The Mexican American war lasted from 1846 to 1848. After America’s victory, it received a sizable piece of land known as the Mexican cession. Being left with new land demanded an answer to the old question “should this land be a free or slave state?” This question was always answered but came with violent conflict revolving around race issues. The compromise of 1820, the Wilmot proviso, and the Kansas-Nebraska act prove that the Mexican American war was not a turning point in the debate over slavery due to the continued violence that came with it.
In 1820, the Missouri compromise was passed and led to the civil war over the sectional debate over slavery. This compromise allowed Maine to become a free state and Missouri a slave state, and prohibited slavery north of the 36th parallel. This created a sharp political divide between the north and the south. Because of the sectional issues, people started fighting and hating each other, resulting in the civil war.…show more content… Because the 36th parallel would cut through states, the question could not be readily answered with the Missouri compromise. One man, David Wilmot wrote a proposition called the Wilmot proviso. This stated that the Mexican cession would be free land, and slavery would be prohibited. The house passed this multiple times, but the senate could never get a majority. Instead, the compromise of 1850 was passed which stated that California would enter as a free state while Utah and New Mexico could decide on the issue based on popular sovereignty. This again created conflict between people who were pro-slavery and anti-slavery, proving that even after the war, the slavery debate was still the
