The United States Civil War was slowly approached by the separation of the United states as a result of sectionalism. The United states was divided into a north and south side as each side had their own specific ideas on how the nation should run. Many legislations and policies were developed as a result of the United States separation to address the problems through different acts of legislation and court decisions. Some interesting legislations/policies include the Missouri compromise of 1820, Wilmot Proviso of 1846, and the compromise of 1850.One of the first and greatest causes that led to the civil war was the question over slavery.
Many states favored slavery and many didn’t. This led to the question, will newly established states be free or slave states? When missouri was established a state, people argued that slavery should be permitted in the state. Congress passed a bill which declared Missouri a slave state as long as slavery was prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana purchase territory and north of the 36°30? parallel. Because missouri was declared a slave state, Maine was declared a free state, this helped to even out the ratio of slave states and free states. The short term effects of the missouri compromise are that Missouri was declared a slave state and Maine was declared a free state. Also any territory north of the 36°30 was declared free. A long term effect of the missouri compromise was the division of the United states into two sections, the north and south side which led to the civil war. The solution for the question of slavery was the civil war.
As a result of the civil war, Slavery was declared illegal in the United states. The Wilmot Proviso was created by David Wilmot to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War to prohibit the extension of slavery. President James K.
Polk asked congress for 2 million dollars to negotiate terms for a treaty to prevent the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired land. David Wilmot was a congressman from pennsylvania who proposed an amendment for the bill. The bill was passed by the house of representatives but failed by the senate.
The wilmot proviso brought the United States a step closer to the civil war because the wilmot proviso led to the expansion of the abolitionist party who wanted to put an end to slavery or to abolish slavery, hence the name. This brought the question of slavery to attention to many people. Eleven Years before the civil war had started California had asked to be part of the union.
Because California expanded north and south of the 36°30, people argued whether or not it should be admitted as a free or slave state. If it was admitted into the union as a free or slave state, it would disrupt the balance of free and slave states. Henry Clay designed a number of resolutions and decided to form a compromise to avoid a catastrophe, the civil war. A compromise was created known as the compromise of 1850, part of the compromise consisted of the Fugitive Slave Act which required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Any slaves that escaped to the south to go to the north for freedom were to be returned by their masters. The compromise also expressed that the slave trade in Washington, D.
C was to be abolished. Texas had lost territory but was compensated with 10 million dollars to pay for its debt. One impact the compromise of 1850 had on America was that it slowed down the approach to the civil war, it didn’t prevent it but it certainly stalled the war. Another impact the compromise of 1850 had on America was California was entered into the union as a free state and the fugitive slave act was announced.
The United States civil war was steadily approached as a result of sectionalism. Because the United States was divided into two sides, the North and the South, many problems were created such as the issue over slavery that would lead to the inevitable civil war. Many legislations and policies were formed to delay the war but the only solution for issue over slavery was the civil war, which at the end, declared slavery illegal in the united states.