A Country Divided: The Path to the Civil War
Newly elected president Zachary Taylor had a political crisis waiting for him when he took office in 1849. A Swiss immigrant named John A. Sutter discovered flakes of gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California in the winter of 1848, and by January of 1849 Americans were pouring into the territory looking to cash in on the Gold Rush. 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
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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)
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