Controversial Issues During The Pre Civil War

The north and south have been arguing over slavery since 1787 when the constitution was signed and our government came to be. Before the westward expansion began, it was

Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery around 1818, will forever remain one of the most important figures in America's struggle for civil rights and racial equality. As an ex-slave, his inspiration grew beyond his boarders to reach the whole world. Without any formal education, Douglass escaped slavery and became a respected American diplomat, a counselor to four presidents, a highly regarded speaker, and an influential writer. By common consent Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845) is recognized as the best among the many slave narratives that appeared before the Civil War. He amazed people when he spoke bravely in his Fourth of

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.

The post-Civil War, also known as the extended period that came to be known as the Gilded Age, was largely centered around and influenced by big business and corporations. The newfound efficiency of resources and mass production resulted in a wide variety of available products but also a wide divide between classes and a misdistribution of power that led to the forming of unions and passing of anti-trust legislation. Big business employed money and power to control and manipulate the economy and politics to their own advantage through dishonest means and exploitation of poor immigrants. Americans such as Samuel Gompers worked on the creation of different labor unions to protect the common people and authors such as Jacob Riis and Stephen

Slavery has been a heavily encourages and practiced in the American society. From poor white farmers to supporter of abolishing slavery has seen it with their eyes. They all know that what they were doing to the African American slave was wrong. Slavery transformed the way society sees their life and liberty. In order to truly understand the impacts that slavery had on American society was to be a slave yourself. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and fighter for freedom wrote his book based on his experience of being a slave. He was an African American who taught himself how to read write and gain more knowledge to learn that he was a worthy living human. With his autobiography, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American slave written by himself, Douglass protected his experience by using different tones and styles to capture the reader's mind and show an example of what a slave had to face.

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

Frederick Douglass was many things; a man, an orator, a writer, an avid abolitionist, a presidential advisor and a slave. Douglass lived the majority of his life as a free man after escaping his bondage at age 20. However, everything he did and accomplished over the course of his life was influenced and affected by his past as a slave. Just as slavery shaped Douglass’s existence, the politics of the 19th century would not escape the pressure of the debate over slavery. From the American Revolution to the Civil War, slavery embedded itself into the Southern economy and culture to the point where the argument over its expansion would necessitate complex political workarounds, and break up the national political parties of the last few decades down sectional lines.

As Americans were moving west to fulfill the Manifest Destiny and conquering new territories, new boundaries for the Union were having to be shaped. With the northern states having officially abolished slavery since 1804, the argument over which territories would be free or not was now coming into play. The North and South have had differing opinions regarding slavery for over sixty years, but with the topic being kept out of most, if not all, political debates the dispute never seemed to come to a head. After the

The North and South had very different views on slavery. The North saw the cruel and inhumane treatment of slaves. They wanted to free the slaves because they thought it was wrong for people to use others against their will. The Southerners believed the slaves were inferior and it was acceptable to use them for their purposes. They needed the slaves to work the plantations.

Slavery continued to cause major conflictions throughout the nation, especially between northern and southern states. Northerners and Southerners had two completely different views and insights on the issue of slavery. For most Northerners, they believed that slavery was wrong and it went against what the nation stood for; liberty and all men being created equally. However, there were some northerners who were antislavery and others (very few) were abolitionist. Although both sides opposed slavery, some individuals’ motives were self beneficial and really did not care so much for slavery while others believed in what America stood for and how it implies to everyone. Southerners on the other hand defended slavery, as it was their way of life.

Northern and Southern states both had different ideas about slavery; the North wanted to ban it whereas the South wanted to keep slavery in all states. This disagreement led to many different disagreements that had to resolved with multiple

agriculture. The industrial revolution in the North, during the first few decades of the 19th century, brought about a machine age economy that relied on wage laborers, not slaves. In addition, At the same time the warmer Southern states continued to rely on slaves for their farming economy and cotton production. Southerners made huge profits from cotton and slaves and fought a war to maintain them. Northerners did not need slaves for their economy and fought a war to free them. For instance, James Henry Hammond announces that the slaves hired in the South are hired for life and compensated while in the North their manual laborers are not cared about and are essentially “slaves”. (Doc L.) Essentially, Hammond felt that people are better off in the South because they are treated much better and they have a prime purpose unlike the North who call the hired “manual laborers” but are just slaves, who are one day working then suddenly ‘beggars “on the street. Another example of the Industry vs. Agriculture being a cause of the Civil War was South Carolina Threatening Secession, with all its pecuniary bounties to the Northern states, and its pecuniary burdens upon the Southern states, would be utterly “overthrown and demolished”. (Doc A.) This would develop in the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing

As far back as 1640, slavery has been an issue in North America. Although there has been many opposing viewpoints on slavery, it didn’t end until the mid 1800’s, which is why it was a huge part in the sectionalism of the United States. Sectionalism is when an originally united nation begins to take opposing sides against each other and split up the once complete whole nation. When America expanded westward, there were many contributions, in addition to slavery, including: the Missouri Compromise, Manifest Destiny, and Tariff Abominations that caused sectionalism between the North and South to grow during 1800-1850.

Frederick Douglass truly transformed American society by using realism and powerful rhetoric within his speeches. Douglass’s speeches and slave narrative not only clarified, but described in full detail real and life changing events of slavery that changed the tide of the Civil War.

Slavery was something that became interwoven into the South’s economy considering it was a one crop economy that depended on cotton. Therefore it depended on slaves, even if only a fraction of the population actually owned slaves. Meanwhile, the northern economy was more focused on industry rather than agriculture. Their industries would purchase raw cotton and turn it into a finished good. The North and South therefore also had major differences in their economic attitudes. The dispute over slavery and the future of it led to secession, which brought a war where the Northern and Western states fought to preserve the Union and the Southern territories fought to establish their independence as a new confederation under a constitution of its own.