The Antebellum Period Essay

1097 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Causes of civil war dbq

The Antebellum period, which included the first half of the 19th century, saw a division in the United States over the issue of slavery and was the cause of sectional tensions throughout the country. For decades, the United States continued to fulfill its Manifest Destiny, achieving a nation that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. However, with this expansion came a division among the political, economic, and social views of the country. The North and South were split between those who advocated for slavery and those who wished to abolish slavery. The events that were caused by the sectional tensions among the North and South eventually led to a break in the Union, plunging the United States into a Civil War. Slavery was …show more content…

Even before expansion of the United States, slavery was an institution that many people advocated for, but was also being continuously …show more content…

This act allowed new territories to decide if they become a free state or a slave state based on a popular vote among the people in the territory. (Battlefield) People from both the North and South immediately moved to Kansas in hopes of tipping the vote in their direction. For five years there were outbreaks of violence that eventually led to the death of fifty-six people. This event along with the Compromise of 1850 caused a split in the Whig party as the Southern Whigs were drawn to the Democratic party and the Northerners along with anti-slavery advocates and became the Republican party. (UShistory.org) These new parties fostered more animosity between the North and the South and showed that even before the war started, the United States was already a divided

Show More
Related

  • Bleeding Kansas Pros And Cons

    251 Words  | 1 Pages

    To put it simply (as I recall and it's been years since I've had to read about this subject)a new territory was opened to settle in. It was decided that the settlers of these states would decide whether or not slavery would be permitted. This gave birth to the new Republican Party which opposed slavery. The Act was designed by Stephen A Douglas a Democratic senator from Illinois (the same who would later defeat a young Abraham Lincoln for the senate in 1858) and repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Thousands of settlers both pro and anti slavery rushed into Kansas particularly and bloody, murderous fights broke out among the groups hence the nickname "Bleeding Kansas". It was actually one territory but this Act divided it into two states.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Shattering of The Union by Eric H. Walther

    402 Words  | 1 Pages

    It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. Results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act were numerous and for the most part fatal to the country. The Act caused the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 to be virtually nullified, and caused compromising between the North and the South to be nearly impossible in the future.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism Versus Nationalism and the Era of Good Feelings

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States began to dissatisfy some of its citizens and so the concerns of sectionalism, or the split of the country began to arise. There was a continuous riff between the south and the north over a few issues, a major one being slavery. The south argued that the slaves were necessary to support the southern economy. According to document A, the south were angry that the north was creating taxes that hurt the southern economy, thus increasing the need for slavery since they had to make up for the expense of the taxes. The south felt that the north was able...

    Read More

  • Antebellum Case Study

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    2) Was there any degree of autonomy in the lives of enslaved women in the revolutionary or antebellum America? Use the documents to address the question of whether or not an enslaved woman could protect the humanity and if so, explore how this might be achieved. Also include how the specific era (revolutionary or antebellum) affected her autonomy.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism Dbq

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 19th century, America had an expanding idea of Manifest Destiny, where they would claim land all the way to the east coast. While the government and the citizens were focused on exploring new land, they were able to acquire much of the new land, introducing new people and ideas. Many of these people and ideas were vastly different than the original in the thirteen colonies, which frustrated many people. When these different people and beliefs collided, many disputes and disagreements were born, which intensified the results of sectionalism, unfortunately leading up the Civil War, having a huge impact on the country.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism And The Breakup Of The U.s

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sectionalism and the Breakup of the U.S.      Throughout the early 1800's the country was split in many areas over many issues. Some of the more severe clashes between differing groups resulting from such issues as slavery, expansion, and internal improvement. With all of these controversial topics to worry about along with the vast diversity in the nation, causing separation and tensions throughout the country. The most prominent of the previous topics was slavery.

    Read More

  • Election of Lincoln and Civil War

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States of America, the repercussions of which led to civil war. However it was not only Lincoln’s election that led to civil war but also the slavery debate between the northern and southern states and the state of the economy in the United States. Together with the election of Lincoln these caused a split, both politically and ideologically, between the North and South states which manifested into what is now refereed to as the American Civil War.

