A House Divided

Slavery and its expansion had been a core political and moral debate in the United States since the nations' founding. Westward expansion and conflicts over whether new territories would become slave or free brought these issues to a head. The expansion of slavery threatened to upset the economic and political balance of power between the regions of the country. Despite attempted compromises in Congress, slavery kept reemerging as a violent problem throughout the nineteenth century. Also at stake were core conflicts over the role of the federal versus state governments.