Abraham Lincoln 's famous words, “A House divided among itself cannot stand,” is a precise description of the twenty years prior to the Civil War, famously referred to as the Antebellum years. More accurately, it is true to say that a nation divided amongst itself cannot endure. The slavery topic in the 19th century was the central issue in the United States. The North and South constantly bickered in regard to the African Americans. In contrast, while the South wanted to expand slavery, the North wanted it abolished. Provided, the major conflicts caused a drastic division between the two, known as regionalism. Furthermore, as immigration spread in the United States, an antislavery group, the Nativists, rose to form a new political party. …show more content…
As some said: “The conditions of the slaves are better than black freemen”. The South was desperate for slaves since their entire economy relied on it. The plantations in the south grew immensely, and with the invention of the cotton gin much more cotton was being processed; therefore, the planters needed more slaves to help them with their quotas. After the Revolution, there was a small emancipation of slavery, but it was soon disrupted, for the South feared an effect on their cotton boom. Eventually, it was the Mexican War that initiated the greatest hostility toward slavery. Three months after the war began, David Wilmot, a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania, who later started the Republican Party in his state, made the Wilmot Proviso where he stated that all territories gained through the Mexican War are deemed free. In essence, Wilmot was a racist who was against slavery; yet, he repulsed the blacks calling them Negros. Therefore, he wanted the new lands to be slave-free so that blacks do not relocate. The slavery issues intensified as the North and South expanded westward, since both wanted the new territories to reflect their beliefs. Thus, Congress had to pass acts in order to settle disputes. One such act, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, banned slavery north of the Ohio River Valley. Another, the Missouri Compromise, altered the deal over the Louisiana territory and allowed parts of it to become
Abraham Lincoln, the abolisher of slavery, the African American’s President; he shocked the world when came up with plan to end the war. That was to take the South’s biggest asset, their greatest workhouse the Black community. The South were superior at agriculture without having to it touch. Then on the other hand you have the North that is big in factories and don’t want to lose any jobs. So Lincoln had a lot going against him he still pushed for the Emancipation Proclamation. The time period when everyone was fighting each other lincoln wanted something that would end the fight for good, something to bring this war-torn nation at peace. The amendment is to take away the heart and soul of the South so they have no reason to fight. At the time the Democrats were mainly in the South, while the Republicans are in the North where they don't need slave because they work complex mechanic jobs. President Lincoln was entering his second term and wanted the bill to pass before the election stared back up. With some other states already have secede from the Union with some
As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their
Before 1846 and the Mexican War, the status of slavery in every part of the U.S. had been settled by state law or the Missouri Compromise. The acquisition of new land from Mexico reopened the question of the expansion of slavery. In 1847 Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed a resolution prohibiting slavery in all the territories acquired from Mexico. Democrat and Whig alike supported “The Wilmot Proviso”, and nearly all southerners opposed it. It passed the House, which was more populated by Northerners but it failed in the Senate where there was an even balance of free and slave states. Later in 1848, supporters of Wilmot’s idea of opposition to the expansion of slavery formed the Free Soil Party.
When Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 the Union was divided. He accepted his presidential duties knowing that he was working with a nation that no longer remained united. Seven of the southern states had already seceded from the Union and were beginning to refer to themselves as the Confederates. What he had now were free states and slave states. When Lincoln gave his Inaugural Address he attempted to do so in a way that would not dissuade his chances of gaining support in the southern states, especially when it involved the institution of slavery. However, he also made it clear in his address that he believed a secure and united nation was of utmost importance and he rejected the ideas
The Antebellum period from 1800 to 1850 marked a time of sectionalism in American history. Furthermore, new territories gained during western expansion added to this conflict between different sections of America. Southern states wanted new slave territories, while the North wanted to contain the spread of slavery. While Western expansion contributed to growing sectional tensions between the North and South from 1800-1820, sectionalism intensified significantly from 1820-1850.
Prior to Civil War, distinct Northern and Southern cultures had been established; The free North occupied the commercial industry, while the slavery-based South undertook an agricultural occupation. The South and the North began to fight over right and wrong. The major issue was regarding slavery, as the South wanted to preserve slavery while, the North wanted to get rid of it. These conflicts rose into sectional antagonism and eventually put the United States and President Lincoln in a loophole. During the Civil War however, Lincoln made some extremely controversial decisions, that resulted in a reduction of the sectional antagonism present, and the United States became truly “one nation.”
