor would lead to infighting, riots, and other acts of violence towards each other. Notably, Northerners were outraged that Kansas and Nebraska would be open to having slavery, as the Missouri Compromise had prevented the addition of slave states in new territories since 1820.

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Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent conflicts between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed popular sovereignty to decide the slavery issue in the territories.

The violence of Bleeding Kansas deepened the divide between the North and South, as each side blamed the other for the bloodshed. It highlighted the failure of popular sovereignty and intensified the sectional conflict over slavery.

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The Birth of the Republican Party was when Whigs and Free Soilers came together in Wisconsin in 1854 and created a party that was anti-slavery. It affected sectionalism by now having a party that was fully anti-slavery and was a Northern party.

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Senator Charles Sumner was physically attacked and beaten with a cane by Preston Brooks on the Senate floor after Sumner delivered an anti-slavery speech and called out Southern senators.

This symbolized the violence that the feud between the North and South caused. The North viewed the South as barbaric after this, but the South saw it as Brooks defending his honor as a hero.

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Definition: James Buchanan was elected as the 15th president of the US in 1856, representing the Democratic Party. He believed in the Kansas/Nebraska Act model, as he believed that slavery was for the people of the state to decide.

Summary: Buchanan's policies angered many, as people believed he tampered with the court ruling of the Dred Scott case, saying that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that slaves had no rights. This wedged apart the Democratic Party and led to further division and threat for the South to secede, which they would in April 1861.

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This was a pro-slavery document that was made in Kansas, and the goal was to make Kansas a slave state. It was rejected by Congress but fueled tensions between North and South

Deepened sectionalism by intensifying the conflict between the North and South over slavery. The debate of the acceptance of slavery created and growing divide between the North a South.

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Definition: Dred Scott vs. Sandford was a Supreme Court case, which ruled that the US Constitution did not grant rights to people of African American descent, and that the federal government passing acts such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional.

Summary: This horrified many Northerners and abolitionists, as they continued to speak out and for the rights of African American slaves. However, the Southern states continued to argue enslaved people didn't have the same rights, and that this was justified, leading to even further division between the regions.

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John brown raid was when John Brown went to Harper Ferry and tried to start a slave revolt but failed and was captured, trialed, and executed. This increased tensions between the North and South and the South started to fuel fear of Slave revolts.

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Election of Abraham Lincoln - November 6, 1860

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Election of Abraham Lincoln - November 6, 1860

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Abraham Lincoln was elected in November 1860, and was the 16th US president. He has a strong Republican and anti-slaver opinion, angering the South and leading to South Carolina's cession.

Lincoln's election triggered fear in the South. And this fear led to South Carolina seceding, and causing a huge divide between the North and South.

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Definition: The Crittenden Compromise (1860) was an attempt to enshrine slavery in the US Constitution, compensate masters for runaway slaves, and say that the federal government system could not interfere in any way to stop states from establishing slavery.

Summary: President Lincoln promptly rejected the motion for slavery being enshrined and moving westward. However, the South leaders, who saw nothing wrong with giving these rights to plantation owners, further discussed secession because of their motions failing in the government.

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South Caroline seceded from the Union when Abraham Lincoln was elected because they were scared of the anti-slavery opinions and losing slavery.

South Carolina leaving started the official break between the North and South, highlighting all of the differences between the two. It intensified the sectional divide, and triggered the start of the Civil War.