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Expansion of slavery impact on colonial america
What were the causes of the civil war
What were the causes of the civil war
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There are a number of reasons why the Civil War took place in history, if you were to ask most people why they would most likely say something like " The civil war was fought to end slavery across America" and they would be right, but the civil war is like an iceberg meaning that you're only know what's on the surface of the but you haven't seen what's hidden underneath the water. And the civil war is one massive iceberg underneath the water. There are a lot of issues that contributed to the war between the North and South, but what made both groups reach a boiling point was the westward expansion of America. In this essay I'm going to focus on a few topics and events surrounding the Civil War like the the act of Sectionalism, Western Expansion …show more content…
,the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, "Bloody Kansas", John Brown and why this ultimately caused the Civil War. Sectionalism in 1800s America refers to the different lifestyles, social structures, customs, and political values of the North, South, and West.
It increased steadily in 1800–1850 as the North industrialized, urbanized and built prosperous factories, while the Deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labor, together with subsistence farming for poor whites who owned no slaves. Southerners defended slavery in part by claiming that Northern factory workers toiled under worse conditions and were not cared for by their employers. Also, I will be explaining what the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was. In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both …show more content…
territories. After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed to Kansas, each side hoping to determine the results of the first election held after the law went into effect. The conflict turned violent, aggravating the split between North and South until reconciliation was virtually impossible. Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped found the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of slavery into the territories. As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the United States moved closer to Civil War. This cause a great uproar between the two groups, and later conflict between them, one conflict that is widely talked about is “Bloody Kansas”. Here’s some additional information about Bloody Kansas. Bloody Kansas also known as Bleeding Kansas was the name used to frame this violent period of time in American history. The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of Latitued for the line that decides what is and is not a slave state. With the use of popular sovereignty , it made it so that the people decided on what would become a free or slave state. People from both sides flocked to Kansas hoping to swing the vote in their favor. With large amounts of people on both sides with passionate opinions about slavery all in one place soon erupted into violence against each other. One name to remember is the famous Abolitionist by the name of John Brown. He led anti-slavery fighters into battle in Kansas against Pro-Slavery forces prior to his great raid on Hapers Ferry. Said to have been coined by Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, the label “Bleeding Kansas” was first fixed on that strife-ridden territory by antislavery publicists. The opening of the Kansas and Nebraska territories in 1854 under the principle of popular sovereignty provoked a protracted political crisis in both Kansas and the nation at large. Rival governments had been established in Kansas by late 1855, one backed by proslavery Missourians, the other by antislavery groups. Although the Pierce and Buchanan administrations recognized the former, Republicans as well as a number of northern Democrats deemed it a fraud imposed by Missouri “border ruffians.” Civil conflict in Kansas accompanied the political polarization. The volatility to be expected of a frontier area was compounded by the activities of parties interested in the slavery issue–both the Missourians and the northerners who reputedly shipped free-state settlers and armaments to the region.” There were a lot of radical groups on both sides in kansas but the most widely celebrated or hated depending what said you were on was John Brown.
Some believe that he was a extremist or a terrorist to this country, others celebrate him and ghis actions to abolish slavery in the U.S. in the conflicts in Kansas, John Brown and his children laed attacks on pro-slavery citizens in Kansas . he would use the word of god to justify his actions to everyone, he became a martyr to northern abolitionists and used his growing reputation to create a small militia By 1858 he had a small army of men who were down for his cause , and their sole purpose was to create a rebellion among the slaves . So in 1859, he and his men attacked the federal armory in hopes of supplying the slaves with weapons to help aid in their rebellion.Brown was captured during the raid and later hanged, but not before becoming an anti-slavery icon. In 1855, after assisting the escape of several slaves, Brown and his five sons moved to Kansas just after that territory had been opened for the possible expansion of slavery by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Joining the struggle there between proslavery and Free-Soil settlers, Brown appointed himself “captain” of the antislavery forces on Osawatomie Creek. (The struggle arose out of a long-standing disagreement between North and South over slavery’s expansion that had its roots in the framing of the Constitution.) When proslavery forces sacked the “free state” town of
Lawrence, guerrilla warfare ensued. The success of the proslavery guerrillas inspired Brown, with four of his sons and two other accomplices, to murder five reputedly proslavery settlers who lived along Pottawottamie Creek known as the “Pottawatomie Massacre”. In retaliation for the “sack” of the free-state town of Lawrence on May 21, 1856, the abolitionist John Brown led a brutal attack on a pro-slavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek on the night of May 24. This was an example of the kind of violence that alienated even his anti-slavery supporters. Brown and six followers killed five men, hacking at them with broadswords and cutting their throats before shooting them. Mahala Doyle, the wife and mother of three of Brown’s victims, expressed her bitterness and pain in this letter to John Brown. She sent it to him in November 1859 as he awaited execution after the Harpers Ferry raid. Justifying his action as obedience to the will of a just God, Brown soon became a hero in the eyes of northern extremists and was quick to capitalize on his growing reputation. By early 1858 he had succeeded in enlisting a small “army” of insurrectionists, including three of his sons, whose mission was to foment rebellion among the slaves known. With westward expansion, the question arose as to how these new territories/states would lean--slave or free. The north feared that the addition of slave states to the union would tilt the balance of power in the House and Senate, since such a state would send new representative/senators to Congress. The south feared the same thing--thinking that a tilt against slavery would be forced on the south. Of course, the sincere feelings about abolition and slavery, as well as the extremists on both sides like John Brown (Northern Abolitionist) of the issue that used the press to harshly condemn the other side, exacerbated it all. The violence in these territories as southerners and northerners used terror tactics to try to gain control of the territories, certainly did nothing to help either. Certainly slavery itself played a role. But until the westward expansion, there was some degree of balance. In fact, had America not expanded westward and the related questions arisen, it may be that there would not have been a civil war (at least over slavery). But the extremists on both sides fanned the flames, wanting a showdown on the matter and that's what they finally got. I hope we will all keep in mind that extremists always have the loudest voices, but that their refusal to compromise or be patient, can fan the flames out of control.
