Civil War Pros And Cons Essay

When Texas entered the U.S in 1845, it was the largest state that we had at the time. It covered over 250,000 square miles, with various terrains and resources spread throughout its territory. Upon its entry into the U.S, Texas was granted by the Articles of Annexation the ability to divide into up to five individual states by congress, due to its vast size. While the division of Texas into separate states never occurred, it is interesting to see what the effect of the separation would have had on Texas and the U.S. At the time, there were people on both sides of the issue, representing the pros and cons of Texas’ separation into several states. At the time of Texas’ entry into the U.S, slavery was a big issue throughout America. The north

This would throw off the balance in congress between free and slave states. I would argue that Texas’ division into smaller states ultimately would have given southern pro-slavery states more political power and possibly allowing the south to have the upper hand in the civil war. Today, we don’t have a slavery conflict, but we do have conflicts over Democrat and Republican control. Mark Stein talks about the Texas division states and concludes, “As likely as not, most of them would be Republican strongholds in our present-day demographics, adding mightily to the GOP’s Senate clout” (Stein). The separation of Texas would provide an imbalance to congress today, as it would have in the late 1800’s over slavery. Another argument against Texas being divided into multiple states would be its economic effect on the state. Texas as a whole, has a very diverse source of resources. Texas has rivers, lakes, ocean access, forests, plains, mountains, and deserts. Texas is also able to produce large amounts of oil, timber, crops, and livestock. If Texas were to be divided into separate

By dividing up into separate states, certain cultural and political groups could have their voices heard more efficiently than they would with Texas as a single state. With Texas having a large Hispanic population, their voices often don’t get heard in the legislative process. With separate states, Hispanics would make up a larger percentage of each state’s population, and with South Texas currently predominately Hispanic, they would have a legitimate influence of politics. Authors Schmidt and Shelly back up this claim by stating, “It can also be argued that with five states, the political, ethnic, and historical diversity of Texas