Western Expansion - A Call to War

Yesterday I gave the time line for some of the causes of the War, based on a paper Mrs. John Napier wrote and am continung with this line of thinking.

She says Western Expansion was one of the major causes of the War Between the States, not only because of the creation of new states and whether they would be slave or free, but the growth of transportation it required for people and goods.

Before the war, transportation of Western goods ran north to south, primarily by rivers, to New Orleans. Ironically, it was Jefferson Davis, when he was Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, who authorized the siting of future railroads westward.

As a result, the West became an ally to the North, though the great surge of railroad building did not take place until after the War. Next, I will address the Time Line of Slavery from Mrs. Napier's paper.