As a result of the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American war the United States gained a large swath of land, what is now the southwest. The Mexican army was soundly defeated by the American forces and their victory was greatly celebrated. However, almost immediately after the war heated debate began on whether or not to extend slavery into these newly acquired territories. These territories had the potential to upset the careful balance between slave states and free states. The country was fractured along both partisan and sectional lines. The resulting compromise of 1850 only managed to delay the crises for another decade. The American acquisition of the southwest not only re-ignited the debate on slavery; it made conflict over it almost inevitable.
