How a Forgotten Border Dispute in New Mexico Nearly Sparked the Civil War

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 737 Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, most people know the Civil War began at Fort Sumter in 1861. Few remember how close it came to starting a decade earlier in New Mexico. In 1850, America stood at a breaking point. The war with Mexico had added vast new lands to the United States, and every mile of that territory brought the same question: would slavery spread west? As tensions rose, Texas laid claim to much of what is now New Mexico, and both sides began to talk about raising armies. For a brief moment, it looked as though the first shots of the Civil War would ring out in the desert.

Gettysburg National Park Service Ranger Matt Atkinson explains how the Compromise of 1850, a fragile agreement over slavery, land, and power, held the Union together when the country was ready to break.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.6	Guaranteed Human.
0:14.1	This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,
0:18.1	the show where America is the star and the American people. And to search for
0:22.7	the Our American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. You've
0:30.0	probably learned about the compromise of 1850 in history class, but it was almost certainly
0:35.4	glossed over in favor of the Civil War, which came a mere
0:39.2	10 years later. We think that's unfortunate because the story behind how the compromise came to be
0:45.4	does a lot about the state of America at that time. Here to tell the story is Gettysburg
0:51.1	National Park Service Ranger John Hoptack. Take it away, John.
0:56.0	Well, after years and years of tension, the American Civil War began in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1:05.0	In the summer of 1850, when Texas State Forces overran and attacked U.S. infantry posted there under Colonel John Monroe.
1:15.6	Did anyone guess that?
1:17.6	Good. Good. Of course you know this is not true.
1:22.6	But, but it very nearly was the case.
1:28.3	This civil war almost began 11 years before Fort Sumter.
1:33.3	And if it did begin then, the most likely place was Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1:38.3	In 1850, the nation was at the edge of disunion.
1:43.3	And the issue that was tearing the country apart was slavery.
1:48.0	There were 30 states in the country in 1850, and about 23 million people.
1:54.0	Of those 23 million people, approximately 3.2 million, were enslaved.
1:59.0	The United States had also just trounced its neighbor to the south, Mexico.
	...

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