Britannica Study Guide: The Crisis of the Union
Learn more about the crisis that led to the American Civil War.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
This time, on Britannica Study Guide: the Crisis of the Union.
Let’s be frank: no matter what else you’ve heard, the main cause of the Civil War was slavery.
And everyone involved had a different opinion for a different reason...which, in the decades before the Civil War, led to increasing conflict between disagreeing groups of white Americans.
In the 1840s the U.S. occupied itself with westward expansion, partially due to President John Tyler’s last wishes: “I think...we….should annex Texas!”
Okay, Tyler wasn’t dying, he was just leaving office. But wouldn’t it be more dramatic if he was?
Now the new president, James K. Polk, was left with an idea that made Northerners extremely concerned.
“Texas is way too big...would that be like FIVE new states?”
“And would those be slave states?”
Since the Missouri Compromise allowed slavery below the 36°30’ parallel, Northerners worried that Texas would be admitted to the Union as a slave state...
And if pro-slavery states had more representatives in Congress, that would lead to the creation of even MORE pro-slavery states.
The North had to think fast:
“If Texas gets to be a state, Oregon Country should be a state too!”
“‘54°40’ or Fight! 54°40’ or Fight!”
Not a great slogan, but it got to Polk (and he even ended up using it as a campaign slogan). He acquired Oregon Country from Great Britain and made another offer to Mexico, which was promptly refused.
“That’s how Polk started the Mexican-American War?”
“MEXICO started it! I just finished it! And got most of the modern Southwest in the meantime!”
“You purposefully provoked my forces at the Texas border...so you definitely started it.”
As for the Northerners, they weren’t appeased by the purchase of Oregon Country—and some had started to spread a conspiracy theory that Congress was controlled by a group of elite slave owners.
They proposed the Wilmot Proviso, which would have prohibited slavery in the territories gained from Mexico.
When Congress voted on the Wilmot Proviso, the vote wasn’t split between party lines: it was split between the North and South.
This vote fractured the Whig Party into Northern and Southern factions, both of which soon disappeared altogether.
And the South and North both became extra concerned with protecting their own interests: slavery for the South and limiting slavery for the North.
Southerners latched onto the idea of popular sovereignty...as did certain Northerners who didn’t want to make up their minds on slavery.
“I think slavery is wrong...but I also want to be president someday, so I have to appeal to the South. Popular sovereignty it is!”
Plus, there were all these other events that heightened tension between the North and South:
Though the Compromise of 1850 was proposed by Northerners to allow California to enter the Union as a free state, it gave the South the Fugitive Slave Act—which was almost unanimously hated by Northerners.
It gave white Southerners the legal right to enter free states and capture liberated Black people, returning them to enslavement.
The South knew they were out of luck only once Abraham Lincoln—who had run on the Republican promise to stop the spread of slavery—was elected president.
“How about a compromise?”
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
You know what happened next. Three months before Lincoln even took office, the first Southern state seceded. “That’s how the Confederate States of America formed, with me as president!”
Don’t sound too happy, Jefferson Davis. This doesn’t end well for you.
And everyone involved had a different opinion for a different reason...which, in the decades before the Civil War, led to increasing conflict between disagreeing groups of white Americans.
In the 1840s the U.S. occupied itself with westward expansion, partially due to President John Tyler’s last wishes: “I think...we….should annex Texas!”
Okay, Tyler wasn’t dying, he was just leaving office. But wouldn’t it be more dramatic if he was?
Now the new president, James K. Polk, was left with an idea that made Northerners extremely concerned.
“Texas is way too big...would that be like FIVE new states?”
“And would those be slave states?”
Since the Missouri Compromise allowed slavery below the 36°30’ parallel, Northerners worried that Texas would be admitted to the Union as a slave state...
And if pro-slavery states had more representatives in Congress, that would lead to the creation of even MORE pro-slavery states.
The North had to think fast:
“If Texas gets to be a state, Oregon Country should be a state too!”
“‘54°40’ or Fight! 54°40’ or Fight!”
Not a great slogan, but it got to Polk (and he even ended up using it as a campaign slogan). He acquired Oregon Country from Great Britain and made another offer to Mexico, which was promptly refused.
“That’s how Polk started the Mexican-American War?”
“MEXICO started it! I just finished it! And got most of the modern Southwest in the meantime!”
“You purposefully provoked my forces at the Texas border...so you definitely started it.”
As for the Northerners, they weren’t appeased by the purchase of Oregon Country—and some had started to spread a conspiracy theory that Congress was controlled by a group of elite slave owners.
They proposed the Wilmot Proviso, which would have prohibited slavery in the territories gained from Mexico.
When Congress voted on the Wilmot Proviso, the vote wasn’t split between party lines: it was split between the North and South.
This vote fractured the Whig Party into Northern and Southern factions, both of which soon disappeared altogether.
And the South and North both became extra concerned with protecting their own interests: slavery for the South and limiting slavery for the North.
Southerners latched onto the idea of popular sovereignty...as did certain Northerners who didn’t want to make up their minds on slavery.
“I think slavery is wrong...but I also want to be president someday, so I have to appeal to the South. Popular sovereignty it is!”
Plus, there were all these other events that heightened tension between the North and South:
Though the Compromise of 1850 was proposed by Northerners to allow California to enter the Union as a free state, it gave the South the Fugitive Slave Act—which was almost unanimously hated by Northerners.
It gave white Southerners the legal right to enter free states and capture liberated Black people, returning them to enslavement.
The South knew they were out of luck only once Abraham Lincoln—who had run on the Republican promise to stop the spread of slavery—was elected president.
“How about a compromise?”
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
You know what happened next. Three months before Lincoln even took office, the first Southern state seceded. “That’s how the Confederate States of America formed, with me as president!”
Don’t sound too happy, Jefferson Davis. This doesn’t end well for you.