Analysis of The Shattering of The Union by Eric H. Walther In Eric H. Walther’s, “The Shattering of The Union”, the question of the Kansas Nebraska Act came along during 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported. On March 4, 1854, the Senate approved The Kansas-Nebraska Act with only two southerners and four northerners voting against it. On May 22, the House of Representatives approved it and by May 30, 1854, The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.
John Brown was a man who lived in the mid eighteen-hundreds and who fought against the evil of slavery. He had a very strong belief that slavery was unjust, and this is true, but he thought that in order to abolish slavery, violence would be the best method. That’s where he went wrong. John Brown led two attacks on slave owners and those who supported slavery, the first at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas on May 24th, 1856, and the second at Harper Ferry, Virginia on October 16th, 1859. At Pottawatomie Creek, joined by seven others, Brown brutally hacked to death five men with sabers. These men supported slavery but weren’t even slave owners themselves. On October 16th, 1859, Brown led 21 men on another raid on Harpers Ferry attempting to take possession of the U.S. arsenal and use the weapons in a revolt against slave owners, gathering up an army of slaves as he made his way south. Brown’s attacks were not in self-defense, they were heinous acts of revenge upon slave owners, and therefore his attack had no justification.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was one of the first events that demonstrated Lincoln’s disapproval yet tolerance for slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, proposed by Stephen A. Douglas and signed by Franklin Pierce, divided the region into two territories. The territory north of the 40th parallel was the Kansas Territory and the south of the 40th parallel was the Nebraska Territory, the controv...
On April 12, 1861, Abraham Lincoln declared to the South that, the only reason that separate the country is the idea of slavery, if people could solve that problem then there will be no war. Was that the main reason that started the Civil war? or it was just a small goal that hides the real big reason to start the war behind it. Yet, until this day, people are still debating whether slavery is the main reason of the Civil war. However, there are a lot of facts that help to state the fact that slavery was the main reason of the war. These evidences can relate to many things in history, but they all connect to the idea of slavery.
The American Civil War was caused because of the North and South differences in economies, disagreements about abolishing slavery and whether the state or federal government had more power. These three factors played a key role in America's deadliest war. Understanding the causes of the Civil War is important because the war was one of the most important events in our nation's history. After the Civil War all men were truly created equal, it reunited the country as one, and redefined what it meant to be an
This reputation was greatly enhanced when Brown and his sons led a brutal mission against the proslavery population, which resulted in five innocent proslavery settlers being mutilated and murdered. After staying in Kansas for a while longer, Brown returned to the North where he gave many speeches and fund raising meetings based on the abolishment of slavery.
