Causes of the Civil War

In an attempt to keep peace between the South and the North, the Missouri Compromise was passed. The compromise would allow Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, and Maine as a free state; keeping the number of states pro-slavery and anti-slavery even. However, the compromise did not accomplish everything that congress had hoped. The Missouri Compromise was a poor attempt to end the dispute over slavery in America because it did not please the Southern or Northern states, was unconstitutional, and contributed to the civil war. The Missouri Compromise was an effort to preserve the balance of power between pro-slavery states, and anti-slavery states.

The Southerns were worried about their everyday lives being altered by the abolishing of slavery. The Missouri Comprise made all the new territories free states, meaning the Southern slave states would soon be outnumbered in congress. Another of the South's reason for succession was their fear of an economic collapse due to the abolishment ... ... middle of paper ... ...ion spies the Merrimack would have gone on a spree of sinking Union ships. The Merrimack was supposed to be a war winner for the confederates until the Union made their own, in the end "The Merrimack" was self destructed so the Union could not get it. The Confederate Army had many pieces that all came together for one grand army.

Lincoln’s main priorities were to preserve the Union, and reserve the republic. Slavery, in some ways, was a nonissue to Lincoln unless the republic was threatened. Lincoln was dead set opposed to secession, which greatly worried the South. The South realized that if Lincoln won the election, they would lose power. Due to this worry of losing their “way of life” due to Lincoln’s victory in the election, the South decided to secede from the Union, which eventually lead to the Civil War.

The states have the rights within the Constitution, which does not include slavery, and that they don’t have the right to secede from the Union. By giving the states too much sovereignty and leeway with the Constitution, the Union could be destroyed. The Constitutions lack of citing anything about slavery is the reason why it caused sectionalism and contributed to the failure of the union it was created for. Unfortunately, the Compromise of 1850, which was meant to cause agreement, had too much disagreement over the Fugitive Slave Law, which some claimed it to be unjust kidnapping, and others a protection of slave owner’s rights and property. If slavery was dealt with at the making of the Constitution, this major dilemma could have possibly been avoided with, or at least dealt with by means other than war.

As this would ruin the balance between Slave states and Free states in the Senate, Henry Clay proposed the Missouri compromise. This arranged it that while Missouri was admitted as a Slave state, Maine was also admitted as a free state. It also created an imaginary line along the 36o latitude, where slavery was allowed below it but prevented above it. However they limited themselves by only applying the Compromise to lands gained in the Louisiana purchase. This led to conflict after the Mexican war in which America gained new territories in the West.

Before the Civil War, the country was separating between North and South. The causes of this splitting are disagreements over tariffs and the matter of slavery, which was legal in the South but had gradually been banned by states north of the Mason-Dixon Line. As the US acquired new territories in the west, unpleasant disputes erupted over whether or not slavery would be legitimate in those newly acquired territories. Southerners became paranoid and began to believe the addition of new non-slaveholding states but no new slaveholding states would give control of the government to abolitionists, and the institution of slavery would be outlawed completely. The slave holding south increasingly felt its interests were threatened, particularly since slavery had been prohibited in much of the new territory that had been added west of the Mississippi River.

However, at the same time northern settlers were moving to the territory to try and keep it a free state. Although Kansas was closer to the north and was more likely to enter as a free state it was next to Missouri, a slave state. Since Kansas was next to a slave state the south thought that it had a chance to enter as a slave state. With popular sovereignty being the new pol... ... middle of paper ... ...m, while the south, pro slavery, thought the federal government was controlling them and limiting their states’ rights. The addition of the western territories into the United States played a large role in the coming civil war at the time.

The violent Civil War would never have started without the rise of political and social conflicts. Political issues such as the Dred Scott Decision and the Election of 1860 developed tensions that led to the Civil War. When Dred Scott, an African American, sued for his freedom, the Supreme Court formed the Dred Scott Decision. Scott sued based on the Missouri Compromise, and stated that he had been in free land when his owner died, therefore he should be free. This application to sue was deemed invalid by the Supreme Court it ruled that any African Americans, including Scott, would never become citizens.

For Southern politicians the Kansas- Nebraska Act would help the extension of slavery which most of the Northerners were against. Ignoring the wishes of the Northerners and pushing the Democratic agenda which wanted not only the continuation of slavery in the Southern states, but for the expansion of slavery to Western parts of the country, played into the fears of the Northerners that believed the power of the Slavery-holding elites was reaching into Northern states. Although Douglass’s agenda may have been to unite the North and South with his transcontinental railroad and ease the growing sectional rift within the American political arena with is idea of popular sovereignty, his bill convinced non-Democratic Northern party factions to join together and oppose the Democratic power in American politics. The non-democratic parties that join forces were the Free-soilers, Anti- Nebraska Whigs, Anti- Nebraska Democrats, Nativist groups and Abolitionists. These groups created the Republican Party.

D) Before the secession of the south, the issue of slavery was dividing the Union. Since the institute of slavery was not directly mentioned in the Constitution, both the North and South claimed that the Constitution was in their favor. The North claimed it did not protect the institute of slavery, while the South said that it protected a citizen’s property, which they believed that the slaves were. From the Compromise of 1850 the Utah and New Mexico territories were left up to popular sovereignty to determine if they were slave or free. While the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made it increasingly more difficult for escaping former slaves to hold on to freedom in the North.