The American Civil War was a time of tension between the Northern and Southern states. Conflict broke out over the issues of westward expansion, states’ rights, and slavery. During the four years of the Civil War, more than 10,000 battles took place spanning across the entire United States. One might ask, what caused these people to begin to fight in the first place? Many disputes contributed to the Civil War, but there were a few matters that pushed the nation over the line. As the U.S. started to expand west, Congress was continually trying to control the balance of free and slave states. When Iowa and Missouri became states, conflict began over whether they should be slave or free. Congress decided to make an agreement. They drew an imaginary line across the United States, what is now the Iowa-Missouri border, and called it the Mason-Dixon line. Passed in 1820, the Missouri Compromise declared that all states north of the Mason-Dixon line are automatically free and all states south of the Mason-Dixon had to vote on the matter. This worked until the U.S. began to expand even further west. …show more content…
won the Mexican-American war, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave us the northern half of Mexico. In this, we received what is now California, New Mexico, and Utah. At the time, this new territory caused more problems than it solved. The idea of Manifest Destiny drove Americans to obtain the land “from sea to shining sea.” They wanted these states to be part of the Union as soon as possible. The only problem was deciding whether the states were going to be free or slave. The major dispute was over California. This territory was on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. Just as Congress started debate over California, settlers discovered gold there. This led to immense westward migration with thousands converging on California. The territory of California became a place of chaos and