Slavery Caused The Civil War ‘’I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institution of slavery. I look upon it as a great evil ... A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Abraham Lincoln said this while running for U.S senator, which included his opinion on the slavery conflict between north and south. The Unites States had a big conflict between the north and south on the country on the belief of the slavery and if it slaves should be free or not. This conflict was from 1861 to 1865. Two supporting events that slavery caused the civil war was the Missouri Conflict and the election of president Lincoln.
The final straw was the election of Abraham Lincoln as president, as the existence of slavery was threatened. As a result, most of the slave-owning southern states withdrew from the Union, and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederate States fought the Civil War for state rights, while the Union states fought to abolish slavery and preserve the Union. Political discord and social involvement contributed to the cause of the Civil War. Instead of easing tension, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act triggered political discord, and intensified the slavery issue, ultimately leading to Civil War.
The long and continuous conflicting views on slavery between the North and South grouped with the political power struggles over the new western territories was only further fueled with their economical and social differences. To state that the Civil War was avoidable would be just be a plain lie. The war meant to take place and it did. Works Cited 1. “American Civil War.” History.
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 Republican party threatened the South's expansionism and therefore Southerners felt that they had no other choice but to secede. The Republican party had no intention of ending slavery in the South or freeing the slaves; they just did not want slavery to expand, "Because the scene of intestine struggle will thus be transferred from the south to the North." (N.Y Tribune 11/29/1860) The United States was divided into three groups by the time the Civil War began: those who believed in the complete abolition of slavery, those who were against the expansion of slavery, and those who were pro slavery. Many like to believe that the moral aspect of slavery is what made it an issue. When the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860, the South felt that its expansionism was being threatened, and because expansion was vital to the
Naturally, ... ... middle of paper ... ...as created to get slaves who run to the north back to the south, without trial of jury. The reason was that the Judge was paid to show unfairness, to side with the south rather than the suffering individual. This angered the north and their belief towards slavery, so they created another law which replaced the Fugitive Slave Law, it was called the “personal liberty” laws. The Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 were two acts that tried to solve the problems between the note and the south. However, the political action that the north took caused the creation of the “personal liberty” laws, which oddly changed north’s perspective towards slavery.
Lincoln won all the states in the north and in the west which, because of their high population, were worth the most points. This election caused the civil war because of what the southern states, the Confederate, perceived Lincoln to be. He was thought to be an abolitionist, meaning a person who wishes to abolish slavery completely. In fact Lincoln only wished to stop the spread of slavery, not to abolish it completely. He had no intention of changing the established social order in the south.
All American’s united in their efforts to establish a prosperous, newly independent nation, governed by democratic ideals. Up until the middle 1800s, the issue of slave... ... middle of paper ... ...we, the book aided in turning the northern public against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and it turned those who had previously scorned the abolitionist cause into opponents of slavery. Similarly, the South had an adverse reaction to the book, as they became convinced that the North’s main goal was to destroy slavery and the southern way of life. Slavery was the central issue causing the American Civil war. Slavery had an inextricable connection and influence in all of the tensions between the north and south.
“If anything, the opposition was more powerful and effective in the North than in the South.” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 120) However the powerful opposition in the North w... ... middle of paper ... ...t and see it as a way to get rid of the moral burden of slavery. The conservative stands Lincoln originally held were broken with the Emancipation Proclamation, causing a massive internal struggle in the South to bring them down. This is why the North had already won to the extent of Lincoln’s conservative political stands. “Having taken an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution, which protected slavery, “I did not consider that I had a right to touch the ‘State’ institution of ‘Slavery’ until all other measures for restoring the Union had failed….”” (Who Freed The Slaves, pg 203) The attrition strategy was halted with the mental conversion of the war being a moral war and the internal divisions in the South would finally clinch victory for the North. However all other advantages were possessed by the North and therefore the North had won the Civil War before it began to the extent of Lincoln’s conservative political stands.
The North's aggression to control the south lead to the where were it was no longer tolerable for the South. With the election of the anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln, the southern states decided they had to take drastic action in order to protect their own interests. The south had been waiting for an excuse to secede form the union, the election of Lincoln by the North was their chance. The Northern abolitionists' states were mainly responsible for the Civil war in many political, social and economic aspects. Politically, the Northerners contributed immensely to the opening of the Civil War.