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Civil War

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SLAVERY
The burning issue that led to the disruption of the union, however, was the debate over the future of slavery. That dispute led to secession, and secession brought about a war in which the Northern and Western states and territories fought to preserve the Union, and the South fought to establish Southern independence as a new confederation of states under its own constitution. In the late 18th century, the abolitionist movement began in the north and the country began to divide over the issue between north and south. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise banned slavery in all new western territories, which southern states saw as a threat to the institution of slavery itself. With the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, who ran on a …show more content…

There were those in the antislavery movement that proposed legislation that would actually purchase the freedom of slaves, as had happened in Europe. This sort of solution would have ended slavery, but done it without the violence and death that the Civil War brought.
In contrast, the abolitionist movement sought to end slavery by any means necessary. So, famous abolitionist John Brown resorted to theft, and to attacks on federal officers, in his effort to end slavery. The radical abolitionists had no interested in ending slavery in a peaceful or legal way. They wanted to end slavery at the point of the bayonet.
SECESIONISM
Before the Civil War, the country was dividing between north and south. Issues included States Rights but centered mostly on the issue of slavery, which was prominent in the south but increasingly banned by northern states.
With the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, who ran on a message of anti-slavery, the Southern states felt it was only a matter of time before the institution was outlawed completely. South Carolina became the first state to officially secede from the United States on December 20, 1860. Four months later, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana seceded as well. Later Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined them, and soon afterward, the people of these states elected Jefferson Davis as president of the newly formed

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