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How Did The Mexican American War Contribute To The Civil War

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The ideas of freedom for slaves in America did not come from thin air. Those ideas grew and changed before, during, and after the Civil War was fought. Even before then the Mexican American War was the start of those ideas. In Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson referred to Ralph Waldo Emmerson’s prophecy that of Mexico poisoning America. He goes about proving this by showing how the Mexican American war started the discussion over slavery, the catalyst to the Civil War, and eventually the change in America’s definition of freedom. Before the Union and Confederate soldiers were fighting on blood soaked fields over the issue of slavery, soldiers were out fighting in Mr. Polk’s War. The Mexican American War was a catalyst to the Civil War. …show more content…

The Battle of Antietam was the most brutal battle during the Civil war. This battle was only fought for one day, and ended in a Union Victory. This allowed the morale in the Union to rise, and morale in the Confederacy to lower. In the Confederacy, this battle lost them their chance of being recognized by Britain as a country. Meanwhile the Union victory allowed the Emancipation Proclamation to carry forward. The freedom of the two sides were changed through the lost chance, and the beginnings of freeing …show more content…

Robert E. Lee tried to move his army to Union territory. During this Lee and his men found themselves in a cavalry attack in Gettysburg. Lee is forced to call reinforcements and the union retreats up onto Cemetery Ridge. Cemetery Ridge ended up being a major part of the Union’s defense, as it was up on a hill. This advantage gave Union reinforcements time to come. The Battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory, and the Confederacy would not invade the North again. This took away their freedom to invade, as they were severely inexperienced, or unskilled compared to the Union army. The definition of freedom for the South before the war was to keep slavery and keep their foothold in the Senate. When California became a state and they lost their majority, they panicked and felt as if the attempt to replace slaves with wage workers was a way to put the white people in slavery. This caused them to secede and fight for the freedoms of the Confederacy, which was slavery. By the end of the war the South cared more for protecting and keeping the Confederacy more than they cared for protecting

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