A Gold Rush Leads To War
The American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Reconstruction period that followed were the bloodiest chapters of American history to date. Brother fought brother as the population was split along sectional lines. The issue of slavery divided the nation's people and the political parties that represented them in Washington. The tension which snapped the uneasy truce between north and south began building over slavery and statehood debates in California.
In 1848, settlers discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, starting a mass migration. By 1849, California had enough citizens to apply for statehood. However, the debate over whether the large western state would or would not allow slavery delayed its ...
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would enter the union as free state.
New Mexico territory would be divided into New Mexico and Utah, and offered popular sovereignty.
Texas must yield disputed territory to New Mexico in return for federal assumption of its state debt.
Trading, but not possession, of slaves would be banned from the District of Columbia.
Fugitive slave laws would be enhanced.
Zachary Taylor, who was president at the time, was prepared to veto the bills, but died suddenly. His successor, Millard Fillmore, allowed the provisions to pass one at a time with the help of Stephen Douglas. The Nashville Convention met soon afterwards and denounced the plan, but took no decisive action.
This uneasy truce would last for only four years. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act makes further compromise practically impossible. It granted popular sovereignty to both states, in the hopes that they would split on the slavery issue and continue the shaky equality between slave and free states. ...
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them into Michigan, which was a free state. They insisted that since they had lived on free soil, their bonds of slavery were no longer valid. The Supreme Court decided in a shocking decision that not only was the Scotts' claim invalid, but the entire case had been unconstitutional, because blacks, according to their claims, had no right to sue whites in any court, much less the United States Supreme Court. This total denial of blacks' rights ignited a violent fury in abolitionists everywhere, and inspired an equally defiant spirit among pro-slavery activists.
In 1859, John Brown again made headlines by raiding an armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown apparently hoped to gain ...
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A Gold Rush Leads To War. (2005, September 16). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Gold-Rush-Leads-To-War/33396
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"A Gold Rush Leads To War." Essayworld.com. September 16, 2005. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Gold-Rush-Leads-To-War/33396.
"A Gold Rush Leads To War." Essayworld.com. September 16, 2005. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Gold-Rush-Leads-To-War/33396.
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