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Tons of really great information here! Remember that in junior year we want to see how you're using the information you've discovered. Continue to work on explaining your thought process through developing a clear reasoning. Using the language of the claim in your reasoning will help you do this. Until you get comfortable, consider using a sentence starter such as, "This fits into a cycle of conflict because..."

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I love that you're using the language of the prompt in your claim! Let's work on being clear and concise in our words in the claim.

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The Mexican American War caused thousands of deaths while Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory to the United States on the account of the  Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. As well Mexico government was paid  $15 million for the land.  In the United states, an uprising conflict grew as slavery abolitionists feared that the  northern states would utilize the land to expand slavery. The incoming land to the United States would affect the preservation of balance within  the United states.   It led to debates on whether a state would be a free or slave state.

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In 1854, a supreme court case Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled Americans of african descent, regardless of free or slave, were not citizens and could not sue in federal court. The ruling was seen as a victory for the south as a major defeat for abolitionists.  The abolitionists saw the ruling as a way to end the debates about slavery involving  territory. The division between slave and free states rapidly increased, causing the south secession.

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The act was under the compromise of 1850 and it said that all slaves who ran away must go back to their owners, even if they were in free states. This led to many slaves being captured and sold/returned to their owners. Even though this act was initially made to make some sort of agreement between the North and the South it eventually led to people having to choose between for or against slavery. This led to great tensions between free and slave states, which later led to the Civil War

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Election of Abraham Lincoln (Nov 6, 1860)

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Election of Abraham Lincoln (Nov 6, 1860)

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The cycle of conflict was between the republicans and democrats. Lincoln was a republican and Douglas was a democrat. They would constantly debated over whether or not the states should have a say in being a free or slave state while Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery altogether. Southern states were going to recede if Lincoln got elected as president because he was a republican so that is exactly what they did. Eleven states ended up seceding from the union a few days before his inauguration.

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Consists of 5 laws that were passed dealing with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion. It admitted California as a free state, let Utah and Nevada to decide if they were free or slave states, created a new Texas-New Mexico boundary and made it easier for slave owners to recover runways under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Even though it succeeded in some way to stop hostility between the north and the south it ties into the civil war by doing little to address, the structural disparity that divided the United States by causing Northerners to participate.

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Bleeding Kansas was a mini civil war between pro- and anti-slavery citizens that happened in Kansas from 1854 to 1859. Lasting tensions and constants fights already had the Kansas settlers on edge but the driving factor that led to the long battle was the murder of an antislavery settler. This ties into the civil war by causing a rift between pro-slavery and ant-slavery citizens and was another stepping stone of recurring violence between the two parties that would ultimately lead to the civil war.

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On October 16, 1859 John Brown an abolitionist led 21 men down the road to Harpers Ferry and their goal was to take down the towns armory and to ignite an uprising against slavery. This plan failed but the effects of his efforts spurred other abolitionists to fight for what they believed in. Some argued that this act at Harpers Ferry was the real beginning of the Civil War.

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It created two new territories, which were Kansas and Nebraska. Both of those territories were allowed to choose if the allowed slavery or not by popular sovereignty. It also removed the Missouri Compromise. This act led to the bleeding Kansas, where pro-slavery and anti-slavery activist wanted to change the vote. It eventually led to the civil war because by repealing the Missouri compromise it caused the country to become unbalanced as different states had many people going in everywhere and causing a major power shift.

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They were debating on slavery and whether or not the government had a right to ban it. With the Missouri compromise, it made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. This was not a good idea because it just led to sectionalism with the states so it led to more arguments. Having free and slave states was dividing the country in two which is why it eventually led to the civil war.