The Mexican-American War - Assignment Example

? American Civil War Task The Mexican-American War was between American s and Mexico, where America wanted to annex Texasand some other Mexican states. The war ended after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which required America to pay some money to Mexico. When America won the war, there was a debate between Northern states who were capitalists and the Southern states which supported and practised slavery. The debate was to determine whether the new states acquired from the treaty would be recognized as free states. The southerners wanted to crop their land into the newly acquired states so that they could extend their cotton fields. Acquiring new land meant that these people would require more slaves thus making Texas and other states slave states. Northern states wanted the new states from Mexico to be free states. This motion was moved in congress but was always opposed by the southern states because they had a higher representation in the senate. David Wilmot, the congressman of Pennyslavania, introduced the Wilmot Proviso of 1846, which advocated for mexican acquired states from to be free from slavery. The Wilmot Proviso was raised in the house of representatives. Its main aim was to raise funds to support peace negotiations to end the Mexican American War. The Wilmot Proviso was also supporting a bill by President James Polk to raise 2 million dollars to end the war. The intention of the Wilmont Proviso was to prevent slavery being introduced in the new Mexican states. The Wilmont Proviso was passed to the senate for approval, but was never approved. Some parts concerning the Proviso were passed. The Free Soil Party was also against the introduction of slavery in Texas and other states acquired from Mexico. This party was strong in the New York city and was mainly supported by the former anti-slave members of the Democratic Party. The Free Soil Party, which lasted between 1848 and 1852, argued that free soil and free people contributed better to the growth of the economy. California sought to be recognized as a free state in 1849. This was faced by opposition especially from the southern states that advocated by slaves providing cheap labour for their farms and working long hours. The request was also controversial because gold had been discovered in California and there was a Gold Rush. Henry Clay drafted the Compromise of 1850 that admitted California as one of the free states, and other territories such as Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico would not have slavery any more. Another development in the Compromise of 1850 was the solution to the Texas border problem. Additionally, in Columbia, the slave trade that was practised in the area was abolished, but slavery was still permitted. The Compromise of 1850 increased the number of free states, causing an imbalance between the states supporting slavery and free states. This contributed to the American Civil War. 2 The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was created by the Senator of Illinois Stephen Douglas. This act, which involved two territories Kansas and Nebraska, allowed these territories to decide for themselves if they wanted to allow slavery in their land. This arrangement was against the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which did not allow slavery north of latitude 36 degrees 30’. Following the enactment of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, those supporting slavery and those against moved into the Kansas and Nebraska teritorries in order to affect the outcome of the elections. The first election since the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was held. Those supporting pro-slavery won, but the election was nullified because of rigging. Other elections were held by the supporters of anti-slavery, but the rest refused to vote. This led to a war between the anti-slavery supporters and those supporting slavery. After the war, both parties established parallel governments within the territory and Kansas was not recognized as a state. In another election, the pro-slavery supporters won but again accused of cheating in the elections, and this sparked a war between the two parties. Eventually the anti-slavery supporters outnumbered the pro-slavery supporters and won the elections. This was followed by the start of the American Civil War. The anti-slavery win meant that Kansas was a slave-free territory. This was an imbalance between those states that supported slavery and the northern states that did not support slavery. This was a reason for the American Civil War that followed. This is because southern states felt threatened because their influence was becoming weak since they previously had a majority representation in the senate. 