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The Pros And Cons Of The US Civil War

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The U.S. Civil War from 1860 to 1865 was the decisive factor determining the existence of the Union or the independence of the Confederacy. The war sprouted from the Mexican American War and the land and power issues that followed, the increased wedge between the North and the South from the Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling, and the presidential election of 1860. While both Northerners and Southerners believed they were fighting against oppression, Northerners focused on the slavery issue and binding the nation back together while Southerners defended their long-standing institution. Different advantages and disadvantages on both sides helped to shape the war, with the Peninsula Campaign finally tipping the scales. At this time, wartime president …show more content…

Southerners were outraged at John Brown’s attempt to start a slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry. The Dred Scott v. Sanford decision angered northern Republicans. Northern Democrats struggled with their beloved popular sovereignty. The presidential election of 1860 brought all these issues to the forefront, and its end result was the immediate cause of the Civil War. The Democratic Party was split along regional lines with each side vying for control of the party. Because Republican Lincoln’s opponents were so deeply divided, his win wasn’t much of a surprise. Democratic votes were divided in half between the two candidates and the Republican votes were not. Once Lincoln was elected, the Democratic southern states began seceding starting with South Carolina. This caused a domino effect of the deep southern state secessions. The reasoning behind the South’s secession was that they wouldn’t be represented in the government fairly. The Republican Party’s platform for this election was to prevent the expansion of slavery, but the South knew that although Lincoln hadn’t mentioned the abolishment of slavery, it would eventually happen. If slavery couldn’t expand, then any new territories admitted would have to come in as free states. As a result, the balance of power would be completely with the North, ending with free states outvoting slave states on the topic of

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