Territorial Expansion in the United States From 1800-1850

From 1800 to 1850 territorial expansion tore the United States apart. Territorial expansion itself was not a debated issue. Spurred by the concept of Manifest Destiny, almost everyone believed that America should extend from sea to shining sea and maybe even farther. But it was the issue of the expansion of slavery into the new territories that pitted the North against the South and split our nation apart. The first real crisis over territorial expansion took place …

…Unfortunately, by 1850 sectionalism was so deeply engrained into the psyche of the country that compromise failed to work. From 1800 to 1850 America saw a growth in territorial expansion. This expansion, aided by sectionalism and the slavery issue, eventually tore the United States apart. By 1850 conditions had peaked and compromise between North and South could no longer produce an adequate solution as it had done in the past. Ten years later America plunged into the Civil War.