Prelude to Civil War DBQ By the 1850's 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 has created. It is known that the union did not last that’s why the Civil War happened. If everyone could agree on what the constitution implied, then there probably would not have been a civil war. From many of the documents, there are arguments about what the constitution states. "To the Argument, that the word 'slaves' and 'slavery' are not to be found in The Constitution, and therefore it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system, it is sufficient to reply, that no such words are continued in the instrument, other words were used, intelligently and specifically, to meet the necessities of slavery."
Abolitionists faced bitter and violent opposition in both the North and South. The Civil War began due to the tension between the North and South, and only escalated after Lincoln’s election, as some feared he would restrict or end slavery. Lincoln delivered the “House Divided Speech” in Springfield, Illinois, on June 16th 1858, “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave
The North with all the industrial business had a total different way of life and can see how they totally disagreed with the way slaves were being used and treated. As said in political objective section Lincoln wanted a military victory prior to announcing the emancipation proclamation because he knew it would cause many more problems. Lincoln’s impatience and no military experience did render him from making better decisions which could have ended the war earlier and with less deaths and injuries. With the north controlling most of the railroads and weapons they had a huge advantage over the south, if he could have been a little more patient and trained his men properly could also have ended this much earlier. With the number of personnel the rebels had vs union was little to none, they held off the north by smart tactics of well-trained officers.
He countered this by stating he will uphold the doctrine of states right. Most southerners distrusted him.. His victory in the election led to the secession of eleven southern states from the union leading to the formation of the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as its president. This was viewed by the US administrators as an act of treason. Hostilities were prompted in April of 1861 when the conferderationist attacked a US military installation at fort summer in South Carolina leading to Lincoln, who had been in office for only six weeks to call for each state to volunteer an army. He declared these acts of secession as illegal and asked Congress for 500,000 soldiers to crush what threatened to be an aggressive rebellion.
Given the circumstances, I would say unfortunately, yes, this war was inevitable given the circumstances under which it came. The three main causes, infringement on civil liberties, infringement on states' rights, and the collapse of the two-party system, made the conflict between North and South almost impossible to resolve. When Abraham Lincoln was elected into presidency, it was implied in his inauguration speech that he was one who would abide more by Northern interests. First North Carolina, then other Southerners responded by doing what they had the *right* to do if they felt the government had become too oppressive: they filed a declaration of secession from the Union. Unfortunately, Lincoln called this secession a Rebellion instead of what it was.
They were like children and would not survive by themselves. When President Lincoln was elected into power in 1860 as promised South Carolina seceded from the United States of America, they felt that Lincoln would try and abolish slavery completely and felt that although he did not preach to abolish slavery trying to stop it spreading was just another way of expressing his views. However this was far from correct as although yes Lincoln did want to stop spreading slavery across the USA he realised that abolishing completely in the short term was just unrealistic and lead to further divide of the USA, nevertheless it was possible that no one was surprised when the radical state of South Carolina seceded from the USA. Carolina had always been a trouble state and this was not the first rift that they had with the Federal Government, however perhaps the more surprising issue was when fellow southern states followed suit and not long after 6 other southern states seceded. This consequently led to the battle of Fort Sumner and what was described by many as the start of the Civil War.
They didn’t like the fact that he advocated for the abolishment of slavery. They didn’t even want him to win in the first place, going as far as to exclude him from the ballots in the South. p. 350 Southern States Leave the Union Q: Why did the Southern States leave the Union? A: The South seceded from the Union because of the North's views on slavery. The South needed the slave work force for economic reasons and the North did not want it at all.
During the Presidential Election in 1860, the Republican Party which was led by Abraham Lincoln campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. That caused seven of the southern states to declare secession from the United States, before Lincoln even went into office. Both
Preferably, it was a war tactic to militarily weaken the South and preserve the Union, add soldiers to the Union cause, and in many opinions please abolitionist northerners. What did Abraham Lincoln do and think when taking in consideration slavery during the Civil War? In Abrahams first Inaugural Address he states” I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the intuition of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. “(pg.
House Divided Speech, June 16th 1858 In this prophetic speech Lincoln foreshadows the deep division that occurred between the northern and southern states in saying A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. He further shows his opposition towards slavery in denouncing the ending of the Missouri Compromise’s ban on slavery in Kansas and Nebraska and the Dred Scott, which he say as another step in the direction of spreading slavery into Northern territories.