The Civil War Was A Long Term Issue

In 1861, a Civil War broke out in the United States when the South declared their independence from the Union. There is a great amount of reasons that people can argue how the Civil War was started. However, what most people don’t understand, is that most of the events leading up to the Civil War were related to slavery. Slavery was the core of the North and South’s conflict, which led to a very vicious feud.

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

During the year 1820, the Missouri Compromise was established in the USA. Missouri was a slave state to start with but the North wanted to push it towards a free state. Although the North outnumbered the South in population and in the House of Representatives (105-81), and the ratio between states were 11:11, no new legislation could be made. If the state of Missouri became a free state, the ratio between free states and slave states would be 12:10 which would mean that the North could pass any legislation without fear of it being blocked. Vice versa with the South because it would give the South more political power. There was much controversy surrounding this issue and someone had to try and fix it. The man who first try and fix the problem was James Tallmadge who wanted to get rid of slavery in Missouri which outraged the South into blocking it. A man named Henry Clay proposed that Missouri would be a slave-holding state, Maine would now be a free state (23 state added), and there would be no slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of latitude 36°30'

In February of 1819, Missouri applied for statehood in the United States. Because of the North’s consistent increase in population, it took the upper hand in national politics in the House of Representatives. Before the North began increasing its population in substantial numbers, the southern states had had the upper hand in Congress, in part because of the Three-Fifths Compromise, which gave them more representation in the House of Representatives, due to their slave population. At the time, the Senate was divided in national politics, because eleven states were free states, and eleven states were slave states ("The Civil War in Missouri").

The Civil War was the war that divided the young American nation into two opposing sides. One side being the North, also called the Union, and the second side being the South, also called the Confederacy. The root cause of why the South seceded from the Union has been debated and argued since the beginning of the war in 1861. Most people argue that the argument, between the North and the South, over slavery was the main reason why the South left the Union. However, the issue has to be more complex than just the issue with slavery. The root cause of the of the South secession from the Union was a combination of the South’s aggravation and fear over their dependence on the North for their economic prosperity and their dependence on slavery for a highly profitable economy.

In 1819, the nation created a balance Senate with eleven free states and eleven slave states. In the other words, the free states and slave states have equal representation in Senate, but the balance eventually destroyed when the Missouri Territory wanted to enter the United States as a slave state. The Northern states opposed Missouri to enter the United States as a slave state while the Southern states favored it. They, later on, created the Missouri Compromise that Maine enters as a free state, Missouri enters as a slave state, and any territory/state north of the 36°30′ latitude line would be free territory/state and below it would be slave territory/state. President Thomas Jefferson viewed this compromise as being temporary because as the nation moves west (manifest destiny), slavery would increase. The United States expand from just the west of Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and to Mexico when America fought in the Mexican-American War. America won but the Massachusetts House of Representation believed that the war would lead to the expansion of slavery or slave states (Doc.#4). Mexico gave up California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, part of Colorado, and part of Mexico, but California’s admission created conflict. It created an unbalance

In 1819, the House of Representatives had brought forth a bill with the idea of making Missouri a state. At this time, the Union consisted of eleven free states and eleven slave states. Once Missouri was established as a state, it upset the balance as Missouri would become a slave state, and there would be one more slave state than there would be free states. The southerners were happy about this decision while the Northerners feared this would lead to the extension on slavery in the north eventually. As a solution for all of the controversial arguments, the Missouri Compromise was made. In an effort to balance the amount of free states and the amount of slave states, in 1820, Maine was made a free states which in return allowed for Missouri to become a slave state. As well as balancing the number of free and slave states, the Missouri Compromise also denied slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase, which was the boundary in the southern part of Missouri. Soon after this compromise had been made, Missouri decided to ban free blacks from the territory in which they obtained. Because of their decision to do this, the Union prohibited Missouri from joining until 1821, which was when a second Missouri compromise was made. The second Missouri Compromise forbid Missouri from inequity towards citizens coming from another state, yet left them the option to decide whether or not free blacks were considered to be citizens. Overall, the south took this as a victory over the

