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Civil War Puzzle

Decent Essays

Often large, puzzles frequently consist of a thousand pieces. In order to complete a puzzle, each piece needs to be set in its proper place and connected to the rest of the surrounding pieces. The American Civil War, much like a gigantic puzzle, had many pieces that all fit together and led to the great picture of war. Although not the “single cause” of the civil war, as James Rhodes asserted, slavery played a piece in the puzzle of events leading up to the American Civil War. The matter of slavery played as a piece of the puzzle in the civil war. Southerners had a twisted way of viewing people with a darker skin tone of theirs and James Henry Hammond asserted that, “In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life.” He went on to proclaim that, “Fortunately the South…found a race for this purpose. A race inferior to her own” [L]. Strongly disagreeing, Abolitionists in the North perceived the black people not an as inferior race but rather “entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man” [P]. Helping to flame these …show more content…

John Calhoun of South Carolina believed that the equilibrium had been broken and that the North “ha[d] the exclusive power of controlling the government, which [left] the other without any adequate means of protecting itself against its encroachment and oppression” [D]. This equilibrium was broken due to the North allowing California in as a free state and New Mexico by popular sovereignty [C]. Southerners believed that, “the territories of New Mexico and California, [were] purchased by the common blood and treasure of the whole people,” and became enraged that the North would, in essence, steal something they perceived as theirs too [B]. Due to this the country again slips further apart on the way to a total

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