The Civil War: Why Did They Secede For?

One reason why the South seceded is because of a high tariff or tax on European imported good by the North. Page 342 stated that the Northern Government placed a high tariff to beat other competitors to protect american industry after the war.Document 2 stated that the South was forced by the North to buy the Northern industry material to protect the Northerner income. This forced Southern buyers to start purchasing materials from the Northern industries which were also very expensive. Many Southerners felt anger towards the way that the North put a tax on the goods they wanted. Even during the Civil War Southerners remembered how unfair the North had treated them.

He knew after the war the union would need to be reconstructed and that was his fundamental core interest. At, to begin with, Lincoln restricted subjugation yet did not think about liberating the slaves unless he thought it would profit the union. A little know truth is that Lincoln really trusted that blacks and whites couldn't live respectively and attempted to discover methods for sending them

Southern states seceded from the Union because they wanted slavery. “Many Northerners viewed slavery as wrong. Abolitionists wanted to end slavery and some helped slaves escape to the north” (Doc 4). The quote shows that the north and the south saw slavery differently. The north was mainly abolitionists and helped slaves escape but the south wanted slavery to continue. The north didn’t want slavery to continue and decided to help them but

Over time, many people have developed several theories into why the Southern states have seceded from the Union, but there is no certain answer. During the Civil War, many of the Southern states wanted to keep the practice of slavery. The Northern states believed that slavery was a bad idea and wanted to abolish it. This led to tensions between the Northern and Southern states. The Southern states finally decided to secede from the Union in 1861.

He explained, in his first inaugural address, that “No State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union, that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence, within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.” Which makes me believe that he realized that the Union wouldn’t survive for very long without the agricultural South. He knew that the North and South supported each other. Lincoln had also taken an oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution. Which in turn made him consider himself bound to preserve the Union as the physical representation of the Declaration of Independence and a central subject of the Constitution.

Southerners had the choice to not seceded and remain with the Union but, they didn't and they made a small probably become a civil war. This is one big difference between the South and the Colonists. The South seceded for other reasons also for one, the election of Abraham Lincoln. Back before the election James Buchanan was the president having no force, power, or backbone he caused irate anger in the Democratic party causes them to split. As a result of the seperation of the party President Lincoln was elected. Southerners were very angry because not only were they pro slavery but, they despised

As a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery. He believed it was unnecessary to everyone-including Negros and Whites. However, with his stand on slavery, he held back by declaring that he had no reason to disrupt slavery where it existed. The constitution had protected states where citizens wanted slavery to exist. Lincoln knew he would not get enough support and that the four slave-holding states in the North would turn against him. As a result, the Civil War began in 1861 with more of a political purpose in keeping the union together rather than a battle for human freedom. Slaveholders could not turn to the Union’s side because slaves were valuable and played a vital role to

Abraham Lincoln was opposed slavery before becoming a president. In his debate with Stephen Douglas, he defined slavery as morally wrong (P.392). Although he was against slavery, he was not an abolitionist; he believed that slavery should not spread into new territories, he was not determined to actually end slavery. When he became a president and the secession of Confederate States happened, he still held to the idea that he had before becoming president for two reasons: first he didn’t want the border slave states to join the Confederate, and second he was hoping the fact that he is not going to end slavery would tempt the Confederate States to return to the Union. As the war dragged on, unlike what he thought, lots of factors occurred that

The South wanted to secede from the Union because of Lincoln’s inauguration. Since he was elected, the South felt they were losing power and

One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.

He was stuck between freeing the slaves or saving the Union. The Northern states wanted him to free the slaves but the Southern states left the union for that very reason, the possibility of losing their slaves, and went to war against the North. Lincoln was facing a very hard decision that would affect the entire country. Abolishing slavery would mean to permanently end the practice and thus grant slaves their

First off, the way they declared secession and proceeded to do so was illegal. To begin with everyday we recite the pledge of allegiance where it states, “one nation, indivisible”. Those southerners recited the same pledge we did and they recited themselves that this union is indivisible. Next, under the constitution of the United States of America secession was and always will be considered illegal because of Article 10 Section 1. In this part of the constitution it was illustrated that, “No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation….”. The southern states obviously did not follow that and violated the constitution they agreed to abide by themselves. When they concurred to join the Union they agreed to join an indivisible nation. Nowhere could they make a complaint worthy enough to try to separate for the states that they agreed to join, but of course they tried to with the controversial subject of slavery.

Lincoln states "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Lincoln was strictly for the Union and if he could save the Union and end slavery he would, but his first thoughts were for the Union, and only the Union. He deals with slavery in this manner because he does not want to upset or cause turmoil in the South. Even though the Civil War was going on, he wants it to end and the Union to be whole.

But it is important to see that his First Inaugural Address was given in March of 1861, already after the Southern states had succeded from the nation. What Lincoln was trying to accomplish was to return the Southern states to the union. Lincoln even goes as far as notifying the South that certain Legislatures have been passed to ensure their state rights, and the constitutionalism of slavery, “holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law,” and that “(he) has no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.” (Majewski, pg. 75). Also, in a letter to Horace

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.