    Read More

  • Territorial Expansion Of The Civil War Essay

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    The civil war, a devastating conflict amongst the American North and South in the mid to late 1800s, was caused by growing tension between the opposing sides for many reasons but also because of territorial expansion of America. In determining the impact of territorial expansion in the mid 1800’s on the sectionalism that led to the civil war, one would first have to look at the tactics for territorial expansion in America. Americans began to entertain the idea of heading west in the early 1800’s, which then brought forth the acts and events of the United States spreading its boundaries from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Historical events involving the expansion of America such as Manifest Destiny, the War with Mexico, and popular sovereignty in the west, all contributed to the growing tension between the North and the South, ultimately starting the Civil War.

    Read More

  • Bleeding Kansas

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bleeding Kansas The Compromise of 1850 brought relative calm to the nation. Though most blacks and abolitionists strongly opposed the Compromise, the majority of Americans embraced it, believing that it offered a final, workable solution to the slavery question. Most importantly, it saved the Union from the terrible split that many had feared. People were all too ready to leave the slavery controversy behind and move on.

    Read More

  • African American Reconstruction Essay

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Americans of African and European Ancestry did not have a very good relationship during the Civil war. They were a major cause of the Civil War. But, did they fix or rebuild that relationship after the war from the years 1865 to 1900? My opinion would be no. I do not believe that the Americans of African and European ancestry successfully rebuilt their relationship right after the Civil war. Even though slavery was finally slowly getting abolished, there was still much discrimination against the African Americans. The Jim Crow laws and the black codes discriminated against black people. The Ku Klux Klan in particular discriminated against black people. Even though the United States government tried to put laws into the Constitution to protect black people, the African Americans were discriminated in every aspect of life from housing, working, educating, and even going to public restrooms!

    Read More

  • Antebellum Era Essay

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil War is such an iconic turning point in American History. The Antebellum Period played a large role leading towards the division of North and South and contributed to making the Civil War almost

    Read More

  • Antebellum Period Of The South

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Antebellum Period of the United States was a time pre dating the Civil War; it encompassed the years from 1781 to 1860. This time period is known for its rise of abolition and gradual polarization of the country between abolitionists and supporters of slavery. This subject of slavery was made taboo in the chambers of the government due to the fact that the Congress could not agree on the subject. The North and South were unique from each other in many things, for example the main point surrounding slavery. While they did have a fair amount of similarities between them it is still reasonable to conclude that by the 1860’s they had developed into two separate and distinct societies.

    Read More

  • Westward expansion

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the period between 1815 and 1861 the political issues that occurred within the states caused separation and Unity at the same time. With the mass movement of people out west into Texas and California many of the disputes occurred because of slavery. The southern states wanted the new states to be slave states, while the northern states believed they should be free states. This argument continued to rage until 1850, when Henry Clay formed the Compromise of 1850. The compromise essentially decided that the disputed land of New Mexico was not part of Texas, and that California was not to be split into a slave and free state, it was to remain as just a free state. With this new compromise, and the Missouri Compromise that split the slave and free states at the 35th Parallel, the nation was split down the middle, creating two distinct sides of the country. This set the stage for the two sides of the Civil war. However the expansion west also created some unity between the states. For the most part, both the northern and southern states wanted to expand the United States boundaries to the Pacific Ocean. This led both sides to support the Mexican war and to accept the annexation of Texas. Westward expansion caused both ...

    Read More

  • What Were the Key Issues Leading To the Civil War?

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    As the country began to grow and expand we continued to see disagreements between the North and South; the Missouri Territory applied for statehood; the South wanted them admitted as a slave state and the North as a free state. Henry Clay eventually came up with the Missouri Compromise, making Missouri a slave state and making Maine it’s own state, entering the union as a free state. After this compromise, any state admitted to the union south of the 36° 30’ latitude would be a slave state and a state north of it would be free. The country was very much sectionalized during this time. Thomas Jefferson felt this was a threat to the Union.

    Read More

  • The Secession Crisis

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the years of 1830 through 1860, a breach in the unity between the North and the South of the United States occurred. They faced an

    Read More

More about The Antebellum Period Essay

Open Document