By 1830 the South tended to champion, states rights doctrines as a defensive against the North. As the South recognized that control of the government was slipping away, it turned to a states' rights argument to protect slavery. Southerners stated that the federal government was not permitted to interfere with slavery in those states where it already existed. They felt that this interpretation of the Constitution associated with nullification, or perhaps secession would protect their way of life. Slavery contributed to the start of the Civil War as its proposed abolition was seen as a threat to the sovereignty of many Southern states.
The largest and most noticeable cause to the civil war was the issue on slavery. The federal government wanted to impose upon the States that slavery must be made illegal. The Southern States, which their economy was mostly based upon slavery, wanted to decide for themselves and not have it forced upon them by the federal government. This not only led to the debate reguarding slavery but the argument on state and federal power. Since the revolution there were always two sides of the issue, those who wanted stronger state rights and those who wanted stronger federal rights.
The line of division was usually between the north and the south. This occurred because of their innate alterations, the north being free and industrial, and the south being agricultural with slavery. States sometimes attempted to nullify disapproving laws, such as South Carolina and the tariffs of the early 1800’s. This insurgence against federal authority peaked with the secession of South Carolina in 1860. South Carolina resisted by saying that the states had founded the Union, thus they could leave it.
Lincoln’s second inaugural address Lincoln took a very different approach to this speech than he did in a document such as the emancipation proclamation. Rather than taking a lawyers approach and using technical language, he decided to keep his address short and sweet. Lincoln used a good technique in his address when talking about the civil war. At the time of the speech the war was still active, but the Sherman’s march to sea had commenced and the north had all but won the war. During his address when speaking on the subject of the civil war, Lincoln, rather than placing the blame on the south of the north, places the blame on slavery, and says war was gods means of serving justice on the great injustice that was slavery.
Ellsworth from Connecticut considered in moral light, ought to free those already in the country. He predicted slave in time will not be a speck in our country. His predictions were very accurate. Heath from Massachusetts Detests every idea of slavery but he feels slavery would still exists. He
In the second part of the book (47), Freehling explicate the role of the white southerners who were against the Confederation and their role in the Secession Crisis. At that time, Southerners were divided; the Middle South and the Border peoples weren’t so predisposed to Secede. He also explains the event of Fort Sumter in South Carolina (symbolic place of the Independence) which set off the Civil War in April 1861. In the third part of his analyze (83), the author make a point on the role of the Black southerners who opposed the Confederacy and sides White
The DBQ question tests your ability to work with historical documents. Your answer should be derived mainly from a combination of outside information and the documents. You may also refer to historical facts and developments not mentioned in the documents and may assess the reliability of the documents as historical sources where relevant to your answer. DBQ QUESTION: “By the 1850s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created.” Using the documents and your knowledge of the period 1850-1861, assess the validity of this statement. THEMATIC ESSAY FOR EXTRA CREDIT (9 pts): Summarize the impact of three of the following events on sectional tensions in the 1850s: Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts of 1850 Kansas-Nebraska Act Dred Scott Decision John Brown’s Raids 1850s: Prelude to Civil War Scoring Rubric 8-9 Essay * Contains a clear, well-developed thesis that discusses the underlying issues and events that caused discord and tension in the United States in the years between 1850 to 1861.
The Civil War was, in some ways, a theological dispute. Would Moses side with the abolitionists and lead the slaves in an Exodus toward freedom? Or would he side with the slaveholders, since the Sinai law accommodated slavery? Debates couldn't settle the question; only war could. And at the end of it, Abraham Lincoln was acclaimed as yet another
“Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.” One side rather to make war while the other side accepted war and that’s what started the war. The South wanted slavery to end. Lincoln also says that we all share the quilt of slavery. The South unjustly asks a “just God’s assistance” in unjustly stealing the efforts of others. Adam’s curse was the bread from the “sweat of other men’s faces”.
AP US History Articles of Confederation vs. Federal Constitution Throughout the United States’ history, it has had two different written constitutions. Directly after the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation came to fruition. This Constitution was basically a weak, central government that allowed each state to maintain its own sovereignty and all rights to govern, whereas the Federal Constitution created a strong, central government. Americans strived to be an independent country and be free from Britain, but also wanted to avoid tyrannical governments which were all reasons for the Revolutionary War. After examining the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the Constitution better represents the reasons that the Revolutionary War was fought by unifying the states, avoiding a monarchy, and also simply solving any major crisis that rose.