Civil War the Great Divide

Much debate was caused by the fact that the North was anti slavery and the South was pro slavery. Both sides had opposing views about slavery and how it should be dealt with. The North had several negative things to say about it, whereas the South, obviously had a few positive factors to mention. If it were not for the creation of the cotton gin, the conflict between the two sides would have aroused. The South’s main argument was that slaves were mandatory for economic growth, while countless people in the North strongly refuted the statement. The South would have commanded more intense and severe work within the slaves, which would have sparked more discussion about the subject of matter.

During the 19th century slavery was a very prominent and controversial issue between the north and the southern states. In the South, most people believed that slavery was a profitable way of life and if the slavery was to be abolished it would then affect their economy. On the hand the northern had different opinions about slavery and intended to stop it. The fact that the perception were different between the two led to a very difficult situation in resolving the issue.

Slavery, in the South and as well in the North, played a huge role of the culture of their societies. The North had a general belief in abolitionism, while the South opposed that idea. All the economic reasons led to the cultural differences. The South viewed slavery as a necessity to their economy. The North believed it was wrong to own a human being. The South contradicted this idea with the North’s use of cheap labor in its factories.

The North and South both had opposite opinions about slavery, The South favored slavery because of there agricultural based economy which they needed slaves to attend to their harvests and crops, the North was against slavery because they were an industrialized nation they had no need for slavery. This debate went on and almost resulted

The southern economy could not function without its slaves, so to justify slavery to the religious the south proclaimed it as a necessary evil, and even went as far as belittling the slaves to being devil worshipers (doc. G). The devout of the North did not fully understand the extent of the horrors of southern slavery, however it was revealed to them in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s cabin which became one of the great bestsellers of its time (doc. H).

Most southerners believed that they were doing a “favor” for slaves since slaves were uneducated people. They believed that by clothing them, feeding them, and putting a roof over their head they were creating a good for these people. Pro-Slavery South believed if these uncivilized people went off into the world, they wouldn’t survive, so for them to be

Ranging from a necessary evil to a positive good, the perception of slavery proved to be a polarizing issue. Many northern citizens were indifferent to the idea of slavery, while southern plantation owners relied on slavery to support their economies. After the Second Great Awakening, the abolition movement was introduced and opposition to slavery began to receive attention. Due to political ideals, acquisition of new American territories and religious influences, opposition to slavery grew rapidly in the United States from 1776 to 1852. Natural rights of life and liberty fought for during the American Revolution were extended to slaves in the North.

People went from having ten slaves in a farm to having 500 in a plantation. Slave brutality worsened because of this transition, abolitionist and free-soilers in the north did not like this drastic expansion. They opposed the Mexican War because it was a way for the United States to gain territory, and make them slave states thus increasing the expansion of slavery (Doc.4). Therefore compromises like the Compromise of 1850 were created, this compromise proposed that, “slavery does not exist by law, and it is not likely to be introduced into any territory acquired by the United States from the Republic of Mexico…” (Doc.5). Northerners also started showing opposition to slavery by not adhering to the Fugitive Slave Act. They believed that slavery is, "opposition to the first principles of principles of religion, morals, and humanity." and that its inconsistent with "our aims, as a free, humane, and enlightened people" (Doc.2a). On the other hand southerners believe that "slavery was one of the most dynamic economic and social processes..." and that without slavery "you could not have civilization... slavery freed upper class from manual labor"

The Civil War is known as a turning point in America, the road to ending slavery, while first turning a nation against each other.

The issue of slavery was becoming more and more prominent in the years between 1820 and 1865, and was creating a lot of sectional tension between the North, who tended to hold abolitionist beliefs, and the South, who were generally pro-slavery. Many arguments were used to defend slavery, but many of these arguments ignored some crucial details. For instance, moral arguments against slavery tended to ignore the horrible conditions slaves were forced to live in; economic arguments ignored many viable solutions to their problem; and political arguments ignored blatant bias.

The added territories gained from the war with Mexico caused the controversy over the question of slavery between the North and the South. Following the Mexican War there were bitter debates in Congress, in state legislatures

The core of the controversy was neither Northern nor Southern States wanted to loose their influence in Congress due to the admission of the new states to the Union. The Constitution did not give the federal government powers to regulate and abolish slavery where it already existed, but it did not predetermine the status of slavery in future state. Since the law made it possible for Congress to impose whatever status it wished on the new states, that was where the conflict began among the members of Congress.

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).

The North turned slavery into a moral issue creating tension between the two distinct parts of the

Abolition vs equality was the most debated topic during these times. People of the north though not very dependent on slavery, feared the rise in population of freed slaves. This would cause an already rough job environment to become even worst with the boom in the population and the need of work for the newly freed men and women. Even if slaves were freed it would bring up a tremendous amount of questions, would the newly freed people be equal to their past masters, and would they share rights and privileges and their previous white masters? Abolition in theory was an amazing concept, but many of the people in the north feared the unbalancing of their already fragile economy. The constant debate between the ever growing north, and south