Which of the following factors best explains the territorial expansion of slavery in the middle of the nineteenth century?

Question: Which of the following factors best explains the territorial expansion of slavery in the middle of the nineteenth century?

This is a question that has been debated by historians for a long time, and there is no simple or definitive answer. However, some of the most important factors that contributed to the spread of slavery across the American South and West were:

- The economic demand for cotton and other cash crops that required intensive labor and large plantations. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made cotton production more profitable and increased the demand for slave labor.

- The political balance between slave and free states in the federal government. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 were attempts to maintain an equal number of senators from each region, but they also opened up new territories for slavery or popular sovereignty (the right of settlers to decide whether to allow slavery or not).

- The ideological and cultural differences between the North and the South over slavery, states' rights, tariffs, and other issues. The abolitionist movement in the North challenged the morality and legality of slavery, while the pro-slavery faction in the South defended it as a positive good and a constitutional right. The growing sectionalism and polarization led to conflicts such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

- The expansionist ambitions of some Southern leaders who wanted to create a slave empire in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) resulted in the acquisition of vast territories in the Southwest, where slavery was controversial and contested. The Ostend Manifesto of 1854 proposed to annex Cuba as a slave state, but it was rejected by the Northern public opinion.

These factors, among others, created a complex and dynamic situation that fueled the territorial expansion of slavery in the middle of the nineteenth century. They also set the stage for the Civil War that erupted in 1861, when eleven Southern states seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery.

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