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The Cause Of The Mexican-American Civil War

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The American Civil War was a conflict between the North and South that spanned from 1861 to 1865 and led to over half a million casualties (VandeCreek). The war’s causes can be traced back to events that occurred a decade or more before the initiation of conflict. One such event is the Mexican-American War, which fulfilled for the United States its own manifest destiny while directing attention towards some important political issues. The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1847 quickly stoked the flames of sectionalism in politics with Northerners partial to free labor and Southerners seeking the expansion of slavery; the Compromise of 1850 averted an immediate political crisis, but opened the field for other controversial acts that fed to the …show more content…

At the very beginning, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 that made farming cotton more profitable. This led to a greater number of plantations moving into the cotton business creating a significant need for slaves. Therefore, the southern economy became one of slavery and cotton. On the other half of the country, the North was more industrial and started purchasing raw cotton to manufacture finished goods (“Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney”). As a result, the two developed vastly different economic attitudes that meant the North was evolving as a people and a culture while the South depended on an antiquated social order (Malmed). Furthermore, this resulted in the South favoring slavery and the North being against it, which led to conflicts in Congress. This extreme disparity between the two sides was a main factor that fueled the dreaded sectionalism both politically and economically …show more content…

Upon investigating the reasons behind the war, it seems as though it was expected. The North and South were, in very simple terms, non-slave and slave. The Civil War, however, was not solely due to slavery; the war was the result of a culmination of events that separated the North from the South and further questioned the issue of slavery. Events such as the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Mexican-American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act all questioned slavery, but carried a deeper more political issue of imbalance of power between the North and South. At the end of the day, the sectionalism and hunger for political power between the North and the South led to extreme tension and the secession of the South hoping to protect itself and, eventually, the American Civil War

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With Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin, the south was able to became a large agricultural powerhouse for cotton. This sudden growth of the south’s economy helped the north grow as well by utilizing the southern cash crop to produce finished goods. The south relied solely on cotton as their only crop and became even more dependent on slavery. In contrast, the north’s economy diversified and the increase in manufacturing and factories created a flourishing economy for the north. The differences between these two economies called for different political policies to govern each region.

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Back then, it was near impossible to imagine the North and South getting along considering they were polar opposites. At this time in history, the South was largely a plantation and agricultural economy with a slow rising population. The North, on the other hand, heartily embraced an industrial economy and the population was tremendous. The United States was essentially two separate nations forced to coexist as one. It was the infringement on states’ rights and collapse of the two party system, that made the disagreements between the North and the South nearly impossible to solve and made the Civil war inevitable.

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Some may say that Also, there were many northerners had slaves too. Slavery had been a State right for the southerners to have and they felt their right was violated. Slavery may have divided America but some may say slavery was not what caused the division and led to the Civil War. The South wanted power over their federal government so they could have the power to abolish federal laws they did not support. Southernern states’ rights struggle between federal government and individual stats over political power.

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How the Civil War Came to Be Was the Civil War very “civil” at all? The Civil War had many factors that led into it but there was one major factor that started the war. Slavery was one of the biggest factors in the Civil War. There was a big issue that divided the North and South which was slavery. The wide spread of slavery was a big deal to most Americans; but some were not the biggest fans of the concept.

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Both regions had different points of views on many topics, one being slavery. These points of views affected the North and South greatly. The stances of both regions affected their advantages in the upcoming Civil War, too. Hart states, “Many Southerners in 1860 still measured wealth in terms of land and slaves” (Hart, 328). Slavery was very significant in the South.

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The sectional differences that began to divide the regions were not only economic, but also ideological, cultural, political and social. Slavery shaped Southern culture giving rise to proslavery thought and states rights ideology In part these social and political ideals were shaped by

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When people are born into a family or town where there is slavery, they are taught that and only that, which makes them think that it is right. Then these people have kids and teach the the same thing, eventually turning into a ton of people believing in slavery. One of the most important disputes the North and South had was westward expansion. No one could figure out how to keep the amount of free and slave states equal. The two tried to keep it as equal as they could for a long time, but it got too out of hand.

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The Mexican-American War did not directly lead to the Civil War as much as abolitionism and the issue of slavery did. One could argue that with the Compromise of 1850, following the Mexican-American War, creating the Fugitive Slave Act and creating tension between the north and south because the north did not follow the Fugitive Slave Act, which angered the south. But the major cause of the Civil War was slavery and abolitionism, which was obvious because Abraham Lincoln, the president during this era, abolished slavery during the war while the north was winning and believed that they would win the war. This was called the Emancipation Proclamation. The Civil War is also called the “War to Make Men Free.”

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The North and South of the united states were divided on many things prior to the Civil War. Other than the difference in geographical location, the North and South were separated by their stances on slavery, politics, and their unique economic structures. There were many differences between the exploitation of slaves, economic structure, and the political composition between the North and South, but the most important by far was the utilization of the institution of slavery used in the Southern United States. There were many contrasting elements between the economies of the North and South. The South's economy mainly relied on and was supported by slave labour in agriculture, while the North was a free society, which enabled their industrialization.

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The Mexican-American war was a very conflicting and interesting event that shared different point of views between both sides abd that took place between 1846-1848; which was ultimately sparked by a few short and long term causes. As background details, we who study history, we must know that throughout America 's existance, they are seen as a great rising nation and to eventually be seen as the giants around the world, Which in this particular event, the U.S. Was seen as a rising in greatness nation. This leading to the first long term cause of the American- Mexican war; to fully understand the American-Mexican War we must comprehend the tension that American and Mexicans had going in dispute of the territory

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Another one of the biggest and most significant causes of the Mexican-American War was the annexation of Texas. Mexico became an independent republic in 1821. At this time, Texas was one of 19 Mexican states and had a sparse population. To encourage additional settlement, just before independence the Spanish commandant general in Monterrey gave an American family, the Austins, permission to move about 300 American Catholic families to Texas (Mexican American War (Causes)). Stephen Austin received permission from Mexican authorities to bring into Texas as many as 300 families each year as long as they professed to be Catholics, learned spanish and agreed to live by Mexican law.

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After many complications with Latin America, the Spanish-American War is finally upon us. It all started with the Cuban rebellion. In the early months of 1898, riots began to erupt in Havana, Cuba. This began to worry American citizens. Mckinley, our president, sent a ship called the U.S.S. Maine to Havana’s harbor.

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The cause of this event is the Mexican American War. During the war president James K Polk sent Nicholas Trist to Mexico to Negotiate up to 30 million dollars. Nicholas Trist ignored Polk’s rules this led to the negotiation of the treaty. The people that made sure the treaty ws in effect was Colonel Jon Weller and surveyor Andrew Grey by the U.S and General Pedro Conde and S.r Jose Ilarregui for

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The Mexican American War was driven by the idea of “Manifest Destiny”, which is the belief that America had the God-given right to expand from the east coast to the west coast. The Market Revolution was the start of illegal immigration of the United States in the 19th century into Mexican territory. Many slaveholders from the South came to Texas in search for more land for cotton cultivation. In 1826, the attempt of the United States to purchase Texas for one million dollars which Mexico refused, worried Mexico about possible U.S. expansion. The Mexican government send Lieutenant Jose Maria Sanchez to look into the entry of large numbers of Americans into Texas.

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Another major factor that led to the Civil war was the social status and views at the time. The North and South had very different social views. In the North, while a good amount of the people owned slaves, many of them began to see it as wrong and inhumane. They also began to believe that they no longer needed slaves to do work for them and that the slaves should have freedom, as well as their own rights. But even with the North beginning to want to change things, slaves were still not treated like human beings most of the time.

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