causes of the civil war
The American Civil War was a military conflict between the United States of America (the Union), and 11 secessionist Southern states, organized as the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). It was the culmination of four decades of intense sectional conflict and it reflected deep-seated economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. One of the major causes of the Civil War was the seemingly endless political disputes over slavery in the Mexican Cession and Louisiana Purchase territories. It was imperative that the Democratic and Whig political leaders maintain harmony between their Southern and Northern supporters, thus, the platforms of both during presidential elections like that of 1848 tried to avoid that particular slavery question. However, the extension of slavery into the new territories was one of the largest issues of the time, and with growing opposition from the North, evasion of it became increasingly difficult. Another significant cause of the war was the growth of different responses to antislavery practices such as the Underground Railroad and reactions to runaway slaves and the Fugitive Slave laws that spurred from all sections of the country. Finally, there was the
" The South, which had suffered much less than the industrial North, saw the Panic as proof of the superiority of the Southern economy in general and slavery in particular. The European conflicts during those two years cut off Russian grain from the market, and "American exports mushroomed to meet the need. Black leaders and sympathetic whites in numerous communities formed vigilance committees that cooperated with the legendary Underground Railroad and attempted to resist such efforts. "Their status regarding slavery would be settled by popular sovereignty-a democratic concept to which Douglas and his western constituents were deeply attached. Douglas proposed the division of the Territory of Nebraska into two territories, that of Kansas and Nebraska. " The Constitution did not state how this was to be accomplished, and when northern states began enacting personal liberty laws, and "conductors" of the Underground Railroad started rescuing perhaps several hundred slaves each year, slave-owners began crying out that the Fugitive Slave Law passed in 1793 wasn't effective enough, and demanding a new one. " When the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed, it forbade runaway slaves from testifying and receiving a trial by jury. Besides these, there were secondary reasons, as well, numerous and piled-up from decades of conflicting interests. The abolitionists, who worked harder through the Underground Railroad to free slaves after the Fugitive Slave law of 1850 was passed, regarded their moral judgements "in some ways, more galling" than the "theft" of slaves from their owners, and thus "reflected not only a holier-than-thou attitude but a refusal to obey the laws solemnly passed by Congress. Louis or Chicago, did not have much in the package for them. One native of Mississippi declared, "Better for us that these territories should remain a waste, a howling wilderness, trod only by red hunters then be so settled. " Southerners were also uninterested in using public lands for schools that would be "mostly filled with Yankees. They were convinced that the homestead act would fill up the West with settlers hostile to slavery. " Lastly, a Pacific railroad, with a likely terminus at St.
Common topics in this essay:
Fugitive Slave,
Slave Law,
Civil War,
Henry Evans,
Crimean War,
North Panic,
Republic Mexiconeither,
Kansas Nebraska,
Underground Railroad,
Southern Northern,
fugitive slave,
slave law,
fugitive slave law,
underground railroad,
kansas nebraska,
public lands,
civil war,
slave law 1850,
law 1850,
law 1850 passed,
service labor,
slaves fugitive slave,
missouri compromise,
slaves fugitive,
american civil war,
|
Acceptance Essays
