Answer: Louisiana Purchase in 1803
Explanation: • American System of Henry Clay (1816) supported a high tariff to protect American industries and generate revenue for the federal government; continuation of the Bank of the United States; development of a system of internal improvements to tie the nation together, which would be financed by profits from the tariff, the bank, and the sale of western lands.
• Erie Canal: meant to connect East and West
- no improvements made to connect north and south
• Missouri Compromise/Compromise of 1820 (11 slave and 11 free states when Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union as a slave state) was authored by Henry Clay, "the Great Compromiser."
- Maine was admitted as a free state; Missouri, as a slave state; all future states north of 36 '30 with the exception of Missouri, would come into the Union as free states.
• Tariff of Abominations favored the north, but south was very upset
- This lead to Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and southern states threatened to secede
- money from tariff could have been used to expand west
• Railroads begin to replace canals as the heart of the American transportation system (1830s and forward); most railroads ran east to west, helping to cement the North/West alliance.
• Gag rule was adopted (1836); this informal rule in Congress allowed slavery petitions to the House of Representatives to be automatically tabled, thus putting off divisive debates over the issue of slavery. The use of the gag rule lasted until 1844.
• New parties popping up everywhere against slavery in westward expansion (ex. Liberty Party)
• James K.Polk (Democrat) favored westward expansion.
- "54 40 or fight" (campaign slogan)
• Oregon Treaty (1846) resulted in the British-American boundary being set at the 49th parallel.
- South wanted more land for the expansion of slavery
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) confirmed the United States title to Texas and gave the United States the Mexican Cession, which included California; the United States agreed to pay $15 million for the land and assumed a $3,250,000 payment to United States citizens with claims against Mexico.
• Free soil party joined with Free Liberty party after treaty to oppose slavery in new areas
"Re-annexation of Texas and the Reoccupation of Oregon"
• Compromise of 1850 (Henry Clay, "Omnibus Bill"; Stephen Douglas supported Clay's proposed
- Cal. admitted as a free state
- New Mex and Utah pop sovereignty
- Tex. lost land that would have become free land
- stricter fugitive slave law
• Wilmot Proviso that said land from war with Mexico will be free
Thesis: As America started to gain more western land, new parties popped up that wanted to stop the expansion of slavery, while southerners were not in favor of treaties that made new land free because they wanted to get wealth, while south threatened to secede the nation because of their pro slavery views.