America’s states were being shattered in the fact that the states were turning against one another and fighting for what each geographical state believed in. The Northern more states wanted slavery to be abolished and to treat them like humans, however the South
Southern territorial tensions linked to slavery in the mid 1800's. (Doc D) Opposition to annexation of Texas occurred because of avoidance to the problem of Texas being a free or slave state. The Wilmot Proviso provoked huge controversy about the status of the land gained after the Mexican War, the bill would be called upon and debated on furiously for decades to come. Popular sovereignty began to appear in some alternate plans for deciding slavery in the Louisiana Territory. Polk's plan, which proposed to extend the slavery line in the Missouri Compromise to the pacific, aroused further debates for the North and the South. California and New Mexico raised even more questions about the implementation of
The use of biblical allusions in Lincoln’s address creates an appeal to both the North and the South that draws both of their attention to the war that they imposed onto the nation. Regarding the issue of slavery, both the North and South utilized the Bible as support for their arguments of either keeping or abolishing the institution. Towards the end of Lincoln’s speech, he alludes to the biblical verse of James 5:16 when he speaks about the end of the war declaring,” Fondly do we hope – fervently do we pray – that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” From the beginning, Lincoln sought to avert war and to convince the nation, especially the South, to avert it as well. By this time, the war had been ongoing for four years, in
Lincoln has different to eliminate slavery but that would be impossible. He also speaks about the education slaves had perspectives on slavery. He expresses his feelings and views on slavery in every speech he gives but in each speech he has different points of view. On some of the speeches he talks about how fast he wants in the southern states and how men preferred to have slaves instead of common men. He also talks of how they worked and were treated horribly. But then his opinions were also indecisive, he wants to satisfy the majority of states by stating his opinions in a way that satisfies the ideas pertain to slavery just to gain political power over his presidential election.
In 1787 the Northwest Ordinance was passed. It helped form new states and governed them. Then the confederate government had almost no control. The United States went into a depression, farmers had their land taken away, shays rebellion came, and slavery became a topic of debate. This led to the constitutional convention. Many plans were proposed, but only compromises were accepted. Two important compromises were the Great Compromise, and the three-fifths compromise. The Great Compromise made a two house legislature, and the three-fifths compromise made slaves count as three-fifths of a free person when counting population. During the convention they also agreed that congress couldn’t interfere with slavery until 1808. They also
As America began to expand, first with the lands gained from the Louisiana Purchase and later with the Mexican War, the question of whether new states admitted to the union would be slave or free. The Missouri Compromise passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri. During the Mexican War, conflict started about what would happen with the new territories that the US expected to gain upon victory. David Wilmot proposed the Wilmot Proviso in 1846 which would ban slavery in the new lands. However, this was shot down to much debate. The Compromise of 1850 was created by Henry Clay and others to deal with the balance between slave and free states, northern and southern interests. One of the provisions was the fugitive slave act that was discussed in number one above. Another issue that further increased tensions was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It created two new territories that would allow the states to use popular sovereignty to determine whether they would be free or slave. The real issue occurred in Kansas where proslavery Missourians
The appellation, “The Great Emancipator” is not granted to just any person, but rather it highlights a courageous, respectful, and driven individual. Abraham Lincoln’s contribution to the United States is so grand and captivating, that he is deservingly recognized as America’s greatest president. For example, he abolished slavery, led America through the Civil War, and prevented the Union from splitting apart. Abraham Lincoln is America’s greatest president and was the forceful leader that manipulated America from a state of turmoil into a state of justice and harmony.
The Civil War was a war between the union, and confederate states in the United States that occurred from 1861-1865. Many people believed that the Civil War was about slavery and southern states right to defend their states’ rights. The confederates were fighting for their liberty and independence under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, who they felt was a tyrant. However, the union, was fighting to preserve their territory, that was created by their founding fathers from chaos and dismemberment. President Jefferson Davis believed that the civil war was based on the confederate rights to secede from the union. Jefferson also felt that Abraham Lincoln was to blamed for the start of the civil war, since he was against slavery. Lincoln’s intended goal was to preserve the union, he claimed slavery was not the reason. “If I could save the union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it, and if I could slave it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that (Shi &Tindall, 2015, pg.465)”. Lincoln told everyone that if the southern states were to return to the union that slavery would still exist. However, many people believed that Lincoln wasn’t being truthful.
In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).