3 Dred Scott was a slave who had traversed with his master in slave free states. On return to the state where slavery was allowed, he sued the government maintaining, that since he had once lived in a free state he had a right to be set free. This was opposed at the supreme court where it was stated that all slaves and their descendants are considered property and have no rights to become US citizens. The court also declared that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional since all slaves were treated as property and owners could do whatever they wished with their property. This decision by the court got a reaction from the public concerning the Dred Scott case. There were seven debates in the state of Illinois between Abraham Lincoln and the then senator of Illinois, Stephen Douglas. These debates were agreed upon between these two people that they would visit 7 districts of Illinois where they had not presented their speeches. These seven districts were: Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy and Alton. Lincoln and Douglas agreed to have public debates as they were both contending the senator seat in the state of Illinois. A speech to address the people was offered by one candidate, then the debates would follow. These debates were referred to as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 and were popular because the public wanted to know their stand about slavery. Although Lincoln lost the election, he published a book of all the debates he had with Douglas and this book made him popular. In one of the Lincoln-Doughlas’ debates, in Freeport, Lincoln asked Douglas about his take on slavery. This was in reference to the Kansas-Nebraska Act which favored popular sovereignty, which Doughlas had successfully passed, and the Dred Scott decision made by the supreme court. Doughlas said that slavery could not be included as part of the constitution of the states, but he believed in popular sovereignty where a state is able to determine for itself whether or not it wanted to become a free state. The Freeport Doctrine caused problems in the southern states since they wanted to decide whether or not they wanted to be free because the southern states strongly believed in slavery. Deciding to be free states would weaken the southern states over their people. Since labour was provided by slaves, this meant slaves would not accept to work under the inhuman conditions anymore. This led to be one of the causes that fueled the American Civil War because it threatened southern states mostly (McPherson, 2010). 4 The main responsibility of Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer from the Confederates was to guard the Cumberland Gap as he went further into Kentucky, where he found a place to establish his defense at Mill Springs at the two sides of Cumberland River. A Brigadier from the Union was ordered to attack them, and the Confederates lost to the Union. The Union gained control over Mill Springs and gained command in Eastern Kentucky. This was then followed by wanting to subdue Middle Tennessee. In February, 1862 Fort Henry, a fort on the Tennessee was attacked by Brigadier General from the Union by positioning his army in two different locations of the fort. On one side, the army was to make sure the opponents would not escape, and the other was to make sure the fort collapsed. Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman managed to help his people escape and then he surrendered himself. The fall of Fort Henry made the Tennessee River accessible by the Union boats and ships to transport materials. About two weeks later, Brigadier General Grant wanted to conquer Fort Delson. The Brigadier attacked the fort, and the people in the fort were unable to fight back, and they were forced to surrender. By these two victories, the Union was sure that Kentucky would stay in the union and access to Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside went to Roanoke Island backed up by 7500 men. The forts on the island were attacked using gunboats, and finally surrendered their soldiers and their guns. The victory opened the Union to the Atlantic cost. This was on February 7, 1862. In New Mexico, the Union wanted to cut communication between Fort Craig and their headquarters in Santa Fe. The Union led by Col. Canby lost to the Confederate, but the Confederate would have to leave New Mexico and occupy Santa Fe in 4 months time (McPherson, 2010). 5 Robert Edward Lee was the Confederate army commander general. President Lincoln had considered Lee to head the Union’s army, but he turned down the offer and preferred serving his own state of Virginia which had defected from the Union. While he led the Confederate army, in December 11 to December 15 1862 was the Battle of Fredericksburg where his army was able to defeat the Union’s army leaving many of the Union’s soldiers injured. President Lincoln appointed George Brinton McClellan major general of the Union army during the American Civil War. In october, 1862, he was made the general-in chief of the Union’s army. He joined people from the Pope to his Army of Potomac and rearranged his strategy since Lee had planned to invade the north through Maryland. Accidentally, McClellan had found Lee’s strategy to attack Maryland, and hoped to subdue him since he already knew Lee’s plan, so he started by attacking Lee’s smaller forces before he could confront Lee’s major army. In the On September 17, the Battle of Antietam started in the northern part of America. McClellan in that war submitted only part of his army while Lee on the other side submitted the whole army. The Union’s army was not well coordinated , so Lee’s army was able to subdue them. Although Lee retreated, McClellan was unable to put an end to the battle. After the war, the Confederate army returned to Virginia, and this gave Lincoln confidence to stop the French and British governments to recognize Confenderacy as an independent force. This was because the president of the Confederates, expected that foreign powers such as Britain would recognize them if they won in northern soil. Reference McPherson, J. & Hogue, J. (2010) Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More