Why did westward expansion into California influence the Civil War? Provide 3 examples, drawn from the reading (or primary source), to answer the question.

1. Include a shortened version of your answer to the question in your first paragraph (this is a ‘thesis’)
2. Conclude by re-stating your argument.
3. Don’t forget to cite in the following way: 
   1. (lecture)
   2. (textbook, XX)
   3. (McPherson, XX)
   4. (Burnett)

1. Argument is right up front on page 15 (the first page of the pdf): 
   1. “In a striking example of unintended consequences, the issue of slavery in this new American territory (what the US won from Mexico during the Mexican-American War) set in motion a series of events that would produce a bigger war fifteen years later that nearly tore apart the United States.” (McPherson, 15)
2. Polk – 11^th US President, mentioned in the lecture
3. Natural Limits Thesis – a group of historians who argued that slavery would NOT expand west due to climate, and therefore anti-slavery politicians (like Abraham Lincoln) had no reason to fear slavery’s growth, making the Civil War an entirely avoidable conflict
4. ‘peculiar institution’ – a euphemism for slavery that southerners used to avoid talking about slavery and the social system that went along with it
5. Leonard L. Richards – an historian of California who discovered how much slavery shaped the history of early California

Dont use any other source besides the three on the botton.