The American 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 ec
The exception was the fugitive slave law of 1850, which "gave the national government more power than any other law yet passed by Congress. Thus the opposing North and South bickered over the use of public lands until the votes in Congress were made. " Senator James Mason of Virginia once said, "Although the loss of property is felt, the loss of honor is felt still more. Several years of over-speculation in railroads as well as the lands was another cause of the panic. " 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. Besides all of this, the decade-long expansion of all economic indices had also produced rapid rises in the prices of bonds and stocks. The European conflicts during those two years cut off Russian grain from the market, and "American exports mushroomed to meet the need. " In 1857, the slavery supporters drew up the Lecompton Constitution, supported by President James Buchanan, not for the people of Kansas to vote for, but to accept and vote on whether it should allow slavery or abolish it. " However, when pioneers started settling in Kansas, groups of free-soilers, like the New England Emigrant Aid Company, came as well, angering southerners because "the northern 'Nebrascals,' allegedly by foul means, were now apparently trying to 'abolitionize' both Kansas and Nebraska. The North's financial distress added impetus to the idea of using the federal government's vast land for three proposed land-grant measures: a homestead act, a Pacific railroad act, and grants to states in order to establish agricultural and mechanical colleges. The plan soon became the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and northerners, who "regarded the repeal of the Missouri Compromise as an intolerable breach of faith.
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Acceptance Essays
