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The Cause Of The Mexican-American Civil War

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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

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