The Mexican-American War

The United States and Mexico engaged in a war between 1846 and 1848 as America needed to expand its territorial borders to cover the whole of the North American continent. The war was mainly initiated by the annexation of Texas territory by the United States. When Texas joined the United States in 1845 Mexico was not happy seeing the U.S. take over Texas. The other cause of the war was a border dispute. Unites States claimed that the Texas border ended at the Rio Grande while Mexico claimed Nueces River was the Texas border. The U.S. and Mexican troops fought, and the U.S. won the war and retained the disputed land of Texas besides taking over some parts of Mexico northern land (Spillman 182).

Since the Mexican American war brought several controversies, there was a need to settle differences through mutual concession between the two parties. Therefore, The Compromise of 1850 began. The main concern was to solve the issues dividing the Union and the Texas boundary (Blue). The Compromise of 1850 was initiated to solve the divisions generated by slavery in the territory annexed during the Mexican-American War. The following factors also provoked the need for a compromise following the Mexican-American War including to make it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves, to admit California as a frees state, create New Mexico and Utah territories, and to abolish the slave trade. Also, the two new territories were to be organized formally.

In September 1850 the United States passed a package comprising of five bills as a way to settle the effects of the Mexican-American War. During the war, there was an immense confrontation between the Free states and slaves concerning territories. Henry Clay, Whig Senator, drafted The

Compromised and with the help of Stephen Douglas, Illinois Senator they brokered the compromise which saw minimal sectional conflict. The Compromised was received very well although few provisions regarding Fugitive Slave developed new controversy.

After the enactment of The Compromise of 1850, California joined the Union as a free state and Utah developed territorial government (Bringhurst). The popular majority became responsible for decisions on slavery in New Mexico and Utah. The Missouri Compromise was overturned, and the slavery issue left unsettled. Another impressive effect of the choice is the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia and enhancement of the Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive Act was a law that compelled the return of slaves from the north to the south. It also led to Texas dropping their claim on and north to Mexico territory hence retained the present form territories (Griffin). The negative consequence of The Compromise was the approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The two territories allowed residents to decide the fate of slavery either on popular sovereignty or not. The Compromise also played a critical role in the postponement of the American Civil War for a decade (Holt).

To a huge extent, the actions taken resolved the initial dilemma concerning the confrontations on territorial disputes and slave trade between the states. In Washington DC, for instance, fugitive slave law was strengthened, slavery was abolished and Texas being compensated with about 10 million dollars after losing its territory. The decision achieved what was intended at that time, to revitalize the Union and peace since there was a temporary political equilibrium that encouraged peace (Rhodes).

Works Cited

Blue, Frederick J. “Mark J. Stegmaier. Texas, New Mexico, and the Compromise of 1850:   Boundary Dispute and Sectional Crisis. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. 1996                Pp. xii, 434. $39.00.”(1997): 1230-1231.

Bringhurst, Newell G. “The Mormons and Slavery: A Closer Look.”Pacific Historical             Review 50.3 (1981): 329-338.

Griffin, Roger A. “Compromise of 1850.”Handbook of Texas Online (2001).

Holt, Michael Fitzgibbon. The political crisis of the 1850s. New York: Wiley, 1978.

Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. Vol. 3. Harper,            1895.

Spillman, William Jasper. “Adjustment of the Texas Boundary in 1850.”The Quarterly of the   Texas State Historical Association 7.3 (1904): 177-195.