Chromolithograph depicting a cotton plantation on the water's edge and three African slaves who are picking and carrying cotton under the direction of a plantation owner or overseer. A page taken from Henry Lewis, Das Illustrierte Mississippithal [The Mississippi Valley Illustrated]. Southern States were supportive of the system of slavery established in the United States at this time and it is one of the contributing factors leading to the war between the U.S. and Mexico. As the U.S. pushed for the annexation of Texas territories (in which the Mexican government had abolished slavery in 1829 and had subsequently attempted to prevent more slave owners from entering these areas), influential slaveowners throughout Texas and the South contributed funds and equipment to the war effort in order to defend the slave system and gain more land in which to expand the presence of plantations.
