Assess the significance of the influence of internal migration on social and political tensions within the USA in the period 1815-1917.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, brought forward by Douglas, in the name of democracy, was a turning point in tensions as they seeped out of politics and, like a virus, spread into society. Both North and South occupants swept into Kansas to take part in the voting to determine the territory’s slave status, bringing about violent hatred, known as ‘Bleeding Kansas’. ‘The Border Ruffians were widely applauded in the South... In the North the murders committed by Brown and his followers were ignored by most and lauded by a few.’  These events were symbolic of what would soon occur across America as shortly after ‘Bleeding Kansas’, the country would suffer the same gruesome fate as Kansas had when civil violence broke out across the country. Moreover, the Bill which was supposed to help withhold unity instead greatly angered Northerners, creating ‘a hell of a storm’. In fact many believe that ‘No single act of slave power ever spread greater consternation, produced more lasting results upon the popular mind, or did so much to arouse the North.’ The Bill confirmed Northern fears of ‘slave power’. These fears heavily swayed the political parties, which became sectionalist rather than idealistic. From this emerged the Republican Party who, in a shock result won the 1856 elections which was a turning point in American politics as it showed that a party can, ‘....win an election without winning any votes in the South at all’. The rise of the Republican Party was a consequence of both the Kansas-Nebraska act and Northern fears of the growing power of the slavery movement, both which were caused by the unavoidable need for America to expand due to the high rates of internal migration.

The most dramatic moment in the country’s history is, without question, the American Civil War which ‘proved bloodier than any other conflict in American history’. This was due to friction between the North and the South reaching the point where there was no other foreseeable option other than bloody warfare. This came after Secession of the South where states such as South Carolina declared “that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the ‘United States of America’ is hereby dissolved.” The end result of the war would see the abolition of slavery after a Northern victory. The Civil War was influenced by internal migration both directly and indirectly. Directly, as the migration of slaves into the Northern states affected the outcome of the war due to them joining the fight on the side of the North to crush the men they once called their masters. Indirectly, as internal migration was at the root of every tension, due to the American ideal of expansion which plagued the country and caused constant political and social tensions which inevitably led to the Civil War. Lincoln may not have been influenced by the freedom of slavery as much as he was by the saviour of the Union, but once slaves began to fight for his cause he could no longer ignore them and was forced to take on their cause as a means of both strengthening the Union and weakening the confederacy. The American Civil War was the largest political and social tension in the country’s history and was a clear indicator of the tensions that had built up across America, as states were formed due internal migration. Furthermore, the Emancipation Proclamation highlighted the significance of internal migration as it would not have been brought forward had it not been for the issue of internal migration.

Post Civil War saw the victory of the North and, as a result, the changing of the Union. After the Civil War was the period of Reconstruction which in many ways was undermined by the treatment of the African Americans in the Southern states who, despite no longer being allowed to keep slaves by law, still found ways to keep African Americans as slaves in every way but title. Many Southerner still believed that ‘there is absolutely no place...for the arrogant, aggressive, school-spoilt Afro American who wants to live without manual labour...’ Although African Americans had succeeded in shredding their title of slave many of them failed to earn their freedom due to the sharecropping system. ‘Sharecropping reflected the power and ownership whites wielded over black people in spite of the Emancipation Proclamation.’ This is another example of internal migration causing social tensions, only in this case it was the inability of slaves to migrate that caused the tension. The troubles that slaves faced post Civil War shows the reality of slavery and showed that a Civil War was not enough to destroy the monster that was enslavement.

The rapid westward expansion alongside the Emancipation Proclamation drew attention to the weakness of the federal government as they had failed to respond to social tensions between Native Americans and White Settlers. During the reconstruction period of America, many government officials agreed with the view that the Indians did not deserve negotiations, ‘this idea that a handful of wild, sovereign attributes of nations, enter into solemn treaties... is unsuited to the intelligence and justice of this age, or the natural rights of mankind.’ The attempts of the Federal government to control the Indians highlighted their weaknesses, as treaties such as ‘the Treaty of 1868’, made with Sioux, which was meant to last ‘as long as the grass should grow and the rivers flow,’ lasted just 6 years afterwards. The political tensions created in addressing the problem of the Native American’s exposed divisions within Congress and differed ideals about the expansion Westwards in the name of Manifests Destiny. Congressmen became divided over the idea of freedom to prosper and the ‘American Dream’ to expand across the land. In the end expansion prevailed and the Indian Wars soon followed, ‘the Indian Wars on the Great Plains were a very sad testament to the price of westward expansion...’ The actions of the Federal Government emphasised both the political and social problems that had been created by the ideal of Manifest Destiny, that expansion westward far outweighed any moral obligation for those who opposed this American ideal. The expansion westward was, undeniably, a factor created by internal migration. Once again showing the great significance internal migration had upon shaping America, both politically and socially. As people moved westward, into this new land, they took with them the same political and social tensions that were found throughout all of the country.

The settlement, expansion and formation of America was created upon internal migration, without this American history would be very different. It is natural that this internal migration would cause some sort of political and social tension. However, the extent of which these tensions reached were staggering. The Reconstruction period saw new political and social tensions arise. The continuous migration westward across America caused political tensions between North and South which soon became social tensions. After this internal migration continued to create rising tensions which soon lead to Civil War. The inability of African Americans, situated in the South, to migrate North continued to create tensions.  The continual migration westward resulted in the Indian Wars which again created great Social and Political tensions. As America continued to expand so too did social and political tensions which had internal migration at the root of nearly all these problems. It is, therefore, fair to say that internal migration had a hugely significant effect on social and political tensions.