The tension between north & south also led to the establishment of the Pony Express along the "northern" route from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento & San Francisco in April 1860. A better southern "oxbow" route (that didn't have as much inclement weather & didn't have to begin crossing the Sierra at Genoa, NV) already existed from St. Louis to El Paso & on to California, but Congress saw a northern route as a strategy to ensure that California & its abundant gold stayed with the Union once the inevitable came.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

Civil War.

Before that, the United States was always discribed in plural- as in 'The United States are...'

After Appomattox it became a singular, as in 'The United States is...........'

The settling of the West was the main reason FOR the Civil War. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Missouri Compromise of 1821, the Oregon Territory settlement of the 1840s, the Mexican War in the later 1840s, the Mormon migration to Utah that began in 1847, the California Gold Rush that began in 1849, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859----these things provided the imbalance that led to the Civil War.

Of the most importance of those listed above, however, was the California Gold Rush. This was the LARGEST VOLUNTARY HUMAN MIGRATION IN RECORDED HISTORY! The new-found wealth had far-reaching & long-lasting effects which are still felt today.

This is why I stated earlier that just about any American historian worth a grain of salt would say there were two things that towered above all else in 19th century America:

1) the California gold rush
2) the Civil War

(not necessarily in that order, but one did follow the other. . .)

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

Of course, using that line of reason, then one would have to credit Eli Whitney, although his patent on the cotton gin (as in 'engine') missed the 19th Century by a mere 6 yrs.

Cause & effect.

Something woefully lost on this current administration.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

Point is, that without the cotton gin to remove the seeds from the short-staple cotton, 99% of the new lands in the Louisiana Purchase (of those lands used to grow cotton) would have been of very limited use to slaveholders, and the plantation system would not have flourished there.

The invention of the combustible engine seems of import also.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

Especially to Exxon.