Fugitive Slave Act: Main Cause Of The Civil War

The issue of slavery was a significant “thorn in the side” of America from the very inception of our nation. Despite the fact that slavery was an accepted legal phenomenon in the eighteenth century, it also invoked significant controversy. Many Americans, typically those denizens of the southern states, felt that slavery was an indispensable economic necessity. Alternatively, others opined that slavery was an inherently immoral and unethical institution which denied certain races basic human rights, and as such warranted abolition, no matter the consequences. Although the Constitution never mentions the word “slave” once, slavery is referenced to in the Constitution several times, in three prominent compromises that our founding fathers were forced to make, for the sake of the establishment of a unified nation. These compromises had a lasting impact on future generations, both legally and emotionally.

‘November 6 1860, Lincoln was elected president of America which resulted in panic emerging in the South’ . The election of Lincoln as president who was a Republican leader meant that ideologies, movements and values from the North would be implemented in the South which meant the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a huge characteristic of the South as the economy; politics; social status and psychological mind-sets were influenced by the process of slavery. The southern white population then derived the idea of secession which meant the South would gain independence from Northern aggression . This essay will explore the reasons as to how and why secession occurred and whether slavery was the main

Uncompromising differences between the South (Confederacy) and the North (Union) created a civil war that lasted five years. During this war, Abraham Lincoln was president. His election led to the secession of many Southern states. After refusing to recognize the Confederacy as its own nation, the American Civil War commenced in 1861. The three main causes of the Civil War between the North and the South were industrial and agricultural economies, politics, and slavery.

To a greater extent, slavery was the greatest cause of the outbreak of the civil war in 1860. Disputes of slavery caused economic and political troubles between the northern and southern states leading up to the civil war. The fact the the northern and southern states were different in almost every way caused them to turn out like completely different territories, one of their greatest differences was the fact that most southern states economy relied on hard labour, agricultural jobs like tobacco in Maryland, and cotton in Virginia; this caused their economy to be more based on the labour of slaves than the more developed territories in the north (Harrold), who after this time was starting to not need the slave labour in their territories because after early 1800’s, the industrial revolution had been spreading to America, and the country developed very quickly. But in this expansion, only the north states were getting the effect of the industrial revolution, meaning the north would not need slave

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had increased sectionalism by intensifying the debate over slavery. The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act had increased sectionalism, which eventually led to the Civil War. In an attempt to resist the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, many Northern states had passed the Personal Liberty Laws. These laws had counteracted the Fugitive slave act and protected escaped slaves who had settled in the North. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also allowed law enforcement to force bystanders to participate to help chasing runaway slaves. Any citizen who had aided a slave in their runaway could be imprisoned for 6 months or was fined $1,000.

Blood, death, tears, and shouts, that was life in the Civil War for a soldier. In 1861, the Civil War begun and the states that had once been united were now turning against each other. Texas fought for the South and was the 7th state to join the Confederacy. Texas had a military with about 65,000 Texan soldiers within it and almost a fifth of these fighters perished. Men of all ages were marching off to war in different states, and women and children were left waiting anxiously for their return. Why would anyone want to join? Why did Texans fight in the Civil War? Texans fought the Civil War because they wanted to preserve slavery, they loved their state, and they wanted to protect state’s rights.

The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 1793 by a vote of 48–7 with 14 abstaining. Eight days later, the Act was approved by Congress. Although the Article four of the U.S. Constitution granted the slave masters the rights to recapture slaves who fled to free states, “the Fugitive Slave Law included new and harsher provisions mandating the participation of northern states and individuals in the recapture process and curtailing the rights of alleged fugitives to prove they were not runaways” (Kazin 492). Many, either white or black, reacted to this Act, especially in the North. Some states even passed personal-liberty laws to allow fugitive slaves to appeal their case in a court. The “underground railroad” was established in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act. “The term Underground Railroad can be traced to about 1830, when a slaveholder traveling through Ohio with his slaves saw them all escape their bondage and complained that one of them had “gone off on an underground road” (Mancall et al., 5: 397). It was neither underground nor a railroad; it was, in fact, a system in which African-American slaves from the South escaped to places of safety in the North or in British North America. Those involved with system employed railway vocabulary such as stations and conductors to describe how it worked. It was underground because its activities had to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguise. The runaway slaves were secretly

