Why is expansionism important

As tensions mounted and both sides hurled accusations, national unity frayed. Compromise became nearly impossible and antagonistic sectional rivalries replaced the idea of a unified, democratic republic.

Tensions between the North and South ultimately led to the collapse of American democracy and a brutal civil war. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Westward Movement and Manifest Destiny: — Search for:. Conclusion: The Effects of Westward Expansion. After two years of increasingly volatile debate over the issue, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay proposed another compromise. It had four parts: first, California would enter the Union as a free state; second, the status of slavery in the rest of the Mexican territory would be decided by the people who lived there; third, the slave trade but not slavery would be abolished in Washington , D.

But the larger question remained unanswered. In , Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed that two new states, Kansas and Nebraska , be established in the Louisiana Purchase west of Iowa and Missouri. The battle for Kansas and Nebraska became a battle for the soul of the nation.

Emigrants from Northern and Southern states tried to influence the vote. For example, thousands of Missourians flooded into Kansas in and to vote fraudulently in favor of slavery. A decade later, the civil war in Kansas over the expansion of slavery was followed by a national civil war over the same issue. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work as indentured servants and labor in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton. By the midth century, Bleeding Kansas describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in In all, some 55 people were killed between and The struggle intensified The Louisiana Purchase of brought into the United States about , square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic.

What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in , is the idea that the United States is destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. For more information about the featured documents, follow the links below. Documents in this activity "Deadwood in Follow us on Twitter:.

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