For decades, America was united because of its morals, opinions, and ability to solve a conflict. However, by 1850 America had become increasingly sectioned, and there were arguments and disagreements happening everywhere. The North and South tried to settle their many differences, but ultimately, between the failed compromises and their opposing views on slavery, the civil war was unavoidable. Although the failed compromises contributed significantly to the start of the Civil War, ultimately, their opposing views on slavery were the most crucial cause. The Civil War might not have happened without the failing of compromise. One event that contributed to the failure was sectionalism. Sectionalism is when 2 or more states are facing tension …show more content…
2 Another event that may have contributed to the start of the Civil War would be the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was when citizens would try and help solve sectionalism by voting on whether or not they wanted slavery. This method ended up backfiring and creating a mess that was ultimately named “Bleeding Kansas.” “Northerners and Southerners rushed to move into Kansas in 1854-55, even building temporary residences, to influence the vote. Fighting broke out between the two factions, leading to more than 200 deaths in a period of several years that came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Infamous white abolitionist John Brown led a violent response known as the Pottawatomie Massacre against a pro-slavery town in Kansas.” (Doc 6) Between this and the many failed compromises, America was quickly going downhill. The most significant reason for the Civil War was the North and South’s opposing views on slavery. When the topic was slavery, the North and South would not agree. The …show more content…
“Josiah Henson spent thirty years on a plantation in Maryland, before he escaped slavery and became a Methodist preacher, abolitionist, lecturer, and founder of a cooperative colony of former slaves in Canada. His memoirs, published in 1849, provided abolitionist and author Harriett Beecher Stowe with her model for Uncle Tom. In 1852, Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to show slavery as a cruel and unjust institution. In the first year over 300,000 copies of her book were sold. In 1856, five years before the first shots were fired in the Civil War, over two million copies were sold in the northern United States. Her novel allowed many Americans outside the south their first glimpse into this evil institution.” (Doc 5) This book really helped the North in proving the wrong in slavery. This led to the growing divide 3 between the North and South because Uncle Tom’s Cabin showed how cruel and wrong slavery was. The North and South continued to disagree until the election of 1860. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln ran for president of the United States. Lincoln was the first person to run for the republicans. Lincoln would side with the North in their opinion on slavery which made
The American Civil War was in many ways a logical conclusion to the growing differences between the Northern and Southern United States from its beginnings the late 1700’s. The growing sectional differences in politics, economics, and society made war seem nearly inevitable by the year 1861. One major cause of The American Civil War was the Missouri Compromise. This was a cause because the Missouri Compromise the Compromise split the north and south to being slave and non slave territories, which led the country divided.this averted war for 30 years until california was up for grab for whether it was it was a free state, because it crossed both sides of the Missouri Compromise line. In Document 5 Abraham Lincoln states “A house divided against
This Compromise was good for the time being but as time went on, the argument between the North and South about their differing political views on slavery grew, which overall led to the Civil War. Although some may argue that the Civil War was caused
On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired the first shots on Fort Sumter and began what would be the start of one of America’s deadliest battles, the Civil War. Although the official war started in 1861. There had been ongoing economic, political, and social conflicts in the states for decades well before the war started. As the Civil War is commonly acknowledged as a war fought over the issue of slavery, several other factors such as dissimilarities between the North and South’s industrial advancement, the infamous Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the differentiated views on what freedom is between African American and white citizens. These were vital elements to the reason behind the Civil War.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 caused the Civil War due to all the fighting over whether a state was a slave state or a free state. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces clashed in irregular fighting following the creation of Kansas in 1854 (Doc. F). This led to the Civil War because fighting broke out daily about anti-slavery and pro-slavery, these fights soon grew bigger and bigger leading
The compromise of 1850 was the cause of the civil war. The problem started when California came in as a free state. The South didn’t want California to enter the Union because they would enter as a free state because the South was scared that if more free states came in they would eventually lose power in the Senate. The compromise of 1850 had four parts; California would come in as a free state, slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C., Utah and New Mexico would decide whether or not they would allow slavery, and the fugitive slave act was made.
