Both Northern and Southern publics maintained consistent support for the war, largely viewing expansion as a unifying national goal throughout the period.

Southerners became uniformly opposed to the war because it threatened their established slave economies, showing a reversal in pro‐slavery perspective.

Northerners increasingly criticized the war as a means to expand slave-holding territories, reflecting growing antislavery sentiments.

Public opinion did not change significantly during the war, with most viewing it solely as a conflict over disputed borders without any discussion of slavery.