Chapter 26: Southerners Look for Slave Land Outside the U.S.

To hedge their bets against a Northern ban on slavery in the west, a Southern search gets underway to explore opportunities outside of the existing U.S. land.

One option is Cuba, still owned by Spain. Others include the newly formed republics in Central America freed by Simon Bolivar.

The most obvious, however, is the vast Mexican territory strung out across the Great Plains all the way to the west coast.