Assess the factors that led to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 The main factor that caused the American Civil War in 1861 was slavery as it was the underlying fundamental division between Northern and Southern societies that made living in harmony impossible. However, we must also examine the economic disparity between the North and South, political failure to manage the situation and the impact of the election of Lincoln in 1860. Although slavery is the underlying reason, the civil war would not have happened if it were not for the financial divide that developed because of slavery. These core factors were exacerbated by political mismanagement, a catalyst for the outbreak of the Civil War and Lincoln’s election in 1860, the trigger factor. Despite this, had it not been for slavery, there would have been no initial divide between North and South which created economic disparity and led to Southern paranoia over Northern expansionism which led to war, thus the most important factor.
Because in my perspective, this contradictory proclamation seems to be a political propaganda to support only the whites. Today I stand, as a runaway slave who escaped the grasp of slave owners and harsh Fugitive Slave Laws presented in the Compromise of 1850. However, tension has finally reached a peak between the North and the South due to the secession in 1860. I believe that several key events from 1845-1861 caused all this turmoil and crashed the regional differences between the Union and the Confederacy together. Eventually leading to the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861.
Years of frustration is what caused the eventual succession. Since the American Revolution, the topic of slavery was present in the minds of important men in both northern and southern states. The institution of slavery was allowed to continue in the United States, but it was when the Union started to expand that much of the frustration began. The government had passed regulations banning the spread of slavery into these new territories, and many southern states were outraged to the point where South Carolina threatened to succeed from the Union in 1821. Southern states believed that their way of life was being infringed, meaning that slavery was an important institution for their mainly agricultural based economy.
What Lead to the Civil War. From the beginning of the United States, war was inevitable between the North and the South, over the issues of slavery. Ever since Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gins in 1790, the South has been on a completely different economic path from the North. In the 1850’s political developments, the Fugitive slave act, the Dread Scott decision, and the John Brown raid, eventually all drove the regions further and further apart. Even though the North and South tried to reconcile their differences on the issue of slavery by implementing compromises in the 1820’s and 1850’s, both attempts failed, leading up to the Civil War.
November 13, 2013 Before America was her own country, the white settlers owned slaves and when American became her own nation, her citizens still owned and kept slaves. America became divided on the issue of slavery between the North and the South. Slavery affected the United States politically, morally, and economically. Politically, America was affected by dividing the government and citizens. Morally, America was affected by the citizens’ personal feelings on slavery on slavery and how the citizens handled those emotions.
Territorial Issues Before the onset of the Great American Civil War, a huge debate was raging among the citizens, and politicians of the Untied States. Slavery was the main issue that separated the Northern and Southern states, but another, more complicated issue was at hand. As settlers began to talk about the “Manifest Destiny,” and expand westward, new territories were being given statehood. The formation of these new states rose to a new question: should these new states welcome slavery within their boundaries? Three distinct positions were taken on this issue.
Cotton is the next thing plantation owners turn to after the failure of indigo and tobacco. The plantation owners strike a goldmine after Eli Whitney introduces the cotton gin to the South region. The cotton era is born and with it comes the explosion and need to have even more slaves. Slaves are now needed to clear the land, work the cotton crop in the fields and to harvest the cotton once it has completed full growth. Mississippi was admitted as a slave state to the union because of the intense profitability of cotton and the use of slaves.
More people were coming from Europe to work in the Northern factories, unlike the South who still believed in slavery. People in the North wanted the South to free their slaves because they saw slavery as being unfair. With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Northerners felt supported by the president. President Abraham Lincoln was a Northerner, so he was a strong supporter of the North’s belief that slavery was wrong and should be abolished.. The idea that the President himself supported the North and their beliefs, raged the
The slave states believed the abolitionist states were trying to limit slavery in the U.S.. Most slave states were in the south because most economies in southern states depended on slaves. This was because most southerners were farmers of tobacco or cotton. If the power of the slave states was limited then the amount of slaves being brought to America by the slave trade would decrease. This would furthermore decrease the amount of money that the southerners gained each year.
Slavery in The Civil War The American civil war from 1861 to 1865 divided many people in the United States, even turning brother against brother. There were also great amounts of bloodshed and was one of the bloodiest wars in the US and left a heritage of brief and bitterness. And the basis of this war, slavery, slavery is usually very cruel and has been around since early man. Their were two sides to this war, the North and the south. The North consisted of 19 free states in which slavery was prohibited and in the South 15 slave states which could own slaves.