Civil War Began in 1787?

As the nation descended further into a split entity, with the issue of slavery at the forefront of the debate. The North and South needed to find a way to deal with their differences before the Union fell in shambles. The Compromise of 1850 was passed after long extensive debate in congress, the compromise was intended to settle the debate over how slavery would be controlled throughout the expanding nation. The Fugitive Slave Act was included in the compromise to satisfy southern states, that wanted to preserve the institution of slavery. The act allowed for run away slaves to be hunted down and returned to their past owners, even after they made it to the free states in the North. The Southerners wished to preserve their right to property, which is among the “Unalienable Rights”. Some northern states refuse to recognize the law which infuriated the South because they saw this as an explicit violation of the slave holder’s rights, this intensified the South’s urge to become a separate State.

In 1850, the Compromise was formed as a way of preventing the southerners from withdrawing from the Union. Part of this law, was the Fugitive Slave act, which aroused many reactions from the public that it ultimately led to the civil war. This Fugitive Slave Act stated that the southerners were still owners of these slaves that had escaped to the north and that the Northerners had to abide to it, even though most of their states had illegalized slavery. This law also made it hard for the blacks to have a fair trial as they were not able to prove whether they were free or not. This led to the blacks in the northern states freeing to Canada in fear of being returned to slavery and because they did not feel as safe anymore. The Compromise, to keep the southerners in the Union, made these laws on slaves to favor them. However unexpectedly it made the Abolitionists

The Civil War was provoked for several reasons which included industry, slavery, and territorial disputes among the Northern states and Southern states of the newly established United States. The first recorded engagement of war between the North and South is documented to have taken place on April 12th, 1861 at The Battle of Fort Sumter. This was the starting point of a war that would claim over 600,000 American lives in a relatively short span of 4 years.

Both areas had many farmers, but the south was successful with big plantations. The southern economy depended on agriculture while the North was based on technological advancement. The North successful developed many industries, while the south improved their farming methods (Roark, 7). The south farmers established huge plantations for cash crop production especially cotton. In addition, slavery became an important factor that provided

There were many events that led to the civil war. Slavery was a big issue in the 1800s which led to small civil wars within our own country. The battle of Fort Sumter was the last battle leading to the civil war. Also the election angered many states created the Union and confederacy sides also causing the civil war.

“John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a radical abolitionist from the United States, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery for good. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. He was tried and executed for treason against the

In the mid-1800's, many events occurred that increased sectional tension between the Northern and Southern states of the Union. These tensions ultimately resulted in the outbreak of civil war. One thing in particular that is considered to be a source of sectional discord is the U.S. Constitution. However the Constitution itself was not a source of sectional tension that caused the failure of the Union. The failure erupted generally from the issue of slavery. combination of the people in general and the differences in economic styles that lead to the downfall. Poor political decisions such as the Kansas Nebraska Act, lead to bad decisions which worsened the tensions of the union. The economic differences ultimately lead to the Civil War

Finally, the issue of “Bloody Kansas” was a major political factor caused by westward expansion. Once it was resolved that Kansas’s stance on slavery would be determined by popular sovereignty, people flocked to Kansas to make their vote count. The “Border Ruffians” won the controversial vote, which resulted in Kansas being a slave state. However, the abolitionists refused to recognize the pro-slavery government, so they set up a second provincial government in Topeka, Kansas. This episode led to a skirmish between the Ruffians and the abolitionists, like in Lawrence, Kansas in May of 1856. This was a prelude to the actual civil war and showed that even if there was a “fair” vote to determine a Territories slave law, it didn’t mean that all the people would abide by the law. These political episodes involving the ever expanding west showed the weakness of the Union.

This is when his mission started to become more and more violent. Brown published an essay instructing African Americans to stay together to resist this new law. He ordered them to even if it took killing the slave catchers, that’s what they had to do. He formed an armed resistance against the Fugitive Slave Law. Brown’s United League recruited 44 African Americans. Following this, the Kansas-Nebraska Act surfaced, which allowed settlers to decided whether or not to be free or to practice slavery. Then, in order to achieve the southern support in the 1856 Democratic presidential nomination, Stephen Douglas proposed to divide the new territory into two. This meant that Kansas, since it was in the more southern of the two territories, would be made into a slave state. This would lead to the start of an organized militia against slavery.

This formed the Nebraska and Kansas territories. Each territory was able to decide on the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty, this repealed the Missouri Compromise and added to the huge debates in the Union. The act also lead to Bleeding Kansas, when pro and anti-slavery groups rushed to Kansas to vote for or against slavery. Violence then broke out as abolitionists fought against Border Ruffians to control the government in Kansas and John brown, an abolitionist leader, captured 5 pro-slavery men and killed them. He also was the leader of the Harper’s ferry where they raided an armory. The Kansas-Nebraska act brought many tensions within the union, action now being taken in more ways than just

On the other hand the South believed that his action was treason and had absolutely no justifications because he was stealing their property. As John Brown pleads to the court in Document 10, he states, “I deny everything but what I have all along admitted,—the design on my part to free the slaves.” He is so extraordinarily blinded by his moral belief, that he could not see the damage he created. People like himself caused the Southerners to hate and fear the North even more so, driving them farther apart. In document 11 a senator from Mississippi explains the fear, “The North is accumulating power, and it means to use that power to emancipate your slaves.”

One of those compromises was the fugitive slave clause. It required states to return runaway slaves. (Oakes 220) This clause gave constitutional protection to the slaveholder; no matter what state or territory the slave could escape to, he was still a slave and could not be freed, and the emancipation laws of that territory were “null and void”. ( Bestor 14) The early fugitive slave clause was highly ignored and rarely enforced which irritated the Southerners. As part of the Compromise of 1850 a new fugitive slave law would be enacted. ( Dry) This law was created in attempt to settle disputes over the previous constitutional clause, instead it would cause much discord between the North and South. ( Oakes 420) Tense arguments were started in respect to what slaves should be considered, people or property. The south believed they should be treated as property and not given a trial or defense since they lacked the “natural liberties”, however, the abolitionist argued that a free black person could be picked up in the north by a southern plantation owner claiming to be his master and that free black person could be taken from free soil into slave territory without a fair trial or any evidence from the

Alternatively, the South needed slaves because farming was the basis of their economic stability, with cotton and tobacco as the main crops. It was these differences in economic development (urban vs. rural and factory vs. farm) that separated the North and South. Southern plantations were changing from growing crops to cotton, which was very profitable. As a result, the South became a singular crop economy, depending mostly on cotton, while the North was an economy based on factories that were purchasing the raw cotton and manufacturing it into clothing and other goods. This economic difference between the North and South resulted in different economic positions and outlooks and, ultimately, contributed to the onset of the Civil War.

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 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in the United States in 1852. The novel depicted slavery as a moral evil and was the cause of much controversy at the time and long after. Uncle Tom's Cabin outraged the South and received praise in the North. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin was a major turning point for the United States which helped bring about the Civil War.