Unaffiliated

The United States defeat of the Confederacy was momentous, but there was much work to be done to bring the country back together. The brutality of the Civil War left behind not only a scarred landscape, but also a population that had been traumatized from the massive number of casualties and deaths.

Lincoln says that showing resolve is essential so that the soldiers who perished at Gettysburg did not die in vain. He is determined to make sure that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people will continue to exist.

A number of forces added to the flaring tensions in the nation during the 1850s. A Failure to Compromise will eventually lead the United States to civil war.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was divinely destined to expand its territory across North America. It also included the beliefs that this expansion was inevitable and that it was the settlers' duty to spread democracy and capitalism. Manifest Destiny was a key motivator behind movement west.

Westward expansion created new economic opportunities, particularly in the fields of mining, railroad construction, farming, and ranching. These opportunities drew large numbers of people to the West, both existing Americans and immigrants. The West became more and more culturally diverse as several distinct groups of western settlers emerged alongside growing White and African American populations

As the US expanded westward, it came into contact with and competed for resources with native peoples. As settlers tried to claim land as their own, conflicts with many groups occurred.

In this post we will discuss the growing divide between the North and South in the decade preceding the Civil War.