The Civil War and Failure to Compromise
The Civil War was not inevitable. It was not an unavoidable conflict of two opposing sides; rather, it was the result of extremism and failures of leadership on both sides of the conflict. The conflict was made up of the pro-slavery southerners and the anti-slavery northerners. Both sides felt very strongly about their position, and refused to see the opposite point. Failure of leadership that led to the Civil War was the passing of the personal liberty laws, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and popular sovereignty by congress, while extremism that led to the Civil War included the Fugitive Slave law, and Harper's Ferry.Divisions caused by the slavery issue cut deep into America. Entire regions bitterly hated each other. Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" only furthered the hatred between the North and the South by adding an emotional aspect to the immorality of slavery (Document C). The rift even split political parties such as the Whigs. One half of the Whigs were Cotton Whigs, who believed that slavery was an essential part of the economy, and that slavery is good. The Conscience
Brown's view is obviously very extremist, and as (Document H) states "John Brown [began] the war that ended slavery. The Civil war could have been avoided if the North had contained slavery or proved it unconstitutional. These tensions and distrust made it impossible to regain civility between the North and South until a final solution for slavery was found. The Fugitive Slave (Document D) law called for federal law enforcement officials to bring back runaway slaves. This extremism led to the Civil War because it furthered the break down of trust between states. This law is extremist because even though the South regarded slaves as mere property, they had federal law enforcement officials drag the runaway slaves back home. " The poor leadership preceding the Civil War added to tensions and distrust between the North and the South. The political party of the Whigs soon dissolved, and disappeared from Congress (Document E). Brown believed in the Bible and the Declaration of Independence, and he thought that it would be better that "a whole generation of men women and children should pass away by a violent death than that a word of either should be violated in this country. "(Document F) Lincoln was of course referring to the civil war he saw looming ahead. The passage of Personal liberty laws showed lack of leadership by the North because the laws impeded the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. Extremism that led to the Civil War was John Brown at Harpers Ferry, and the Fugitive Slave law. The passage of both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty showed a lack of leadership on both sides because both sides accepted the act, including popular sovereignty, and popular sovereignty was practically an invitation for armed conflicts before the territory was declared a free or slave state. This displayed poor leadership by the North because their laws blocking Southern laws were illegal.
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