White Americans found compromises between slavery and freedom in the early years of the nation.
They protected slavery in the U.S. Constitution but provided for the slave trade to end in 1808. They added slave states and free states to the Union in pairs. They divided the 1803 Louisiana Purchase between slavery and freedom by letting slavery exist above the 36° 30' line of latitude only in Missouri.
But something happened in 1848 that ended the ability to compromise: The United States and Mexico negotiated an end to their recent war (1846–1848).
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred a huge parcel of western land to the United States. It stretched from Texas to the West Coast, including land that would later become the states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and much of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The land had been a possession of either Spain or Mexico until 1848, and so it had not been included in the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
This story is from the November/December 2016 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the November/December 2016 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Putting the Pieces Together
Americans needed to begin to put the past behind them, come together, and plan for the future in the spring of 1865. But Abraham Lincoln, the man best equipped to lead them and who had hoped to restore the country as smoothly and peacefully as possible, had been assassinated.
LAST SHOTS
The last Confederate forces in the Civil War didn’t surrender in the spring of 1865 or on a battlefield.
AND IN OTHER 1865 NEWS
A group of African Americans stop at the White House’s annual public reception on January 1, where they shake hands with President Abraham Lincoln.
A Plot to Kill President the
For several months, actor John Wilkes Booth’s band of conspirators had plotted to capture President Abraham Lincoln and hold him hostage in exchange for Confederate prisoners.
Let the Thing Be Pressed
In June 1864, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant began a nearly 10-month campaign in Virginia.
HEALING THE NATION
President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time on March 4, 1865.
A Helping Hand
The spring season is hard in any agricultural society. Plants and animals are too small to eat.
WAR SHERMAN-STYLE
As far as Union Major General William T. Sherman was concerned, the Civil War had gone on long enough.
PEACE TALKS
The fall of Fort Fisher made clear that the Confederacy’s days were numbered. Southerners were tired and hungry.
FORT FISHER'S FALL
Outnumbered Confederate soldiers inside Fort Fisher were unable to withstand the approach of Union troops by land and the constant Union naval bombardment from the sea.
