Messenger of the Lord

Political Environment

Perhaps no two decades in the nineteenth century saw more rapid growth and momentous events than the 1830s and 1840s. The United States became united from coast to coast. During these two decades seven States joined the union, with California, in 1850, becoming the thirty-first. War with Mexico ended with large territorial annexations. The population of the United States soared from about 5 million in 1800 to more than 20 million in 1850. MOL 46.2

Increasing waves of immigrants changed the texture of cities, from a “tiny trickle of 150,000 immigrants in the 1820s ... to a powerful stream of two and one-half million in the 1850s.” Though they brought “vigor and variety,” they also aroused “fear, suspicion, and hostility.” Roman Catholics from Ireland, Italy, and other European countries were especially resented because their sheer numbers flooded the market with cheap labor; in addition, their religious homogeneity threatened the previous uniformity of a Protestant America. ¹² MOL 46.3

Race relations, though a social phenomenon, affected many of the political issues even in States “free” from slavery. The slavery issue escalated inexorably through the first half of the nineteenth century, culminating in a polarized nation and the Civil War that shook and drained the Union. As the young country lurched toward its dark night of civil conflict, many white abolitionists risked their lives, speaking out against slavery and for its immediate elimination. ¹³ MOL 46.4