For that half-disguised purpose they had been acquired at great
expense of blood and money. New States, it was hoped, might now be
created south of the line below which slavery flourished, balancing
those to be admitted from the growing Northwest. Thus far the
adventurous West had powerfully supported the South in its schemes
of conquest, but had no sympathy with slavery. The old North,
thought ready to submit to its continued existence in the States
where already established, was implacably hostile to its further
spread.

It was not a question of ethics or of sober statesmanship, but one
of practical politics, that divided the North and the South at this
period. Each hoped to secure for itself the alliance and sympathy
of the new States thereafter admitted. Each applied itself to the
task of shaping the Territories and moulding the future States to
serve its ulterior views.

When Congress attempted to organize territorial governments,
the people of the North insisted on the exclusion of slavery from
Oregon and the territory acquired from Mexico. The people of the
South made no resistance to its exclusion from Oregon. It was
already excluded by "the ordinance of Nature or the will of God."
But that the vast territory torn from Mexico, acquired by the common
blood and treasure, should now be closed to their institution, was
intolerable. To secure it they had sinned deep. After the conquest
their position was peculiarly awkward. The laws of Mexico excluding
slavery continued in force. Hence in all this territory slavery
was as effectually prohibited as in Massachusetts until Congress
could accomplish the odious work of introducing it by express
enactment. Calhoun strenuously argued the novel proposition that,