The Civil War Essay

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

The Civil War was provoked for several reasons which included industry, slavery, and territorial disputes among the Northern states and Southern states of the newly established United States. The first recorded engagement of war between the North and South is documented to have taken place on April 12th, 1861 at The Battle of Fort Sumter. This was the starting point of a war that would claim over 600,000 American lives in a relatively short span of 4 years.

One of the main causes of the Civil War was the argument over slavery. Though slavery was not the only reason why the civil war happened it is still considered as one of the main reason that led to the fighting between the North and South. Slavery was an important thing not only because of the cruel or religious reasons, but just from the fact that it’s

The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 balanced the ratio of free and slave states when the balance was threatened when the Missouri Territory wanted to become a state. The Compromise resulted in Missouri joining as a slave state and Maine - breaking off of Massachusetts - joining as a free state (Document 2A). As a result, a line of compromise was put in place: anything above the chosen line became free territories - with the exception of Missouri - and anything below the chosen line became slave territories (Document 2A). This Compromise divided the nation physically into the free parts of the Union and the slave parts of the Union (Document 2A). However, this line of compromise also divided the nation politically. According to Robert Kagan, the nation was split between “both national parties, the society of slaveholders [and] the society of free labor” (Document 2B). Those in the South favored candidates and laws that supported slavery while those in the North favored candidates and laws that did not support or restricted slavery. Consequently, the government officials had to be divided regarding whether they support slavery or not. Also, the number of officials proslavery and anti-slavery had to be equal in order to please both the North and the South. In turn, in times of political debate regarding slavery, there was a clear division between the opposing of the debate. The

The Civil War was caused by the election of Abraham Lincoln, racial tension, and problems with people’s rights.

John Brown took an aggressive action against the South. When he fled a group of men to attack the South in attempt to free slaves. As the slaves didn't rise up the operation quickly dismantled, and John Brown was captured by Robert E. Lee and paid with his life. When Northerners sympathized with the courages action of Browns in the South started seeing the Republicans views on slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the presidential candidate for the Republicans he won with only 40% of his votes. Knowing he wasn't even on 10 states ballets, the Electoral College voted him as President and put him in the White House regardless of the percentage of the votes. Even though he had said he would not interfere with slavery, he did not attend to abolish it but because he was a Republican they didn't trust him. This convinced enough leaders in various states in the South that the federal government was not going to give in with slavery. As the Southern states began to secede in the Union starting with South Carolina they felt walls closing around them.

In 1850, a document called the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Primarily, this document dealt with the reclaiming of runaway slaves. This law allowed southerners to call upon the federal government to capture runaway slaves who had fled the South and may be living in the North. The Fugitive Slave Act and the laws that went with it only caused controversy in the North. This split the North and South. In reaction to this, some northern states passed laws forbidding state officials to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, which only angered the southern states. Northerners had become aware of the hypocrisy of slavery and became resolved to end slavery. Many abolitionists started to take action to help slaves escape. This major controversy over the

Many factors led to the occurrence of the American Civil War. The key issues were slavery, different political ideologies, right of the people, and economic reasons. However, the key reasons that lead to the Civil War was slavery. Slavery is touted as the main cause of the conflict between the states in the northern part and those in the south. To date, slavery is still considered the worst human tragedy to have occurred in the United States. Abraham Lincoln himself pointed out that slavery was the root cause of the Civil War because of increase in tension within the country.

The Civil War was a brutal war that broke out in 1861 and lasted another four years in America between the North and the South or the Union against the Confederate. The war was almost inevitable because of issues such as slavery that spurred the secession of the North and the South. The Civil War broke out because of sectionalism which is loyalty to one’s own state or region rather than the country as a whole. Tensions on the debate of slavery caused economic and political problems between the North and South. As the war approached, the South leaned more towards independence by seceding from the Union.

The Civil War began in 1861 and that was during the time when many different events were occurring at this time. One event that was “somehow” the cause of the Civil War was slavery. Tension was growing stronger between people because some were against slavery and some were for slavery. The tension between those people started to segregate them from each other because they had complete opposite views on slavery. There are some events that can help explain how slavery was a cause of the Civil War.

The Civil War was a major conflict in United States History. Many southerners believed it was the South fighting to defend states’ rights, while other believed it was due to slavery. But the Civil War did not just come about overnight. Mainly during the prior decade, but honestly since the beginning of the United States, the North and South have struggled with a major issue, slavery. The Civil War was inevitable because a united nation cannot exist if people are strongly split on the extremely important issue of slavery. Events like the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, and the secession of Southern states, were some of the significant factors leading up to the Civil War.

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.

Many think that Union states and Confederate states went to war for only one reason – slavery. While slavery was the main issue happening, there were many underlying problems that caused the tension between the north and south. Events such as The Missouri Compromise of 1820, Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831, Bleeding Kansas in 1854, Dred Scott Decision of 1857, and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 are a few of the major causes of the Civil War. All these events made northern states open their eyes to how serious the situation was in southern states.

In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined.