The rapid influx of settlers brought the free soil debate back to life. The "forty-niners" had all settled at once, leaving the makeshift mining camps severely overcrowded and the settlers demanding a formal government. To avoid debate over slavery, Taylor advised California to apply for statehood quickly, and in November 1849, California ratified a state constitution- one that prohibited slavery.

This more than alarmed the Southern politicians. Not only had they lost a large and valuable state to free soil, but this threatened the balance of power between the slave states and free states in both houses of Congress, potentially hurting their interests. Thus, the south was prepared to block the admission of California as a free state unless the federal government passed legislation to protect the future of slavery. Many northern politicians were vehemently opposed to any legisla

What is amazing is that the South held out as long as they did. Although both sides suffered heavy casualties (more than all other American wars combined), the South took the most in every battle. So why did the South hold on for so long? The Majority of the soldiers in the Confederate Army was poor sharecroppers and had never even interacted with black people. All they knew is that blacks were at the bottom of the food chain, and if nothing else, at least they were white. If slavery was abolished, then the soldiers feared that blacks would have the same status as they had- making them the bottom of the social ladder. The Confederate Army held on because that was the only thing they had to hold on to. Up until this point in history, the racism in the United States had always been somewhat non-personal or "matter-of-fact." After the Civil War, racism became very ugly and very personal.

tion to expand slavery, however, and would not accept any of the southern doctrine for radical or moderate resolution. The stage was set for secession in the South.

The Civil War is similar to World War II in the context that both wars were consequences of an earlier action. I believe that had we abolished slavery seventy years before when it first became an issue, the south would have had no reason to secede. Thus, history was doomed to repeat itself. But, as they say, hindsight is always twenty/twenty.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gold Rush, Civil War, Republican Party, Logistically South, Clay Webster, Scott Sandford, Slave Act, Confederate Army, Conscience Whigs, Tokyo Bay, civil war, republican party, clay webster, compromise 1850, supreme court, fugitive slave act, california free, slave free, confederate army, free soil, party system,
Approximate Word count = 1809
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)