Abraham Lincoln And The Second American Revolution: Analysis

After the efforts to gain independence from Britain and the creation of the United States of America, eighty years later this union was not so united. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, it was the first time that Americans fought Americans. Among many reasons, the Civil War is known to be a result of the arguments over the delineation of the States’ Rights or the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln. In actuality, the Civil War, the most deadly war in American history, was due to disputes over slavery in the American territories. Therefore, the Civil War was inevitable because of the consequences that occurred one being slavery.

On October 16, 1859, John Brown led a small mixed race group to attack the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in the hopes of triggering a slave rebellion (Norton, 361). Southerners were outraged to learn that prominent northern abolitionists had financially backed John Brown. This increased southern fear that the northern abolitionists could attempt greater revolutionary acts in an attempt to start a slave rebellion. The southerners feared Abraham Lincoln being elected in 1860 due in part to the Republican Party’s opposition to slavery extension

Gilded Age in America sprung from the remains of American Civil War fought for freedom. Civil War broke out in 1861 with the election of Abraham Lincoln as the President. Out of many reasons that paved way for the Civil War, the most prominent and most important one was the freedom movements for slaves. These freedom movements started with the conflict between South and North. South developed as an agrarian community and was economically dependent on it.

Do you feel manipulated by someone? Well that how the U.S. colonist felt because of England. England ruled over the U.S. colonies with a firm hand that was like a master and a slave more than a helping hand in the building of a new nation. England had sent these people over to create a new colony for England and gather goods from the new world. After getting to the new world and helping give back to England for some time a group of colonist start to realize that England was using them and they got angry and started to revolt against England.

By the time of Lincoln’s second presidency, it was obvious that the Confederacy was going to lose. But instead of Lincoln expressing happiness for the end of slavery, he tried to communicate the true purpose of the war; slavery. From the start of the war, Lincoln always said that the war was about preserving the Union, but since the war was won, he could finally say the purpose of the war was to stop the practice of slavery. He exclaims, “These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war”.

A major social cause of the American Revolution was when the Revolutionaries tried to control who was running the government because they felt as though their means were not being met. For instance, when the liberalist tried to move the localist out of power. In the reading, “Democracy and the Constitution” by Gordon S. Wood, he states, “The Progressive period, for example, was marked by the reforming efforts of cosmopolitan type…to wrestle the reins of the government out of the hands of “corrupt” and “undesirable” localist elements.” Here, it shows that the Revolutionaries are trying to change the government and who is a part of the government. A political cause of the American Revolution was when the people rebelled against the taxes that the government was trying to push on them. For example, when the farmers rebelled against the Whiskey Tax.

The origins of the Civil war came from economic, political, and social matters. The impending issue of war was evoked by the economical differences between the North and South, the disparity of ideas in the Government and the variety of opinions on slavery. Economical differences between the North and the South are part of the reason the civil war commenced. Research on 1861, shows that the North had more value economically then the South (Document two). A map of the railroads

I argued that the slave population was increasing in numbers and slaveholders were monopolizing the offices in order to dictate the policy of the government. The slaveholders were manipulating the strength and influence of the nation to promote the support of slavery. I believed that this was greatly unfair to the rights of the free States and felt that it was madness to continue the system of slavery. Based on the previous history, I concluded that it is impossible for free and slave States to unite on any terms, without both feeling the negative effects of slavery. In 1836, I met Ann Greene.

How did the U.S. justify slavery? The defenders of slavery included economics, history, religion, legality and social good. Argued that the end of slavery would result in the killing economic impact on the south where slave labour was the foundation of their economy. Also argued that if all the slaves were freed it would cause widespread unemployment and chaos. Defenders of slavery noted that in the Bible, Abraham had slaves.

The antebellum reform movement of abolition created conflict between differing sets of ideas and interests in the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. Northern states favored the destruction of slavery, seeing it as a violation of the “principles of justice...and the golden rule espoused by Jesus Christ” (Foner 436), and Southern states favored maintaining/expanding slavery due to the fact that “profits from cotton coursed through the whole...economy” (Alexis) down South. Slavery was what held the South in an agrarian state, while the North industrialized and the divide between the two deepened. Abolitionists fiercely battled Southern planters over the issue of slavery, for how could something so morally wrong be played off as right? The American public sphere purposely kept the discussion of bondage under wraps, but with tensions rising, it became a lot harder to oppress.

The Civil War was a unique and significant event in American history. According to many historians, the war was ultimately the final resolution of contradictions in the vision of America when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. It stated that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights”. The war’s origins lay in slavery, which began in North America in the early 1600s and grew rapidly in the South, which caused the southern economy as a whole depended on heavily on slave labor leading up to the Civil War. Slavery, the splitting of which state would be slave or free, and Abraham Lincoln played a major role that was responsible for the nature of the war than any other individual.

(Pg. 4) Historian Charles Beard stated that “the sectional conflict arose from the contending economic interests of plantation agriculture and industrializing capitalism. Slavery happened to be the labor system of plantation agriculture. As a result, the war was a class conflict between a Yankee capitalist

While the north was becoming increasingly industrial, with factories and mills popping up all over, the southern states stayed with family farming, and plantations. With the conquest of the north came their ideologies, including factories. Rhett once again realized this when he told Scarlett about the decline of the Old South. Abolishing slavery was not Abraham Lincoln 's main goal of the Civil War, but in a way he did on the down low. The north being against slavery and the south supporting it was the main cause for the division which caused the war.

In Lincoln 's inaugural speech he said "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their 'constitutional ' right of amending it or they are 'revolutionary ' right to dismember or overthrow it"(Abraham Lincoln 's First Inaugural Address). The 12th of April 1861, the Civil War began. There were many conflicts between the two sides. Many believe it was a fight for the rights and freedom of slaves, so what was the main cause of the Civil War was the issue of states rights and the preservation of the Union than rather than the issue of slavery.

With no final agreement, the country had no other choice but to go to war with itself. The slow decline of the, once powerful, Southern economy and the major issue of the abolishment of slaves are what led to the cause of the American Civil War. While economics and political structure played an important role in the cause of the Civil War, slavery was the main reason why altercations arose. Many historians and teachers try to hide the fact that slavery was such a huge factor in the cause of the Civil War because they looked at slavery as the “norm”. To them, the differences between the Republicans and Democratic formed great disagreement.