In the 1860s there was a war between the North and South otherwise known these two groups were known as the Union and the Confederates. This war was called the civil war, reasons of its occurrence may seem simple but there was complex reasoning that led to the occurence of the civil war. These events could include slavery, economic differences, and cultural differences. Many believe that the only cause for the civil war was slavery but there was much that went into the beginning of the civil war. It started as differences between their economies which include industrialization in the North and agricultural in the South. Then these differences evolved into different opinions on culture and politics. The final tipping point into the civil war

The Civil War was a major event and turning point in our country’s history. It rocked our very foundation as a nation and put our own people against each other in all out war. I firmly believe that this war was an inevitable conflict that could not have been avoided for many reasons. There was just too much building for so long in so many different areas within our nation that this looming eruption into civil war was a forgone conclusion. Slavery is seen as the main factor and many just give that as a single word answer for why war broke out between the north and south states, as seen in the Simpsons video we watched in class.

Tensions began to grow between the North and the South over several issues as the United States was spreading to the west. Westward expansion only made matters worse because Southern states wanted slavery to spread. In comparison, more and more people in the North started to look down upon slavery and did not want it to expand westward. As tensions grew, some Southern states decided to secede from the United States and form their independent nation called the Confederate States of America (Hillstrom 3). These internal problems were all leading causes of the Civil War. The Civil War lasted from 1861 and ended in 1865, and resulted in more than 620,000 deaths, with millions of others severely wounded (“American Civil War” 1). During the Civil

The Missouri Compromise, formulated by Henry Clay, was meant to regulate slavery in the country’s western territories. It also admitted Missouri as a slave state, and at the same time declared that states could not enter the union as a slave state if they were above 36’ 30”. In addition, it added Maine into the United States and balanced the ratio of slave and free states. This compromise was agreed upon both pro and anti-slavery factions, and passed in 1820. However, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska

Tension had already been building up in the states about slavery. It reached a highpoint when Missouri asked to be admitted into the Union in 1819, as a slave state. This would upset the balance of an equal amount of slave states and free states. At the time, the U.S. contained 11 free states and 11 slave states. So they decided to make a compromise. The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri a slave state and Maine as a free state to maintain the balance. Also slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30’, excluding Missouri. This Compromise had some pros and cons.

The U.S. was engaged with a war against Mexico in the 1840s, which allowed the United States to gain additional new territories after their victory, but this elevated tensions because these new states could choose to have slaves or not have slaves. Looking back in history to the Missouri Compromise, this federal statute regulated slavery in the western territories as the Northern states felt that by adding a new slavery-supporting state, the balance would be tipped toward pro-slavery states that would then control the national government and Senate (Foner, Eric). An increase in either slave-owning or slavery-abolished states could upset the delicate balance in Congress in the mid 19th century, so in response to the addition of Missouri as a slave-owning state, Maine split from Massachusetts to become its own state to keep the political balance of the United States. However when new territories were acquired, a similar balance problem occurred, but this time for both sides of the slavery debate. California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, and parts

The Civil War was a time of fighting within the United States brought on by many events including the Missouri Compromise, abolition movement, presidential election of 1860, secession of Southern states, and other occurrences. Most Southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America. The big divide stemmed from the differing positions on slavery. The North had been gradually abolishing slavery and did not depend on such free labor in the way the South did. The agricultural dependant economy of the South relied on African American labor. Therefore, each side feared the stance the government would take on the issue of slavery and how that would affect the economy and politics of the nation. From 1861 to 1865, the

During the years leading up to the civil war, the issue of slavery was the main focus of most politicians. The people in the North were anti-slavery and wanted slavery to be gone forever. The people in the South, some who owned slaves, thought that slavery was a okay and that it should be legal. One of the first laws passed that had to do with slavery was the Missouri Compromise in 1820. In early 1819, Missouri applied to become a state of the union. At this time, there were 11 states that allowed slavery and 11 that did not. This balance was crucial because it meant that there was equal representation in congress for both sides. But Missouri would become a slave state, tipping the balance in favor of the South. To address