"Texas has been absorbed into the Union in the inevitable fulfillment of the general law which is rolling our population westward, the connexion of which with that ratio of growth in population which is destined within a hundred years to swell our numbers to the enormous population of two hundred and fifty millions (if not more), is too evident to leave us in doubt of the manifest design of Providence in regard to the occupation of this continent." John L. Sullivan

US Territorial Growth in 1850

We are now approaching an important theme in US history: expansionism & slavery. As the country grew, so did the political debates about the nature of American society. The Mexican-American War widened the door for westward expansion and intensified the domestic debate about America's future. Small farmers and entrepreneurs saw their economic future in the newly acquired territory.

Northerners and Southerners alike pursued aggressive Western politics to ensure their perceived rights to the land. The filibustering campaigns and Freesoil movement were brief episodes in this battle for territorial control. On the one hand, the South viewed the expansion of the slave system as essential for the survival of its traditional life style. In 1847, Jefferson Davis called upon Southerners "to demand of their political brethren of the north, a disavowal of the principles of the Wilmot Proviso; an admission of the equal right of the south with the north, to the territory held as the common property of the United States; and a declaration in favor of extending the Missouri compromise to all States to be hereafter admitted into our confederacy (Jefferson Davis to Charles J. Searles, 19 Sept 1847)." The North, on the other hand, hoped to preserve the West from the dominance of the slave holding elite. Still, both Northerners and Southerners shared a common vision of the West. It would be a territory reserved for white settlement. And at times, both sides could even agree upon their vision.

The Compromise of 1850 appeared to have appeased the deep seated political grievances that were constantly being aggravated by the press. Yet, it could neither dispel Southern fears of slave revolts nor swipe away concerns about their dependency on Northern manufacturing, nor could it convince Northerners of the legitimacy of the slave system. Increasingly the North viewed slavery as a moral issue. The breach in political ideology was clearly visible in the demise of the Whig party.