Philosophies and Events Such As Term Paper

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It was also the driving force behind the annexation of vast territories by the United States in the West, including Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, which were conquered from Mexico, and Louisiana, which was purchased from France (Lubbrage, 2003).

The newly acquired territories became a bone of contention between the Southern and Northern states as the slave-holding South wanted to create more slave-holding states in order to restore the balance of power with the North, while the North resisted the expansion of slavery mainly because of a fear of "Slave Power." Hence, Manifest Destiny, at least indirectly contributed to the start of the Civil War.

The Fugitive Slave Law

During the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the delegates from the Southern slave states refused to join the Union unless certain specific provisions on slavery were agreed. One of the provisions relating to slavery introduced in the Constitution as a result of a compromise was Section 2 of Article IV, which obligated the Northern, no-slave states to return the escaped or "fugitive slaves" to their owners; however, the federal law was often ignored in most northern states.
The Compromise of 1850 included a harsher Fugitive Slave Law, which was enacted to appease the southern slave owners. It required return of the runaway property (i.e. The slave); up to six months in jail, and/or up to $1,000 fine for those aiding a slave's escape; anyone successfully helping a slave escape could be forced to pay civil damages of up to $1,000 to the slave master. It also created a bounty system to help create incentive among Northerners to aid Southern slave catchers in retrieving their "property" and resulted in the illegal kidnappings and return to slavery of thousands of free blacks. The reaction to the law was a new wave of abolitionism and anti-South sentiment in the North. Even those Northerners, who had previously tolerated slavery, now saw the law as a governmental endorsement of kidnapping. It increased the tension between the Southern and Northern states and contributed in no small measure to the start of the civil war (Swogger, 1997).....

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