Why Did The South Want To Secede Dbq

Charles B. Dew argued in his book “Southern Secession Commissioners and the Cause of the Civil War” that the south seceded to protect the slaves. He also stated the north had larger military forces compared to the south. That southerners fought because of their pride and that is why the war lasted for four years (322). Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana wanting to get out of the Union and become one of their own. The lower southern states persuaded many other slave state to secede from the Union as well.

Southerners were willing to go above and beyond for the sake of their state, beliefs, and neighbors, and Lincoln’s elections pushed their resentment for the North over the edge. Another division between Southerners was the issue of secession. This issue was a monumental division among Southerners in South Carolina. The majority of South Carolinians wanted to secede, but some wholeheartedly opposed the idea. “At Fernandina I saw young men running up a Palmetto flag, and shouting a little prematurely, ‘South Carolina has seceded!’ ”

The South longed for slavery to be accepted into the constitution, as their cash crop economy thrived on the utilization of slaves. The abolishment of slaves would impact farmers in the south that produced massive quantities of cash crops. Prior to the

The Compromise of 1820 was caused by Missouri wanting to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. This would have caused an imbalance between slave states and free states in Congress. So, the free states, the North, opposed Missouri being a slave state. The compromise was possible because there was also the admittance of Maine to the Union as a free state, so Missouri could be a slave state without disrupting the balance in Congress. There was also the 36°30' line that started from Missouri.

The North suprised the South by fighting back, as the South thought they’d secede unopposed. The North fought because if they didn’t, they would end up losing their property, country, and freedom. Parallel to the South, they felt they were fighting to uphold what the founding fathers would want, which was to keep the Union together in their opinion. A soldier from Missouri said, “We fight for the blessings brought by the blood and treasure of our fathers.” (p.28)

South Carolina was the first to withdraw from the Union. The state of South Carolina did not want to be part of nation that had no control. Then other southern states such as, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana left the Union. As a result they established the Confederate States of America, which was an independent southern slave republic. Lower and South and Upper South had to go to war to decide whether what side to pick.

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.

Could The Civil War Have Been Avoided? Could the bloodiest war of America's past been avoided?The Civil War started in 1861 at the Battle of Fort Sumter. It was fought between the North (Union) and South (Confederacy), but most of the fighting occured in Southern territory. Over the total time that the Civil War lasted more than 600,000 Americans died. The main cause of the Civil War was the issue over slavery.

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.

‘Slavery was the root cause of secession’. ‘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 .

The issues that eventually led to the secession of the southern states had been brewing for a considerable amount of time. Most people want to say that the reason for the war was slavery, while yes that was an issue it don’t start the war and wasn’t brought up into a little ways in to the war. One of the biggest issues that truly led to the states seceding was the debate over States’ rights. There had been a debate for years on if the federal government had the right to pass laws reversed laws already in place at state level, going far back as 1798.

The Civil War resulted due to the division and the gradual collapse of the Union between the two sections. It can be argued that both the North and South were distinct regions. However, both regions initially displayed nationalism in various ways at the beginning of the Civil War. Southern nationalism allowed the Confederates to justify their secession and independence. The formation of the Confederacy and the established Confederate Constitution in February 1861, nationalism validated their status as an independent country.

During this time, the U.S. was split into two sections, the majority of the southern states had seceded from the United States, banding together as their own country known as the Confederate States of America who were fighting the war to keep slavery legal. The northern states maintaining their commitment to the United States were fighting the war to end slavery. The Transcontinental Railroad was going to open up the territories west of the the Missouri River and allow the creation of more free states. Fearing the loss of influence of slave states, the congressional representatives of the south opposed the railroad on financial grounds.

The Civil War was caused in part by the interaction of state’s rights that tore the Union apart. In “A Discourse of the Constitution and Government of the United States” by John C Calhoun, it states “A state, as a party to the constitutional compact, has the right to secede…” (Doc. E). John C Calhoun states that it is normal for states to want to break away, but is highly not recommended. The action of states showing their rights contribute to the cause of the Civil War.

“This is a union of equal states, and no state can force another state either to remain in it or withdraw from it. ”(C) I hold that… the Union of these States is perpetual… No state upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. The argument between whether a state could leave the US without permission was one of the main reasons that the Civil War began.