I believe that slavery was not the core cause of the Civil War but rather the core cause was the vastly different belief systems and life styles of the North and South. Slavery was a symptom to the overall problem, so it received credit for the start of the Civil War. If Slavery had been the root cause, the south would not have seceded when Abraham Lincoln was elected. Lincoln made it very clear in his campaign and his presidency that his only concern was to preserve the Union and if slavery could preserve the union then so be it. Slavery was not threatened by Lincoln being in office but it also would not expand. The south seceded when the opposite party, who had different beliefs in how the government and nation should be ran, was elected …show more content…
The abolitionist movements were all based in the north. People were not allowed to have slaves in the North, but the Northerners still had to return run-away slaves. After Butler’s declare that the slaves were contraband of war, everything changed (Goodheart 5). The slaves now had some sense of legal security in the North now that the people were not obligated to turn in runaway slaves. Slaves throughout the south fled to the Union and they finally had hope of freedom. The success and usefulness along with the seemingly never ending war spurred the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation. This was the most significant change in slavery that occurred during the war. The proclamation freed all the slaves in the Confederate states and was the start of social equality. This brings me back to the point that slavery was not the core cause of the Civil War. It was only after war that slavery in the south was truly threatened. Before the war started, slavery was no longer spreading but it was not shrinking either. The slave states also had protection against slaves running away to free states, but lost this protection during the war. The war was the beginning of the end for slavery but slavery was not the beginning of the Civil
Slavery, as Abraham Lincoln often noted, was the root cause of the Civil War. Tensions over slavery dated back to the contradictory nature of the American Revolution of 1776 that resulted in a republic simultaneously committed to freedom for whites and bondage for blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Within years North and South reached the point at which compromise was not possible. At that time Civil War had been started.
The final cause leading to the Civil War was Abraham Lincoln’s election. Lincoln in truth fought for and against slavery depending on the situation. However, Southerners strongly believed Lincoln was anti-slavery. So before Lincoln even entered the office seven states had already seceded. These states included the following: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Lincoln was moderate towards slavery at first, but many congressmen agreed that the South was becoming too strong and slavery should not be
Although some historians feel that the Civil War was a result of political blunders and that the issue of slavery did not cause the conflict, they ignore the two main causes. The expansion of slavery, and its entrance into the political scene.
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.
In my opinion, the main cause the civil war is the Economic Factors. As a popular saying goes: interests above everything else. In my opinion, the slave was the most important for the South, because the South was the farmers plantation economy, they need a lot of slaves. When the North and Lincoln against the slavery and wanted to abolish, exactly, which will threaten the South benefits. Maybe there were not any good ways to solve the South difficult rather than war. Basically, there is nobody want to war, sometimes war can solve many difficulty problems deeply. Obviously, the US Civil War was the elimination of slavery, emancipation of slaves and makes America from division to unity. Everything has two sides. If you have seen the film called Saving Private Ryan. You will know war is horrible. In this movie, soldiers died by bomb or killed by the enemy. The river became red by their blood. War is evil. What I want say is if there is good way to solve problem than war, absolutely, we will not choose war. War is a sharp way to solve every problems, war just causes more problems to civilian, every sensible person knows that, I guess that means
Disagreements between the North and South over State’s rights, interpretation of the constitution, and tariffs were more significant as to the cause of the Civil War than the opposing views on slavery. Even today there are still hard feelings between the north and south and democrats and republicans because of how things turned out during the Civil War. There are also still differences of opinion as to the true reason for this war. This being said, it could be easily assumed that slavery was the key issue. But as we all know, the emancipation proclamation was not signed until after the war began, which showed that freeing slaves wasn’t the priority.
was a bit on the part, more of a valid excuse for going to war. There
Slavery played a big part in the causing of the Civil War. However, it was not the entire reason for the war. The slavery issue was primarily
Some may argue that slavery itself did not start the war, the problems it created did. And in a way they are right. Slavery made each side believe they are different from one another. How could they see it any other way? They were divided by a Compromise line, ideals, different economies, and different political officials. The disunion of the nation was inevitable because of these differences and sparked many battles and rebellions pre-civil war; and under lincoln they become united.
The true cause of the civil war, and division between the states to begin with, was the fact that the central government of the united states attempted to overextend its power upon the states, and upon a people who did not wish to be controlled. Contrary to the tenth amendment we see that the government tried to control things by force that where outside of its designated powers. This lead to the true separation by the southern states to form the Confederacy. Slavery was then used as a propagandic tool by the Union to seize more power. Meanwhile, the Confederacy technically did nothing illegal since the second amendment was in place to prevent the government from turning on its own people and seizing power from the people. Along with this, the tenth amendment states that any powers not given to the government were left to the states, or the people. (The Constitution of the United States,1787) These all go to show that technically it was not slavery itself, but the combination of an overreaching government, mixed with the drive to preserve a way of life, that caused the civil
The goal of the civil war was never originally to free slaves but slaves became a large part of the war. African American slaves overcame many challenges to finally receive their freedom. Many African Americans endured the chance to fight for the union and that immensely increased the man power of the union.
The Civil War was all the Northern States’ fault. The “issue” of slavery should not have bothered them in the first place. If someone had a problem with slavery the solution was simple: don’t own slaves. Instead, they tried meddling with slavery which lead to the Southern States’ secession and eventually, the Civil War.
The American Civil War was the bloodiest military conflict in American history leaving over 500 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded (Roark 543-543). One might ask, what caused such internal tension within the most powerful nation in the world? During the nineteenth century, America was an infant nation, but toppling the entire world with its social, political, and economic innovations. In addition, immigrants were migrating from their native land to live the American dream (Roark 405-407). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousand African slaves were being traded in the domestic slave trade throughout the American south. Separated from their family, living in inhumane conditions, and working countless hours for days straight, the issue of
The American Civil War divided the nation because there were tensions between the North, non-slavery states, and the South that focused on the expansion of slavery. The South believed that Abraham Lincoln planned to eliminate slavery which would destroy the growth of cotton. Eleven southern states then seceded from the Union, and became known as the Confederate States of America. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the South rebelled and sought to attack the Union. The war broke out on April 12, 1861 in South Carolina when the Confederate attacked the Union soldiers at Fort Sumter. The war was fought from 1861-1865 and extended as far north as Maryland and Pennsylvania, west to Mississippi, east to the Atlantic and south to the Gulf of Mexico. There were approximately 620,000 causalities and it ended with a union victory when Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The cause of the civil war has been a debated topic for years, because there was more than one cause of the Civil War including: Economic Differences between the North and South, the Abolition Movement, slavery, and Abraham Lincoln’s election; however, the primary cause was the expansion of slavery and secession.
There is a common misconception about the American Civil War, which is that slavery was the only reason for the American Civil War. The Civil War was a battle between the North and the South. The Civil War started on April 12, 1861, at Fort Sumter when Confederacy soldiers attacked Fort Sumter and ended on May 9, 1865, were Confederacy Commander Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union commander Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox courthouse. The sixteenth president of the United States Abraham Lincoln led the Union army while Jefferson Davis president of the Confederacy led the Confederate army. While the most common cause of the Civil War is said to be slavery, there were other factors involved also. The causes of the Civil War also included economic difference, westward expansion, sectionalism, political disagreements, and of course views on slavery all of which divided the North and South. Sectionalism splits our nation into two groups the North and the South. Political disagreements caused problems throughout the nation. Then finally, of course, the main issue slavery and what should be done about it.