Slavery was one issue that divided the nation. The North hated that Congress allowed the South to have slaves. The Republican Party, which supported the North, stated that “we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal
The Civil War, beginning in April of 1861 and ending in April of 1865 was one of the most controversial and yet influential battles in American history, but what started it is even more controversial. Leading up to the beginning of the civil war, many southern states began to succeed.. This meant that a lot of them withdrew from the federal union voluntarily. The southern states seceding sparked the beginning of the civil war. As the documents entitled Declaration of Causes of Seceding States, 1861: South Carolina, Senator John C. Calhoun (D-SC) "Slavery a Positive Good" and Senator James Henry Hammond
citizens over the issue of slavery spreading to new territories. One example of this would be the U.S. Presidential election of 1860 (Doc 11). This election was extremely sectional, and really underscored just how divided the country was over the issue of slavery spreading into the territories. Abraham lincoln, the candidate that won the election was the only candidate that opposed the spread of slavery, and was strongly supported in the north. The south however did not support Lincoln, in fact, Lincoln wasn't even on the voting ballots in many of the southern states.
A single cause for the Civil War cannot be fixated on a single issue, rather it is vital to understand that multiple variations in the North and South’s politics, society, and economy all culminated to a point where war was deemed necessary. In addition, these variations existed long before the years leading up to the Civil War - the geographical constraints presented to the colonists created the different identities of the North and South. Years later, the conjunction of these differences and the attempt to unify contrasting regions lead to the Civil War. In essence, the differences in culture, race, and gender between the North and South ultimately created the Confederate States of America who waged war against the United States.
The Civil War was a critical event in the history of the United States and the war shapes how our nation works as a whole today. The cause of the war was deeply rooted in the issues of slavery and sovereignty. This made the South split from the North wanting to keep slavery in place resulting in the Civil War. The war was fought between 1861 and 1865 separating the Northern States, the Union, and the Southern States, the Confederacy. The three main reasons that led to the success of the Union in the Civil War were the Union's industry, leadership, and strategy allowing them to have a hard-fought victory.
Some of the most important events that caused the Civil War were the rebellions that took place. Rebellions are the main reason we had the Civil War. Some of the most important rebellions were the attack by John Brown and the rebellion of Nat Turner. There were many other attempts of rebellion but these are the main reasons. John Brown was a White American abolitionist, who believed that rebellion was the only way to overthrow the idea of Slavery in the United States.
Many important events preluded the Civil War, but the Mexican-American War essentially caused the war to happen. Although there are many other theories on what events caused the Civil War, such as the Scott vs. Sandford court case and Abraham Lincoln’s election as president, the Mexican-American War was the most imperative for the Civil War to occur. Without the occurrence of the Mexican-American War, a crucial chain of events that would lead to the Civil War, such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, would not have happened or could have happened differently, and the Civil War could have been prevented. The Causes of the Civil War
The Kansas-Nebraska Act triggered conflict in the U.S., specifically in Kansas causing Bleeding Kansas. The Kansas and Nebraska Act also
Some political practice that caused the Civil War was the election of Abraham Lincoln. Another issue that caused the Civil War was John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, it heated arguments over the Fugitive Slave Act, and President Buchanan’s refusal to mediate between the North and South. In the South, slavery had firmly established itself, which used slaves for the arduous physical labor involved in farming. The North was more urbanized, slaves and indentured laborers were more frequently employed as servants or artisans. The southern states gained an enormous amount of money off slaves and cotton, while the northern states did not need slaves.
When most people look at the American Civil War they see a disagreement between the Union (which represented the North) and the Confederacy (which represented the South) that could not be solved in a civil matter and escalated into a war. While this is mostly true there were many other factors that led to the Civil War. It is easiest for us to view the situation through the lense of homeostasis. On a large scale there was a country that was split into differing opinions and the only way to obtain internal stability of the country was war.