Western Expansion and the Pro- vs. Anti-Slavery Debate Before the Civil War

Introduction: A Nation Half Enslaved, Half Free

It was said early on in its history that America could not exist half enslaved and half free — that is, half made up of states where slavery was legal as an institution, and half where slavery was prohibited. Yet America, right up until the firing of the first shots at Fort Sumter, attempted to exist in precisely such a fashion. The addition of western states to the Union further complicated the delicate political balance between Northern free states and Southern slave states in the United States Congress.

As the United States expanded its western territories, every conflict over the slavery status of the new states stimulated yet another economic, political, and social debate between North and South. The series of legislative compromises and judicial rulings that followed — from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 — each attempted to resolve the tension, and each ultimately fell short. Even the end of the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction failed to produce a lasting resolution, as the disputed election of 1876 demonstrated.

The Northwest Ordinance and the Louisiana Purchase

The first hints of the growing problem appeared after Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Ordinance provided the means by which new states would be created out of the western lands and then admitted into the Union. Governors and judges appointed by Congress would rule a territory until it contained 5,000 free male inhabitants of voting age. Then the inhabitants would elect a territorial legislature, which would send a non-voting delegate to Congress. When the population reached 60,000, the legislature would submit a state constitution to Congress and, upon its approval, the state would enter the Union. The act made clear that the new states would be equal to the old and would have jurisdiction over slavery within their territories. But this equality meant that the balance of free and slave states in Congress would be tenuous and in a constant state of imbalance. ("Northwest Ordinance of 1787," 2005)

Later, the southern region of the United States was enlarged by the Louisiana Purchase — a treaty signed on April 30, 1803, by which the United States purchased from France the Louisiana Territory, more than 2 million square kilometers (800,000 sq mi) of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The price was 60 million francs, approximately $15 million; $11,250,000 was to be paid directly, with the balance covered by the United States assuming French debts to American citizens. ("The Louisiana Purchase," 2005) This only increased anxiety in the North about the nation becoming an entirely enslaved one, as the South gained power in the federal arms of governance.

Popular Sovereignty and the Compromise of 1850

One political solution to this concern was the doctrine of popular sovereignty — the political doctrine that provided for the settlers of federal territorial lands to decide for themselves, whether free or slave, under which status they would join the Union. It attempted to preserve the Union and served as the founding philosophy of the Compromise of 1850. According to that compromise, Texas would relinquish its land in dispute with Mexico and, in compensation, receive $10 million — money it would use to pay off its debt to Mexico. Additionally, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without any mention of slavery; their inhabitants would make the decision about slavery later, when the territories applied for statehood. ("The Compromise of 1850," PBS Website, 2004)

Regarding the nation's capital, the compromise abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia, although slavery itself would still be permitted there. California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who objected to the political imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed as part of the package. The Compromise of 1850 thus accomplished what it set out to do — keeping the slave/free nation united — but the solution was only temporary and ultimately cosmetic. ("The Compromise of 1850," PBS Website, 2004)

Bleeding Kansas and the Limits of Popular Sovereignty

Popular sovereignty was first invoked in the Compromise of 1850 and later in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Unlike the earlier compromise, the implications of this act proved tragic. The violent events in "Bleeding Kansas" exposed the doctrine's fundamental shortcomings. Most Black Americans and abolitionists had strongly opposed the 1850 Compromise, while the majority of Americans embraced it, believing it offered a final, workable solution to the slavery question. The status of Kansas, however, soon became a point of violent conflict.

In an era that would come to be known as "Bleeding Kansas," the territory became a battleground over the slavery question. Most settlers who had come to Kansas from the North and the South only wanted to homestead in peace and were not interested in the conflict over slavery, but they found themselves in the midst of a battleground. Violence erupted throughout the Kansas territory between pro- and anti-slavery activists, resulting in a staggering death toll. Several attempts were made to draft a constitution that Kansas could use to apply for statehood; some versions were pro-slavery, others free-state. Finally, a fourth convention met at Wyandotte in July 1859 and adopted a free-state constitution. Kansas applied for admission to the Union. However, pro-slavery forces in the Senate strongly opposed its free-state status and stalled its admission. Only in 1861, after the Confederate states had seceded, did the constitution gain approval and Kansas become a state. ("Bleeding Kansas," PBS Website, 2004)

Works Cited

"1850 Compromise." PBS Website. 2004. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html

"Bleeding Kansas." PBS Website. 2004. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html

"Dred Scott." U.S. History. 2004. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h88.html

"Elections." Answers.com. American History information about Elections from the Reader's Companion to American History, Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. 2004.

"The Louisiana Purchase." History of the Louisiana Purchase. 2005. http://gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html

"The Northwest Ordinance of 1787." http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/5.htm