HIS271Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Wage Labour, Getgo, Wilmot Proviso
Document Summary
Territorial expansion and the origins of the civil war. The ideology of manifest destiny, served initially as a uniting force but ultimately became a divisive force. The expansionist consensus that existed up to the colonial period becomes a source of tension. Some people question the wisdom of it and on the other hand the usa was inadequately prepared to deal with the consequences of territorial expansion. Growing differences/ tensions between the north and the south (economic diversi cation, slavery, cultural and social changes the rise in northern circles of reformists who were abolitionists) The move of sectionalism into the realm of national politics happens in the 1840s up to the 1860 election. The events which lead the usa into war with mexico and the acquisition of texas. How was expansion built in to the american mindset: westward the course of empire takes its way allusion to past empires shifting towards the usa.
