American History Homework Five Answers - Student Seven

NatalieD- IN PROGRESS

1. (b) He welcomed immigrants into the United States.

2. The Whigs opposed the Mexican war. They also opposed slavery, and they were in favor of a national bank.

3. The war was caused by the large conflict between Mexico and the United States regarding Texas and its annexation. Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, however, Mexico threatened war should Texas be annexed. When Texas was annexed, Mexico did not declare war but the relationship remained very tense. There were disputes over the border of Texas. Polk wanted all the land for the US, so he sent General Zachary Taylor and his troops to the disputed land. He tried to purchase the area but the mission failed. Polk told Congress that Mexico had attacked Taylor’s army on American soil, shedding American blood there. Congress then gave Polk the declaration of war. The war ended with the United States capture of Mexico City. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was drawn up, signed, and ratified.

4. I think that Harriet Beecher Stowe one of the most important people between 1840 and 1860. Because of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, many more Northerners began opposing slavery. Many people in the North were ignorant about what was going on in the South, and the truths of slavery. Of course they knew about slavery and the hardships the slaves endured, but many never understood the extent of it until they had read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which showed the true horrors of slavery.

5. Bleeding Kansas was the term used to describe the bloodshed in Kansas. Popular sovereignty was pushed into law by Douglas in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Almost immediately after this, civil war broke out in Kansas between the free and slave forces. A lot of the people did not like that each new territory made its own decision by a popular vote. Many turned to violence to end their arguments and get what they wanted.

6. This is a political cartoon from 1860. It depicts Stephen A. Douglas receiving a traditional "over-the-knee" spanking from Columbia as Uncle Sam looks on approvingly. It is most likely showing that the cartoonist thought Douglas’ sly “middle” standing on the popular sovereignty versus Dred Scott issue was terrible.

7. No, I don’t think it would have been possible to avoid the Civil War. There was a lot of tension between the North and the South. Disagreements about tariffs caused much controversy. The issue of slavery was a huge source of conflict. The North was against slavery, and the South not only wanted slavery, but depended on it for their economy and agriculture, especially the production of cotton. The South’s economy depended on slavery. Without the war, slavery would have taken much longer to abolish. Also, the South would probably have seceded from the Union, and there would have been a lot of continual hatred between the North and South. Thanks to the war, the Union was preserved, slavery was abolished, and the enmity between the North and the South gradually ended.