ipl-logo

The Cause Of The Mexican-American Civil War

1821 Words8 Pages

Many important events preluded the Civil War, but the Mexican-American War essentially caused the war to happen. Although there are many other theories on what events caused the Civil War, such as the Scott vs. Sandford court case and Abraham Lincoln’s election as president, the Mexican-American War was the most imperative for the Civil War to occur. Without the occurrence of the Mexican-American War, a crucial chain of events that would lead to the Civil War, such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, would not have happened or could have happened differently, and the Civil War could have been prevented. The Causes of the Civil War The Mexican-American War was the first in a chain of events that led to the Civil War. After …show more content…

This led to the Compromise of 1850, in which California would be allowed to become a state if all the new territories becoming a state could choose whether or not they would be a slave state. Because the Mexican-American War gave America the territory California, it essentially caused the Compromise of 1850 to occur. Although the Compromise of 1850 managed to keep the country united, it was only a temporary solution and it set the stage for the Kansas-Nebraska conflict (“The …show more content…

Another prominent theory is the Scott v. Sandford court case. In this court case, a slave named Dred Scott sued his owner, Sandford, because they had lived Illinois, a free state, for around five years. For this reason, he believed he should have been a free man. The case was taken to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not a U.S. citizen and should not be counted as a person but as property. This enraged the North. Technically, the Supreme Court made the right decision according to the Constitution, and this showed the North that the law needed to change. The essence of this theory is that Lincoln was able to gain the North’s support because of this case. Part of his campaign was that the law needed to change, and that’s how he supposedly got the North’s support. This theory can be proven incorrect because Abraham Lincoln could have won the election even if this court case had not occurred. The North mainly consisted of Republicans, and many would have supported Abraham Lincoln without the occurrence of this court case. The North also had more electoral votes because of the higher population, and Lincoln could easily win a significant portion of those states. The Democrat Party had more than one candidate, and so none of them would be able to gain enough of the South’s electoral votes to win. Therefore, Abraham Lincoln would have been able to win the election without the Dred

Show More
Related
876 Words | 4 Pages

(O'Donnell, Edward T 384). The northern abolitionists outrage ultimately led to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 who had a strong opposition against slavery. The South relied heavily on slavery as it was the heart of their economy, however, the north was not in favor of the Dred Scott decision because they wanted to free slaves from

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

Dred Scott was born was a slave in the state of Virginia and was owned by Peter Blow, who died in 1832. Scott only had two masters after Blow’s death; one lived in Wisconsin and later Illinois, both of which prohibited slavery, yet, Scott didn’t petition for freedom. Instead he met his wife Harriet. The two met their new master in Louisiana, who did not grant them freedom, so Scott looked for legal action to escape his slavery. Over a period of seven years, he went through trial and retrial until he was denied his final freedom in 1854.

Read More
170 Words | 1 Pages

The Mexican-American war altered the United States environmentally, culturally and politically. First, on February 2, 1848, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo two years post the beginning of the war. The treaty not only achieved President Polk’s goal to achieve California from Mexico but also granted the U.S. over 500,000 square miles of new territory. The new land caused approximately 90,000 spanish speaking, mostly Catholic Mexicans under American jurisdiction. Second, Nativism, a rising anti-catholic and anti-immigrant deemed the Mexicans inferior.

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

However, now the South wanted to attempt to open slavery to other territories and their first step was popular sovereignty which would set the precedent for problems to come. Although it can be argued that the Civil War become inevitable as a result of the chain of multiple events, the Kansas and Nebraska Act, followed by the Dred Scott decision, and the Compromise of 1850 in order proved to be the most influential to the dissolution into war. One of the most important causes of the Civil war was the Kansas and Nebraska Act because it would become the ultimate battleground for proslavery and antislavery settlers. As 1854 began many Americans believed that the line from the Missouri Compromise provided permanent agreement separating slave and free territory. As the slavery issue was diminishing, political leaders were able to focus on their other various needs which included the need for the transcontinental railroad.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

The Spanish American war began in 1898. This war was against America and Spain. The Spanish-American war ended the Spanish 's colonial rule over some part of America and other country 's. A problem that leads to the war was the Cuban 's were in dire need of independence from Spain. This started in February 1895. Spain started to punish those who started to rebel against them.

Read More
483 Words | 2 Pages

In the Dred Scott decision Supreme Court Justice Robert Taney declared slaves as property. In 1857, Taney declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and it should not be illegal to have slaves anywhere. He believed slaves were property therefore, Dred Scott had no right to sue his master for taking him to a free state. This infuriated many abolitionists Political issues of the South centered on slavery. The South fought every chance they could to keep their

Read More
1551 Words | 7 Pages

This civil war was known as La Reforma. This war began in 1858 and ended in 1860. La Reforma means The Reform. As the name suggests, the Mexican government was reformed during this period of time. In the years prior, Mexico was losing a lot of land to the United State via the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty and the Gadsden Treaty.

Read More
934 Words | 4 Pages

What were the causes of the US-Mexican War? In 1846, a great war broke out between America and Mexico that did not stop until the latter was defeated in the war. The United States won the 2.3 million square kilometers of land through the war and became a so big country across the Atlantic and the Pacific that gained its dominance in America. The Mexican lost more than half of the land and cost dearly.

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million. So you 're probably wondering why the war was fought but you 'll find that out later.

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

In this particular case a slave, Dred Scott sued his master for freedom on the ground that he had once lived in a free state. In other cases the Missouri courts had honored “once free, always free”, Scott thought it would be in his best

Read More
271 Words | 2 Pages

Two main causes of the Civil War was slavery and compromises as slavery divided the country’s point of view and the compromises escalated people anger. The nation has always had tension about its division on slavery. Different points of views were meant to lead to the Civil War one way or another. From the beginning when Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, it not only encouraged westward expansion but furthered divided the country’s issues with slavery. The problem was separation and trying to place everyone.

Read More
285 Words | 2 Pages

The causes of the Mexican American war American now stretches from sea to shining sea but back in the mid 1800s, America was only from the east coast to the borders of the republic of Texas. In the 1840s there was a president of the US called James K Polk who believed in manifest destiny which was a westward expansion of America to the Pacific. The westward expansion was viewed as a good thing because Americans thought they could spread religion, strike it rich in business, or just create a new life in the west. While America was expanding westward, Mexico was really bitter about losing Texas but even more bitter when the Americans came down and annex it.

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

Although we have a strong relationship currently, that hasn’t always been the case between Mexico and the U.S. The Mexican American was a war fought between the USA and Mexico over the territory of Texas. It was fought from spring of 1846 to the fall of 1847, and ended with Mexico losing about half of their national territory in the North. Causes leading up to the Mexican American War include Texas got its independence from Mexico in 1836. But the United States wouldn 't let them become part of the states mostly cause northern political interests were against becoming a slave state.

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

The last main cause of the Civil War was the presidential election of 1860. Abraham Lincoln and John C. Breckinridge were the candidates. Lincoln won the election with more than half of the electoral votes. This caused major controversy. Nobody in the South supported Lincoln and were outraged when he was elected.

Read More
407 Words | 2 Pages

Although the Civil War was sparked by many events and occurrences, there was one main cause that really ignited the fire. The main cause of the American Civil War is states’ rights. The North and South rivalry pivoted on this very cause. In the Presidential Election of 1860 Map, I saw the vast difference in the number of electoral votes. The North had 194 electoral votes and the South only had 61.

Read More

More about The Cause Of The Mexican-American Civil War

Related Topics

Open Document