Analyzing how did western expansion contribute to changes in the United States leading up to the Civil War?

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Here is your solution: #(a)# ⚹ Western expansion in the United States, often referred to as Manifest Destiny, was a significant factor leading up to the Civil War. This concept held that it was the destiny of the United States to expand its territory across the entire North American continent. As Americans moved westward, the expansion raised critical questions about the extension of slavery into new territories and states. ⚹ #(b)# ⚹ The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an early example of attempts to manage this conflict. It allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining a balance in the Senate. The compromise also prohibited slavery north of the 36°30' parallel, excluding Missouri. However, as more territories were acquired and sought statehood, the question of whether they would permit slavery became increasingly contentious. ⚹ #(c)# ⚹ The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers in those territories to decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty, led to violent conflict in what became known as "Bleeding Kansas." This act effectively nullified the Missouri Compromise and heightened sectional tensions. ⚹ #(d)# ⚹ The Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in 1857 further inflamed tensions by ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. This decision emboldened pro-slavery advocates and outraged abolitionists and those who opposed the expansion of slavery. ⚹ #(e)# ⚹ The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who was seen as anti-slavery, was the final straw for many Southern states, leading to the secession of South Carolina and eventually other Southern states, forming the Confederate States of America and precipitating the Civil War. ⚹ ∻Answer∻ ⚹ Western expansion contributed to changes in the United States leading up to the Civil War by intensifying the debate over slavery, leading to a series of political compromises and conflicts that ultimately failed to resolve the issue, and by setting the stage for the election of Abraham Lincoln, which triggered the secession of Southern states. ⚹ ∻Key Concept∻ ⚹ Manifest Destiny and Western Expansion ⚹ ∻Explanation∻ ⚹ Western expansion under the banner of Manifest Destiny heightened the conflict over slavery in new territories, leading to political and social upheavals that contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. ⚹◊How did westward expansion impact the balance of power between free and slave states prior to the Civil War?⍭ Generate me a similar question◊

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