Strategic Objective of Northern and Southern Interests from 1830 to 1862

Strategic Objective of Northern and Southern Interests from 1830 to 1862
From 1830 to 1862, there were major differences in the strategic objectives of Northerners and Southerners.   Before the war, the objectives of Northern Whigs, Republicans, and Southern Democrats varied from the objectives of the Union and the Confederacy in the first two years of the war itself.   As the war began to materialize and fighting began, one can say that the overall objectives of each side started to change.  
Established in 1834, the Whig party began as a reaction to the policies of President Andrew Jackson.   Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were the luminaries of the Whig party.   After the Mexican American War, America acquired a vast new territory.   But the nation was undecided with what to do with this territory, should it contain free labor, slave labor, or should the new territories choose for themselves?   Clay, Webber, and other members of congress came up with a compromise that would deal with that question.   On January 29, 1850 the compromise was proposed.   Territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery (with the decision made by its inhabitants).   The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted. Finally, California would be admitted as a free state (The Compromise).   After the death of Clay and Webster, the Whig Party began to unravel.   It was torn into two directions by the issue of slavery; with Southern Whigs turning into Southern Democrats and Northern Whigs forming the Republican Party.   “Conscience Whigs” in the North favored the abolition of slavery and halting the institutions spread into new territories, while the “Cotton Whigs” of the South believed in the opposite (The Whig Party).  
Prior to the war, the new Republican Party was identified with a set of beliefs and principles known as the free labor ideology (Green, pg. 108).   They stressed the...