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On The Brink Of The Civil War

Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories contributed to the coming of he Civil War. Confine your answer to the period 1845-1861

  The Civil War was one of the defining events in American history, and the antebellum years of the 1840s and 1850s were filled with turmoil and occasional bloodshed. The expansion of slavery into newly-acquired western territories exacerbated the already delicate political situation, increasing the sectional tensions between the North and South. The South viewed slavery as essential to their traditional way of life, but many in the North were staunchly opposed to its spread. Several key events from 1845-1861 threw these regional differences to the forefront of national politics, eventually leading to the seemingly inevitable American Civil War.