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Reasons For Territorial Expansion Of The American Civil War

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The civil war is associated with southern succession, slavery, and the Republican Party, all factors which this dispute entailed. The initiation for such conflict though, lies in the territorial expansion that Americans believed was destined for the United States at the time. Territorial expansion pinned Americans against one another when debating whether the new states should be slaves states or not, questioned the power the Federal government had in comparison to states’ rights, and put at risk the unity of the U.S.A as a nation. With a vast majority of land acquired through agreements such as the Louisiana Purchase it was difficult to decide whether slavery should spread further west, not do so, or be equally distributed. How this was going to take place led to a long and costly conflict known as the American Civil War. I strongly agree that territorial expansion was the main spark that ignited the civil war. …show more content…

“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” said Abraham Lincoln, as the first president in the Republican Party and supporter of the admission of states as free, he understood that the conflict had escalated to a degree that marked a seemingly separation within the country. The south wanted out, it wanted slave states and the rights to maintain the slaves that made such a significant contribution to their agricultural economy, the north had begun industrializing and slaves were not a key factor in their economic gain. Such dissimilar personal interests made the two regions feud and develop a separation that grew all a result of the expansion. With the threat of the succession of the south, the civil war became long and costly. Not only was the survival of the U.S as one nation at risk, but the ideas of liberty, equality, and justice all depended on the outcome of the

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