Civil War Dbq

During the years of 1820-1860, the United States split into Northern and Southern factions. Each side held completely opposing viewpoints on issues affecting the nation. Compromise was made almost impossible by 1860 due to disagreement over states rights. Eventually, a breakdown of trust between both parties on each side that led to a collapse of compromise due to one of an important main issue, slavery. American citizens, despite constant thoughts of compromise, could not resolve their political disputes. Through conflicts towards the issue of slavery to saving the Union itself, their disputes refused any intention of compromise and would eventually lead to the start of the Civil War.

Broadly speaking, the Civil War arose because of the fact that northerners and southerners became divided over various political, economic and social issues during the early nineteenth century. This phenomenon, known as “sectionalism,” came about mainly because of the differences in the economic structures of the north and the south. As Klein says in this regard, the conflict between the two sections of the country were increased “as the northern states moved increasingly into commerce and manufacturing while the southern states expanded their agricultural economy into a plantation system based on slave labor” (36). Because of the differences in these two economic systems, northerners generally took one side on important political issues while southerners generally took the opposing side, creating animosity between the two. This sectionalism that eventually led to full-on secession and the Civil War between the north and south quickly escalated due to many issues, including economics and politics, but much of the divide lied on the issue of slavery.

The Civil War was the bloody climax of the fight over slavery between the North and the South. Three crucial things that led to the Civil War were the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska act, and “Bloody Kansas.”

During the late 1800’s there were turbulent times between the Northern and Southern States in America, one the vastest areas that was constantly being quarreled against one another is the usage of slavery. As slavery was the principal component within the Southern States, it provided the basis for many of the cash crops that were spread throughout. Whereas, many within the Northern States were firmly against the usage of slave and wanted to end this practice once and for all. This continuous incompatibility between slave states in the South and the free states in the North eventually ended up colliding into a Civil War. There were many aspects that led to this collision, such as; when America expanded into the western terrain after the Mexican-American

In 1861, a Civil War broke out between the Union States and Confederate States of America. Many influences led to this battle, but there were 3 main disagreements that initiated the Civil War. The debate in the North and South about slavery’s cruelty and ethicality was a primary cause of the war. Another main cause was the fairness of the decision of the state’s rights and the fairness of the rights that the states had. In addition to the other 2 controversies, the allowing and wanting for states to disjoin the Union was another cause.

During the period of 1820-1840, the Industrial Revolution created a transparent divide between the Northern and Southern regions. Evidently, the Industrial Revolution proposed change in the Northern way of life to a more opportunistic environment, but the Southern regions remained the same encompassed by the use of slavery for their own benefit. Moral tensions arose from the complications between the two regions, creating abolitionist groups and extremists to dictate an impending battle between the North and South. The Civil War was an inevitable feat due to northern extremism and the differing perspectives of proper leadership of both sides.

The constant debate over whether America was going to be free or slave led to the inevitability of a civil war. The political tension within the nation surrounding the issue of slavery was ongoing even after a series of compromises. The country was either going to be free or slave and it was evident that the only way to decide this was through a civil war. Through several cases and debates between the views of the North and South, an agreement was still unable to be obtained. The divisions within the nation were growing and no compromise was powerful enough to hold the nation together.

The Republican party’s main objective was to stop slavery from spreading into the western territories, but the Anti-Slavery Society was much more strict, declaring that, “...[T]he slaves ought instantly to be set free…”(Document C). This made the South feel alienated from the North, and the Federal Government worked quickly to try and fix this, creating the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 was made of five bills, but one specifically outraged the North: the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1850, which allowed government officials to detain and person convicted of being a runaway slave, even if they had lived with their friends for years and were clearly not runaway slaves. Many Northerners created bands against the laws and actively worked to disobey the Slave Acts, which made the South infuriated since the North had agreed to the Compromise. At this point, people began creating ideas about secession, as Senator Daniel Webster said in his speech to Congress in March, 1850: “I hear with pain and anguish the word ‘secession,’ especially when it falls from the lips of those who are… patriotic”(Document C). After these years, the election of 1860 was just around the corner, and this election would show just how divided the cultures of America

During the early 1800s the United States was a nation divided amongst two groups; Abolitionists were against anti-slavery and were typically in the northern region, while their opponents who were proslavery were in the southern region. Following the ratification of the Constitution, many issues were left unresolved. The predominant argument amongst the two was slavery, and the latter was whether the nation would be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government. Slavery during this time period was very controversial and in the early years after the constitution was ratified, disagreements were always settled without violence. The result usually ended with

The civil war is a dark time in the history of America. We fought and bleed until we had lost many. But, there were many reasons to such hatred brewing in a nation. One of these was slavery. Until the antebellum, the inevitable issue was just being hidden behind many compromises and acts put in place to... hide it. Abolitionist and Pro-slavery settlers attacked each other. Bleeding Kansas was an example. John Brown had attacked 5 Pro slavery settlers and many Pro slavery settlers attacked Lawrence.

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

Although historians disagree on its political impact, abolitionism unquestionably helped define slavery as a pressing moral problem (Sellman). Abolitionists played a key role in setting the terms of the debate over slavery and in making it a convincing moral issue, still they had remarkably little influence in the North. Very few Northerners were abolitionists, and many regarded abolitionists as dangerous radicals. What made their case telling was the South's violent reaction. Extreme Southern responses appeared to confirm abolitionist warnings about a conspiratorial "Slave Power." (Larkin) By the 1850s, however, the escalating sectional conflict had largely taken on a force of its own, one that owed less and less to

After thoroughly assessing past readings and additional research on the Civil War between the North and South, it was quite apparent that the war was inevitable. Opposed views on this would have probably argued that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War. Therefore suggesting it could have been avoided if a resolution was reached on the issue of slavery. Although there is accuracy in stating slavery led to the war, it wasn’t the only factor. Along with slavery, political issues with territorial expansion, there were also economic and social differences between North and South. These differences, being more than just one or two, gradually led to a war that was bound to happened one way or another.

The debate over slavery and states ' rights had become so intense by 1860 that the South was ready to break away altogether, and they did not want to cooperate with the North. They felt they were being exploited and taken advantage of by the North. The economy, culture, and various ways of life had developed differently throughout the U.S., creating a feeling of disunity. Resolving disputes threw compromise no longer seemed possible. They had no reason to compromise and work out their disputes because the South wanted to form a confederacy of their own. This all began to deteriorate because of the dramatic economic, social, and political issues, such as the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, political leaders, succession attempts, and

The Civil War was caused by many several pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by sectional differences, and was finally set into motion by a most unlikely set of political events. From economic differences to political differences all the way up to cultural differences, the North and the South opposed each other. These tensions were further increased after the western expansion of the United States. By the early 1850’s a civil war was known to be likely coming soon.