the Mexican war was a war between the US and Mexico. the US wanted to gain territories in the southwest and in 1846 they declared war on Mexico.
Fugitive Slave Act passed | any citizen could be rounded up and forced to catch a suspected runaway slave |
after winning the war, the US nearly doubled in size | slave owners wanted it to be slave territory, the north wanted it to be free, southerners thought that their industry would thrive whereas the northerners saw it as a conspiracy to build a slave empire |