6/6 AP United States History LEQ Essay Example #2

The Prompt

The Essay

During the Antebellum Era, which followed the Revolutionary Era that saw America gain its independence from Britain and establish the early stages of a democracy, the United States worked to expand its economy, expand westward, and strengthen its democracy. Many European nations still saw the US as a “child” of a country. One event in which the US sought to expand its western territories & exert its military might was the Mexican-American War. This battle over western lands was won swiftly and decisively by the US. But major consequences were soon to follow that would starkly divide the North & South. Although by this time the economies of the North & the South were already vastly different, political compromises in dealing with the newly gained land & the action of radical extremists support the notion that the Mexican-American War was a major turning point in the escalation of the sectional crisis that divided the US. At the time of the Mexican-American War, the Northern & Southern regions of the United States had developed distinct economic systems. In the North, great industrial reform, known as the market revolution, had taken place. The Northern economy, fueled by technological advancements & factory systems, developed into an economy that adopted free labor & urbanization. The textile industry emerged as one of the strongest sectors of the Northern economy, but it could not be fueled without a massive supply of raw materials, particularly cotton. This supply of cotton was provided by the South. The Southern economy functioned very differently from the North. While some industry was present in the South, it was only to complement the massive cotton industry, which it paled in comparison to. The arduous and laborious nature of the cotton industry (sometimes referred to as “King Cotton”) relied upon the forced labor of enslaved African Americans. Even though only a fraction of Southerners owned slaves, slavery became a vital “positive good” in the Southern way of life. The economic differences of the North & the South and the labor systems that emerged from them contributed to distinct sectionalism long before the Mexican-American War in the late 1840s. Politically, the Mexican-American War provided many challenges that would polarize the North & South further than the sectional economies ever had. Similar to the land acquisition of the British after the French & Indian War, the US found itself with massive amounts of land after defeating Mexico. Up until now, there had always been an equal number of “free” & “slave” states. However, with the addition of many new states, the country fought over the institution of slavery in these new states. The government tried to avoid responsibility and eventually implemented a strategy known as “popular sovereignty”, originally proposed by Stephen Douglass. This strategy allowed the majority of the new settlers in Kansas & Nebraska to decide whether or not to adopt slavery. However, popular sovereignty failed miserably. In Kansas, settlers (many of them radicalists & extremists) of both pro- & anti-slavery flocked to dominate the majority. However, the rapid clash of opposing ideologies led to great violence. This period of violence was known as “Bleeding Kansas”. While first proposed to settle pro- & anti-slavery debates, popular sovereignty had done the exact opposite, further exacerbating North & South, or “free” v. “slave” state tensions. The extreme actions taken by radical individuals, prompted by the political responses to the Mexican-American War, during this time further worsened the sectional crisis between North & South. One such individual was John Brown, a white, religious fundamentalist who believed that it was his God-given mission to free enslaved people from oppression, much like that taking place in the South. His first radical act took place in “Bleeding Kansas”, in which he led an armed militia to violently massacre a town of Southern, pro-slavery settlers. After this, he made his way to the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. He & his militia took the arsenal by force, killing more in the process. He was eventually captured and tried for treason, which he was found guilty of. John Brown’s death had contrasting messages. For the Northern “free-soilers” & abolitionists, he was a martyr who had given his life in opposition to slavery. The South, however, saw John Brown’s actions as a sign of growing Northern aggression towards slavery. Radical activists like John Brown contributed heavily to increasingly heated & conflicted ideologies surrounding slavery. The Antebellum Era was one in which the United States sought to find its identity. A widely diverse population contributed to a great number of varying ideologies. Ultimately, the conflicts between ideologies would result in a landmark conflict known as the Civil War.

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