The spoils of war in 1848, and a $15 million payment, meant that Mexico lost nearly half its territory. To some in the United States, Mexico had dumped its useless wasteland and the U.S. had been duped into paying for it. But to most, the acquisition of the Mexican territory was the culmination of Manifest Destiny--the fulfillment of the expansion across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that was ordained by God.
But did God intend for this territory to be slaveholding or free?
The Kansas-Nebraska Act said that it was up to the people to decide. But Lincoln completely disagreed that "popular sovereignty" should be allowed to crush the inalienable right to liberty that the Declaration of Independence promised to all men, regardless of color.
"'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided."
Read more about Lincoln's return to politics and his House Divided speech in an article I just posted to EverythingLincoln.com.
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