"Manifest Destiny" and Slavery

Manifest Destiny in combination with the slavery issue greatly contributed to secession and Civil War. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the US was chosen by God to populate the Americas. The 1800s were a time of expansion but every time the US gained land they had to deal with the issue of slavery. Some believed the US should deal with the new lands by making them slave states, free states, or by the idea of popular sovereignty. The main factor that contributed to sectionalism and the split of the US was that a republican northerner was elected as president. …