CAMBRIDGE AS HISTORY: HISTORY OF THE USA. SECTIONAL TENSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. Slavery, economic and social differences, cultural differences, political issues, the revolution.

1. CAMBRIDGEAS
HISTORYREVISION
HISTORYOFTHEUSA
1.1 SECTIONALTENSIONS
INTHEUNITEDSTATES

2. SLAVERY
• Slave and free states: by 1820s, slavery was banned in the North, but
legal in the South.
• Political stability in the USA: depended on a balance of slave and free
states.
• Missouri Compromise 1820: Missouri could join USA as a slave state
if Maine joined as a free state; in Louisiana territory, purchased from
France in 1803, there would be no slavery north of latitude 36’’ 30’
except in Missouri.

3. MISSOURI COMPROMISE
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave
and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting
Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
With the exception of Missouri, this law prohibited slavery in the
Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude line.
In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-
Nebraska Act.
Three years later the Missouri Compromise was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which
ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the
territories.

5. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DIFFERENCES
• Population: grew more quickly in North (higher standard of living and
more immigration).
• Industry: grew more rapidly in the North; South remained largely
agricultural (cotton, tobacco, rice).
• Foreign competition: lowered cotton prices; South felt that its
economic interests were being sacrificed to increase profits of the
North.
• Tariffs or free trade: South wanted free trade; North wanted tariffs to
protect its industries.

6. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
• South: informal social code based on honour (duels, etc.), chivalry,
slavery and strong Christian faith.
• North: formal legal code, free labour, liberty and puritanical Christianity.

7. POLITICAL ISSUES
• Slavery: national politicians became involved in debate over slavery.
• Federal v. state power: Southern states wanted to maintain the right to
legislate and limit power of president and Congress.

8. THE REVOLUTION
• 1846: Texas became a US state; led to war between USA and Mexico.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848: Upper California and New Mexico
gained by USA.
• Concerns of the North: feared that new territory would become slave
states.
• House of Representatives: slaves could not vote but counted as three-
fifths of a person – this meant that South had more members of House
of Representatives.
• The Wilmot Proviso 1846: stated that slavery would not be permitted
in any land gained from Mexico; rejected by Congress.

9. THE TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO 1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended
the Mexican-American War in favour of the United States.
The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a
territorial dispute involving Texas.
The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States
territory, including the including the land that makes up all or parts of
present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah
and Wyoming.
Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande
as America’s southern boundary.

11. THE WILMOT PROVISO
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land
acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48).
President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of
a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty.
Fearing the addition of a pro-slave territory, Pennsylvania Congressman
David Wilmot proposed his amendment to the bill.
Although the measure was blocked in the southern-dominated Senate, it
enflamed the growing controversy over slavery, and its underlying
principle helped bring about the formation of the Republican Party in
1854.