Suspect 3: The Mexican Cession
When the War with Mexico ended, the United States acquired1 a lot of
new territory. Good for the United States, right? Not so fast. You see,
many people were anxious to fulfill their country’s manifest destiny and
move out west, but there was a problem! A big problem. People
couldn’t decide whether or not to allow slavery in the new territories2.
People from the North argued that slavery was immoral3, and that
people should not be allowed to bring their slaves into the territories.
People from the South, however, argued that the slaves were their
property, and people can bring their property wherever they like. Still,
other people believed that each state that was made from the
territories should
have been able to
decide for themselves
whether or not to
make slavery illegal.
Needless to say, the
Mexican Cession (the
land we took from
Mexico) caused a lot
of arguing.
the Mexican Cession
1
acquired: gotten
2
territories: land owned by the United States that has not been made into a state yet
3
immoral: wrong