The Major Causes of the Civil War

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During the early nineteenth century the United States began to split, but at the middle of the century people views started to become more concrete and so separation in the Union became more drastic. From 1850 to 1861 it was apparent that the union was separating into the North and the South. The Constitution played a major role in the separation that was occurring. Through sectional favoritism of bits and pieces of the Constitution and through ideas that were left out of it, the Constitution led to sectional discord and nearly the failure of the union.

A major issue that caused major sectional discord was the constitutionality of slavery. In the constitution there was no mention of slavery of fears that it would divide the nation, but this very idea did cause division. Also, because of the absence of slavery many compromises and new ideas needed to be made and reinforced so that they could last. A major compromise that was reached involving slavery was the compromise of 1850. The constitutionality of this compromise was being disputed. This compromise was the first to create sectionalism in the union (Document A). It also created disunity and led to hot tempers and other events. Another piece of the compromise was a more stringent fugitive slave laws. To Southerners this piece of the compromise was beneficial to them because they lost many slaves to the Underground Railroad. On the other hand though some Northerners disliked this stricter law and refused to enforce the law. Bostonian officials even went to the lengths of making posters warning slaves to watch out for police officers because they were instructed to capture them even though they didn’t want to enforce the stricter law (Document C). Also, they didn’t wan...

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...es of America in 1861. Jefferson Davis told his Confederate Congress that because of the flaws in the Constitution it would be unjust to stay in the Union and it was in South’s best interest to secede because amendments weren’t being made that would favor the growth of the South (Document H). This secession inevitably ended with Civil War and the major cause of the war would become the flaws that were drawn out of the Constitution.

By analyzing the evidence presented, it is apparent that the interpretations of the Constitution and flaws that were found were the major causes of events that lead up to Civil War. The Civil war would not have happened if the flaws were amended thus ending the fighting over the constitutionality of certain issues. In conclusion the Constitution has done many things that united and divided the Union because of the ideals of man.

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