The debate was caused because many felt emancipation was the only way to end the violence, while others wanted to keep their slaves to make profit. They decided against abolishing slavery because colonizing the blacks would be too expensive and too complicated, and they were not about to let black men free in a white man’s country. White leaders blamed the insurrection on northern abolitionism. They could not blame the slave system because it was making them rich and they considered to part of everyday life. Whites felt like they were superior to blacks, so they believed the slave system was justified. Southerners blamed the north for causing the violence. This fueled tensions and precipitated the Civil War because southerners thought northern abolitionism inspired slaves to act out and rebel. Essentially, this made the north their enemy because they were threatening their lifestyle and

Another major factor that led to the Civil war was the social status and views at the time. The North and South had very different social views. In the North, while a good amount of the people owned slaves, many of them began to see it as wrong and inhumane. They also began to believe that they no longer needed slaves to do work for them and that the slaves should have freedom, as well as their own rights. But even with the North beginning to want to change things, slaves were still not treated like human beings most of the time. Most were left unfed and if they disobeyed orders they were whipped and cruelly beaten. However, the most of the South didn 't see slavery as inhumane. To them slavery was needed, slaves were needed to help farm, as well as make profit for their owners. Slavery was seen as a source of

There were three main causes of the civil war including slavery, sectionalism and secession. Slavery was a huge part of it and it led to the Missouri Compromise where any states below the border would be slave states and the anything north of that was free states. (Mrs. Wise) "The south feared the declaration of freedom for the slaves by government leaders in the North." Next, sectionalism. Sectionalism- loyalty to your state or lifestyle rather than to the whole country. The north was against sectionalism and the south liked it. The North wanted the government to rule laws for the whole country and south wanted to have each state choose their own laws individually. south also wanted to return any runaway slaves. (Mrs. Wise) "the Fugitive

In 1975, Michael Shaara wrote one of the most classic Civil War books ever, The Killer Angels. In The Killer Angels, Shaara portrays the perspectives of many soldiers who fought in the Civil War including those from both sides, the North and the South. Civil War soldiers fought for something more than just manhood, duty, government, and their country. They fought for and against slavery, which for most soldiers was their primary motivation beyond defending their home. Slavery for many was more than just an institution, it was the fabric of their economic society that provided the wealth and opportunity to the South. Without slavery the South could not operate and prosper which made it impossible for the notion of emancipation. However, those in the North did not immediately rely on the institution of slavery in such dire manner. For Northerners, empathy was easier to practice. As the notion of emancipation became more widely discussed by politicians during the abolitionist movement tensions between the North and the South rose. The idea that the nation could eradicate the lifeblood of the southern plantations was deemed unacceptable and the southern states felt helpless. The South fought for state’s rights which is synonymous with slavery as that was the most important right they were fighting for, and the North fought to keep the South from seceding, largely due to South’s interest in maintaining slavery as

The end result of the Dred Scott decision was Chief Justice Roger Taney 's decision that Congress did not possess the jurisdiction to stop slavery from spreading into other territories, even if they were considered free. Even worse, any free Black could now be allowably forced into slavery. Being forced into slavery was also seen as being beneficial to the free Blacks. Instead of reaching a decision as President Buchanan had hoped, it had started a rapid expansion of the conflict. This rapid expansion over the issue of slavery eventually led to the Civil War.

Former Confederate leaders like Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens claimed that the Civil War was fought because of state’s rights and how they wanted to fight back against federal tyranny. After reading the Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War, I agree that the war was fought because of state’s rights. The people in the South wanted to keep slavery and were going to do anything they could to keep slavery. They believe that the government was trying to oppress the South by making them get rid of their slaves.

There are many theories of why the Civil War started, but most say it is from slavery. President Abraham Lincoln stated about slavery, “ All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war”( Guelzo 1). Others believed there was different reasons. Some say it was territorial expansion and others say it was states’ rights (Causes

The Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B Du Bois, is a passionate story that takes you through his life and struggles as an African American man. This book is a great representation of historic American literature. His main topic shows his emotions and opinions of race and the problems that came with it, including those of other African Americans. Another major topic was Emancipation, for this story takes place during the Emancipation of 1865 to about 1903. He also talks about the ways to improve the hard times they endured and how he believed that things would always be difficult for the black man because of the color line.