In 1856 the same group attacked the Kansas territory where Brown and his family resided, which much like anyone would he saw as a threat and attacked in revenge killing 5 pro-slavery activists. Not much later the activists retaliated killing Browns son (Utter 1883). Brown and a group of men planned to go to Harpers Ferry, Virginia and seize the U.S arsenal. His plan was funded by various wealthy northern abolitionists and on October 16, 1859 his plan started to come into action. After the two-day battle back and forth between Browns men and the U.S Marines, seventeen people had died and Brown was arrested and put to trial, which led to the jury decision on November 2, 1859 for him to be hanged for murder and treason. Brown was from there on known as the first white man to die for an Africans freedom. He was called an abolitionist martyr for the sake of freedom. Browns deep roots of religion are one of the most obvious reasons for his actions. Slavery was an unjust system taking away basic God given rights of life, liberty, and happiness. Being a follower of Christ means that you devote yourself to teaching and living by Gods design, so when he was taught that this action was against the God he so loved how could he stand for it? When he was brought up under religion and firm discipline of course he would see it as unjust when he was exposed to the white
John Brown was an American abolitionist, born in Connecticut and raised in Ohio. He felt passionately and violently that he must personally fight to end slavery. This greatly increased tension between North and South. Northern mourned him as a martyr and southern believed he got what he deserved and they were appalled by the north's support of Brown. In 1856, in retaliation for the sack of Lawrence, he led the murder of five proslavery men on the banks of the Pottawatomie River. He stated that he was an instrument in the hand of God. On October 16, 1859, he led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured. Brown was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859. He became a martyr for many because of the dignity and sincerity that he displayed during his popular trial. Before he was hanged he gave a speech which was his final address to the court that convicted him. And he was thankful to Bob Butler for letting him send that text in electronic form. "This court acknowledges, too, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed, which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to the instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done, in behalf of his despised poor, I did not wrong but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingles my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done." (http://members.
Throughout the years, many people have been taught that the reason the Civil War happened, was to abolish slavery all through the United States. Although that is true, there were more reasons why the Civil War occurred.Referencing will be done on different articles and writers to support the findings of the authors. The article “Slavery, the Constitutional, and the Origins of the Civil War” by Paul Finkelman, discusses about the North (union) and the South (confederacy) and the disagreement of the territories following the constitutional laws regarding slavery, the article explores both sides of the territories and their beliefs of how the situation of slavery should have been dealt with. The article “The Economic Origins of the Civil War” by Marc Egnal, discusses the North’s (union) and the South’s (confederacy) economic situation that could have pushed the two territories to engage in war with one another. Finally, the last article “Politics, Ideology, and the Origins of the American Civil War” by Eric Foner, focuses on the Norths (union) and Souths (confederacy) views on politics and ideas of how each territory is ran and how they have affected the North and the South. These historians supplied specific and different explanations that explained what exactly caused the United States to enter into a Civil War. With the information provided by the authors, the evidence will lead us to the answer of what caused the Civil War.
Context: This past semester we studied the Civil War. Neither side anticipated the war would last long and both sides assumed they would win. The result of this conflict was 620,000 American men lost their lives.
...e Massacre, hatched a plan designed to create an uprising of slaves against their masters. Brown led twenty men, and took over an arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown failed to spread the word of his plan to the slave population, and the siege turned into a standoff. Eventually, half of Browns men were killed, and Brown with the rest of his group were captured. Brown was quickly tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for treason. Despite the colossal failure of his plan, Brown helped his cause when by becoming a martyr in the abolitionist movement.
There were many Amendments and laws that were passed by the many presidents. Even after the Revolutionary War, there were still many laws that were made, some being why the Civil War started. Most republicans were against slavery, thats one of the reasons the Civil War started, which put pressure on President Lincoln to either be against slavery, or to be with it. By the summer of 1862, it was clear that if he did not act against slavery, he risked alienating the Republicans. The War was going badly for the Union, and after having a couple victories in early 1862, the Northern armies suffered terribly in July and August. Many Northerners thought that if Lincoln passed an Emancipation Proclamation, it would weaken the Confederacy and strengthen the Union by taking away the Southern's labor force and adding manpower to the Northern side. Even thought Congress enacted two laws for the president, Lincoln already had decided on something else, a proclamation that made him commander in chief of freeing all slaves that were against the Union. Lincoln thought that if they took away the South's military power, then they could strike them at the heart of the rebellion. Instead of enacting the proclamation then, the Secretary of State
The Civil War lasted 5 years, took 600,000 lives and yet there exists doubt in what is the main reason behind it. I myself feel that the major issue that triggered the war was slavery, which for the South threatened economy. I am going to discuss how issues of slavery existed before the war, how it was in the minds of soldiers during the war, and then still existed after the war.
After thoroughly assessing past readings and additional research on the Civil War between the North and South, it was quite apparent that the war was inevitable. Opposed views on this would have probably argued that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War. Therefore suggesting it could have been avoided if a resolution was reached on the issue of slavery. Although there is accuracy in stating slavery led to the war, it wasn’t the only factor. Along with slavery, political issues with territorial expansion, there were also economic and social differences between North and South. These differences, being more than just one or two, gradually led to a war that was bound to happened one way or another.
In the days of the American Revolution and of the adoption of the Constitution, differences between North and South were dwarfed by their common interest in establishing a new nation. But sectionalism steadily grew stronger. During the 19th century the South remained almost completely agricultural, with an economy and a social order largely founded on slavery and the plantation system. These mutually dependent institutions produced the staples, especially cotton, from which the South derived its wealth. The North had its own great agricultural resources, was always more advanced commercially, and was also expanding industrially.