Causes of the Civil War
'Discuss the view that secession, rather than slavery caused the Civil War"Although during the conflict both the Unionists and Confederates may have strongly believed that secession was the sole cause of the war, we can see now that this is not the case. This is reinforced by Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, in which he stated that slavery "was, somehow, the cause of the war". This is due to slavery having been the prime reason for the first Southern states seceding, which in turn started the war. The fact that the South's real reason for secession was slavery is stated plainly in the 'Declarations of Causes of Seceding States of Georgia', which said "We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede form the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other seecies of property". The question remains though, why did the Southerners feel that their 'peculiar institution was threatened'? Lincoln may have said "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.... It will become all one thing, or all the other", however, by this Lincoln did not mean the abolishment "will be in a day, nor in
For example, John Brown's slave revolt, which was a completely failed attempt, finishing only 36 hours after it had begun without a single slave having joined his crusade, still caused shouts for secession once again to be made throughout the South. This was something the South could not risk whatsoever, and so once again threatened to secede. Free state settlers refused to accept this. This meant that even though the abolitionists were obviously in the minority, they still found them a threat, ignoring the fact that numerous Northerners were making a considerable fortune in the slave trade, and consequently not intent on its abolition. They thought that if a Republican were to become president, the South was in danger, as in time many more abolitionists similar to John Brown would descend onto the South. However, numerous abolitionists who were determined to fight against this so called "triumph of Slavery (and) Aristocracy over Liberty and Republicanism" arised, outraged at the repeal of the Missouri Compromise which was seen as a blatant attack on northern interests, and evidence the South's so called 'slave power'. Their split was due to the two groups not being able to compromise their ideas, causing both to have their own candidate, which, in turn, split the Democratic voters, and ensured that neither would be able to gain a majority. Both verbal and physical violence swept over to Washington. Soon, pro and antislavery forces started a guerilla war against each other, becoming the focus of the Union. In spite of the South and Northern Democrats wish to influence Northern voters, Lincoln won the election, carrying every free northern state, without a single slave state. To solve this problem, northern congressmen voted for a resolution to exclude slavery from the new territories, the so-called Wilmot Proviso. It also was responsible for growing three quarters of the world's cotton, and provided half of the Unions exports. This meant that the Kansas-Nebraska matter was not yet settled.
Common topics in this essay:
Missouri Kansas,
North South,
Northern Democrats,
Republican Party,
Seceding Georgia',
South Lincoln,
Missouri Compromise,
Abraham Lincoln's,
Wilmot Proviso,
South North,
north south,
civil war,
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mexican war,
real reason,
admit california,
maintain union,
presidential election,
slavery territories,
single slave,
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Acceptance Essays
