Can someone help/show me how to fix this question? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Question~
6) Choose one of the land acquisitions in the lesson and describe how it was added to the United States. You must include why and how we obtained the land. Discuss the impact on individualism and sectionalism.
My Answer~
We got the Louisiana Purchase from France because Napoleon was in debt from the French revolution, he was trying to get money so he was willing to sell all of this land for very cheap. Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase. He did have some trouble with this because he was a strict constructionist so if it wasn’t in the constitution he didn’t do it and the constitution didn’t say anything about buying land, but he does purchase this land because he thinks this will be good for the country. We needed this land because it secured control of the Mississippi River as a highway to ship goods all the way down to the port of New Orleans and we didn’t have to pay other countries for passage. Purchasing this land also brought money into the government because we would sell the land to people. This purchase increased the idea of American pioneer and willing to face new challenges. The purchase ensured that democracy would spread through this land, and it also dropped the land requirements for voting so all white males could vote and African Americans who owned property could vote.
My teachers response~
You are missing one key piece of information in question 6. Sectionalism, this has to do with slavery. This is going to be the main focus of the next couple of lessons and spreading westward sets the stage for the civil war.
your grammar is a little questionable, first of all. But for content, your teacher is right. Would the new land be open for slavery or not? That question was not resolved with the Louisiana Purchase, leading to disputes in the following decades over whether or not new territories and states created from the Purchase would be slave or free.
Also, double check about voting rights associated with the treaty/purchase. I'm not sure the treaty addressed voting rights, but I may be wrong.
Ok, thank you so much!!
To address your teacher's feedback and include information about sectionalism and its impact on the acquisition of land, you can revise your answer as follows:
To illustrate the impact of one of the land acquisitions on individualism and sectionalism, let's consider the acquisition of Texas. The Texas Annexation, which added Texas to the United States, had significant implications in terms of slavery and sectionalism.
First, it's essential to understand that Texas was initially an independent republic after gaining independence from Mexico in 1836. It sought admission to the United States, primarily due to economic and security concerns.
At the time, slavery was a crucial issue in the United States, with tensions between proponents and opponents of slavery. The addition of Texas as a slave state would provide more political power to slave-holding states, potentially upsetting the balance between free and slave states in Congress.
In 1845, Texas was officially annexed and became a state. Its admission resulted in sectional tensions and, ultimately, played a significant role in the events leading up to the Civil War.
The annexation of Texas fueled sectionalism, as it deepened the divide between the North and the South regarding the issue of slavery. The North opposed the expansion of slavery, viewing it as a violation of basic human rights. In contrast, the South saw the expansion as necessary to maintain their economic and social systems.
Furthermore, the acquisition of Texas heightened the debate over the extension of slavery into newly acquired territories. This debate led to the Compromise of 1850, which attempted to resolve the sectional tensions arising from the Mexican-American War and the acquisition of additional territories.
In summary, the addition of Texas through the Texas Annexation had a profound impact on sectionalism and the advancement of individualism. It intensified the conflict over slavery, leading to further divisions between the North and the South and eventually contributing to the outbreak of the Civil War.