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. The most important factor for the outbreak of the American Civil War was slavery because it caused the initial divides between the North and South. The first divisions were as the USA was undergoing Western Expansion with the issue over whether the new states, such as California and New Mexico should be brought in as Slave states or Free states. The failure to reach a decision over whether new states would be Slave states or Free states meant there was inevitably a conflict that can be seen through to the tensions in Kansas in 1857. The fact that a minor civil war occurred simply over the issue of slavery clearly depicts that slavery was an essential factor in the outbreak of the Civil War.
I believe that the Civil War began with the debate over the future of slavery. That very issue led to secession, and secession caused a war where the Northern states fought for the ground of the Union, and the South for their independence as a new confederation of states under its own constitution. It seems to me that any disagreement leads to some form of resentment. We tend to not like what we don’t understand, and it was hard for the North to understand why the Southern states were itching for freedom from them. It seems from a broader point of view that the North has gone through so much just for the Southern states of America to exist.
The United States changed dramatically in a very short time after the Revolution, the transition was not an easy one, militarily, politically, and culturally. Socially, the new emphasis on egalitarianism and individual rights changed the relationship and roles. America’s call for freedom from British oppression while still being a slave society was undeniably ironic, yet, the Revolutionary movement initiated serious consideration of the issue of slavery. Both Americans and the British made various arguments concerning the irony. As slave-owning and slave trading were accepted routines of colonial life, slavery would play a central part in the language of the revolution.
Of the three causes, slavery is for me the most significant. The issue of slavery, unlike economic issues, was also a moral problem. Whether and where slavery should be allowed in the West would eventually result in Americans killing each other, the collapse and split of political parties, and national division. It began with the Missouri Compromise, when settlers to that state brought with them about 10,000 slaves. Missouri’s request for admission to the Union created a debate over the expansion of slavery.
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.
With the United States expanding its territory to the west, balancing the free and slaves states, as well as the growing conflict over slavery generated more problems. To settle these disputes, compromises such as the 3/5th compromise, Missouri compromise, compromise of 1850, the fugitive slave act, and the Kansas-Nebraska act were made. Despite how compromises were to fit the south and north needs, it could only keep the peace for so long between the two. Another problem
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.
No longer was it just a different dialect; they held opposing ideologies, economies, institutions and religious beliefs, even differing mannerisms. By 1850, the United States of America was polarised into two distinct factions, those who ultimately were against the spread of slavery westwards, and those to whom the belief that it was against states rights for ‘slave states’ to be decided by the Federal government rather than the states themselves, was foundered. These differences were simmering on the stove since the Philadelphia
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.
In the early years of the republic, there were various controversial issues that divided the American people. The ratification of the Constitution split people up into Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups, which were those who wanted the Constitution to be ratified, and those that didn’t. Before the Louisiana Purchase, people were also split on whether or not the purchase was going to be worth it in the long run. When the issue of expansion of slavery into the territories was brought up, Southern-extremest and Northern-soilers could never seem to come to an agreement. Before the Constitution, there were the Articles of Confederation.