Territorial Acquisition

The acquisition of new territories for the United States was beneficial due to the positive economic consequences it brought, yet left a negative impact through political tension between the North and the South. Economic growth was largely a result of immigrants who mostly came from Europe seeking new land bought after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, freedom, and opportunity. From the inspiration of former immigrants mailing promising letters home, foreigners began to work in such places as mills in order to raise enough money to fulfill the desire to expand; this in turn increased productivity and prosperity within the U.S. economy, which was a beneficial consequence brought on by the acquisition of territory. However, political tension resulted from expansion as well, mostly from the growing internal conflicts of slavery and the division of the North and the South. Sectional tensions were revealed in 1819 and 1820 during the dispute of the Missouri Compromise, where Missouri was admitted as a slave state as a trial to maintain sectional balance. After this, uneasiness between both sections grew both politically and socially, affecting presidential elections and raising tension until the disbandment of the Union and the beginning of the Civil War. Overall, the acquisition of new territories for the United States both helped and hurt the nation, through the mix of economic prosperity and the bitterness resulting from the tension brought by slavery between the North and the South.