To what extent did Northern and Southern perceptions of each other, issues of slavery, territorial expansion, and the

Mexican War lead to war between the North and the South?

Over the course of being united as a single, independent country, and even before that, the North and South had regarded each other with suspicion, but being geographically tied and of the same heritage, found no reason to separate. Divisions, however, on slavery, expansion, and the Mexican War brought tensions to the forefront and significantly helped to create a war between the competitive regions. While the South had always been an agriculturally based economy, the North had found industry better suited to its rocky soil, and as such, slavery was much more prevalent in the South than the North. Northerners view slavery as diabolical, and kept negative feeling for Southerners because of their support for such a peculiar institution. Southerners, who had been raised with, and never questioned its refutability, were peeved at Northerners lack of compassion, as they lived in different areas, and thus should be allowed different systems. Southerners argues that factories exploited workers just as much as slavery did. They were also bothered by Northerners lack of respect for their property with the repeated steal of slaves and transportation of them via the Underground Railroad. Although hotly contested for many years, slavery was a question that was never asked directly, as it was deemed too explosive. Instead, it was a major driving force behind politics for the middle third of the 19th century. Territorial expansion was a major goal for both North and South, with competing interests. The North wished to open the land to westward farmers, who would help upset a balance in the Senate by creating more free-states while southern states wish the opposite, new land to grow cotton in, expand slavery, and maintain equal or better footing in Senate.

The aftermath of the Mexican War was also a hotbed of contention. The South was happy to annex the territory, as it had been competing with Texas for cheap cotton, and wanted territories, such as Texas to practice popular sovereignty in hopes of creating slave states. The North, however, objectionably saw the War as unconstitutional, and was upset by this, but after the War was won, they wished to see the territories listed as free to further control of the Senate. Because of gradual differences that eventually convinced the North and South that they could not reconcile their differences without the abomination of their own culture, a civil war was fought to determine which region had a stronger system.