Why The Americans Sought To Protect The South's Power

opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery”(Foner par. 2). This quote proves that South Carolina was seceding because of Lincoln’s

He defends the South’s position on slavery which is a deeply grounded belief. Abraham Lincoln describes this situation as a disagreement on the definition of liberty in his “Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore” (1864). He explains that liberty may mean “for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men” (Forner 287). It is easy to see how this disagreement was heading in a catastrophic direction as the South continued to fight for the whole reason they came to America in the first place. The Confederates were willing to fight to death to defend their definition of freedom because the North winning the war equated to the very same thing in their minds; the end of their lives.

“It will become all one thing or all the other.” Lincoln says that he expects the Union to decide on having slaves, or not having slaves. He wants the Union to decide on one thing. But the Southern states wanting slaves, and the Northern states wanting slaves freed, is mostly what caused them arguing. The North and South benefit from each other and it would have not been smart to secede because they both need supplies and food from each

Going by this speech, there should have been no reason for secession as he promised he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed. However, Southerners still though of Lincoln as an abolitionist and were worried that he would completely abolish slavery. This emphasises that Southerners were unhappy that a Northern, anti-slavery party had won the presidency. As a result of Lincolns election, South Caroline, followed by six other states, seceded from the Union. This further divided the nation, which in turn led to the Civil War. Tulloch backs up this view as he argues that:

The North and the South were far from settling the slave issue. Another reason that caused the South to go to war was the difference in economic policies. The North was expanding more in the commercial and industrial side while the South was reliant on agriculture. Cities and factories had developed in the North and in the South, it was still staple producing and agrarian. The North’s industry was beginning to dominate its economy while the South was still mainly based on agriculture. The South only produced manufactured goods for consumption and the North were able to export manufactured goods. The taxes and tariff was unfair to the South. The Tariff Act of 1832 put high import fees on all European manufactured good, which was established to protect the Northern industries. The South’s reaction to the Act was a threat to secede from the Union. Railroads were also built to bond the northern tier of states. This made transportation easier in the Northeast than in the South. The Northeast traded with the West while the South can trade only by sea. " They wanted to promote the industry of the New England states, at the expense of the people of the South and their industry" In politics, the North had an advantage over the South. The North was more populated than the South and the South only counted slaves which was big part of their populations as * of a person. Since the House of Representative was based on population

During one of the lectures in class, it was mentioned that Abraham Lincoln, despite not being a supporter of slavery, disregarded his disdain for the institution to keep the United States unionized. However, Southerners were adamant in their right to secede as they feared their slaves would be stricken from them. Slaves are considered their property and livelihood; to take them away, Southerners argued, would be unconstitutional. On top of slave owners perceiving slaves as a commodity, they perceive them as a form of primitive subspecies based on their physical attributes and

One September 22, 1862, the president of the Union, Abraham Lincoln, proposed the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. If I was one of his advisors I would have encouraged Lincoln to propose this Emancipation because it is a necessity to pass it in order to preserve the Union. Through threatening the South’s life style, this will help define the Union’s perception and position of the war: freeing the slaves and preserving the union. This also makes it seem that the North is fighting for a significant moral and human cause. I would have also recommended that because this would have been a good war strategy. By emancipating all the slaves in the rebellion states, this would have crippled the Confederate army. The south army depended on slaves to aid in war efforts.

America was making extreme efforts to unite the country. The South believed that slaves were a necessity for their economy to continue to operate. Because their economy was heavily cotton-based, and cotton was an extremely laborious and monotonous activity, the south used slaves to work their fields and forced them to participate in this hard labor. The North was transforming into a mixed economy where people used their skills to cultivate a job. Many worked in factories or participated in a trade of some fashion. Because of this, slaves were not a necessity to the North. As time progressed, slaves that thought they could successfully make the journey to the North, began running away from their plantation homes. The farther North you could

The subject of slavery was much too sensitive a topic to try to address as a northern politician, especially an anti slavery politician. An example was set by Steward during his “Irrepressible Conflict” speech. The south took his message as a threat to the slave system and caused them to become paranoid. Any brash comments made by Lincoln could have possibly pushed more states to the CSA. Lincoln had no choice but to remain

Lincoln was elected in November 1860, he supported anti-slavery stood along the Democratic Party. Lincoln did mention many times, he wasn’t going to do anything about slavery. Either way, the south was conflicted by the stand he took and not in their favor.

The succession of the eleven southern states significantly impacted the United States and its citizens during the years of 1860 and 1861. Many people are curious as to why, after many years of unification and prosperity, the North and South would find it necessary to split apart. Many aspects contributed to the southern states decision to succeed from the union including: the diverse perspectives on the emancipation of slavery, the South’s belief it was capable of being self sufficient, as well as, standing as a nation on its own, and the concern that the Constitution of the United States was being altered from the original meaning it was meant to have.

Slavery had always been a big issue in the 19th century. The south believed that slavery was essential for the development of the southern economy. As seen in document one, there is a strong controversy about the rights of slaves. Northerners had stated that they, “deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.” (Document 1). Southerners, on the other hand, believed that, “all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their rights, either of person or property, being...impaired...” (Document 1). The ongoing quarrel on the rights of slavery leads to continuous tension between the two divisions of the country. The North, which depends strictly on manufacturing and industrial factories, disapproves of the usage 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.

The people saw Lincoln’s election as a “mortal threat to slavery, an institution central to their economy and way of life” (GETTYSBURG 9). They thought that Lincoln would change their way of living if the slaves were free like they would then be able to do the same things the “white” people did that they could never do before. Most of the white northerners wanted to preserve the Union, but of them did not care well at least at first, about ending slavery. Both the Union and the Confederacy feared defeat by the summer of 1836.

Seceding is an unconstitutional principle, fully prohibited by the government. If the people had a problem with the way the president ruled or the laws the government had, they must calmly complain or just leave the country. They could not separate their section from the states. Had Lincoln understood their side and let them secede, he would be entirely disregarding the Constitution’s rule altogether, which is not something Lincoln would ever want to do or was capable of. His refusal to let the South secede may have upset the people of the area, but it would’ve upset the country even more had he allowed them to separate. It would’ve shown the rest of the country that the Constitution was something that could be ignored or just didn’t matter. This was simply not the case. If one