Apostles of Disunion explores the contrasting ideologies that eventually lead up to one of the bloodiest wars in American History. However, many argue whether the clashing political philosophies were the cause of a different economy or paranoid leaders. Hence, the North consisted of free-labor, meanwhile, the south was planter-dominated. The needs of the two sides differed which was a major aspect of the causation of the civil war. In order for South Carolina to justify their secession from the union, they issue a declaration of constitutional violations by the free states upon them. The “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify Secession” was primarily centered around the embrace of Northern antislavery principles …show more content…
and the “evil designs” of the victorious Republican Party. Relatively, the Georgia Convention was also forthright of their primary reason for secession. They stated that the constitution would be violated if it was ruled by the Republicans. Not only would it alter their society, but it would destruct their lives. Mississippi’s reasoning for their session primarily circled around their position of slavery. The Mississippi document referred to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. It would promote insurrection of the social and political system of Mississippi. Jefferson Davis's inaugural address was predominantly centered around the idea that the Southern Position was the causation of the attempt of Northern Tyranny.
He stated, “ Our present condition illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.” (Dew 13) Hence, Davis justified the secession to be the response to a “destructive” government. Not only was the secession a response, but it was vital in order to preserve their rights and promote their happiness. However, Davis’ Vice President H.Stephens contradicted his inaugural address. Stephens stated that the enslavement was a violation of the laws of nature. Simply, he stated that the founding fathers were wrong on their social, moral, and political stances. He mentions that the foundation of a government should be based upon race supremacy. His great truth consisted of the black man being less superior to the white man. Davis described slavery as an institution that turned animals into civilized agricultural …show more content…
laborers.” Since tensions were beginning to mount in the late 1860’s and early 1861, five lower south states appoint commissioners to other slave states. Their purpose would be to spread the secessionist message across the area. An innumerable amount of men were sent across the area to spread this message. Around 52 men served as secession commissioners in the few weeks before the civil war. Most of these men were of prestigious titles such as lawyers, judges, and doctors. The role of commissioners was vital on the part of the secession. Dwight Dumond stressed the importance of commissioners in his study of the secession movement. There was no sympathy left between the two sections of the country. The North demanded equality between the white and negro races. The administration that came into power on March 4 promised freedom to the slave. Their primary argument for the enslavement of the negro was that the founding fathers had made this government for the white man but on the back of the black man. In 1860 and 1861, the commissioners were visioning a horrific future. The first threat was the growing threat of racial equality. William Harris made this point clear in his speech to the Georgia legislature. He also emphasized the idea that the government was only created for the white man. The racial equality issue was the center point for every speech that followed by commissioners. The apostles of disunion contributed to the outbreak of the war by influencing the actions of two sides of the war. Each side was bound by their own political ideologies and their side’s progression. As the author states, many people sought the secession of the South to be caused by the state’s rights. Dew emphasizes the idea that the South also felt that Republicanism would tyrannize them due to their differentiating political ambitions. However, the turning point of the secession was when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. The massive fear that struck the South when Lincoln was elected president was that slavery would be abolished.
Let us not forget that the profits of the South were primarily centered around the work of slaves. Slavery was an issue that would cause profit loss and social reform for the South. The North had become self-sufficient and slaves were not primarily responsible for the economy. However, in the South slaves accounted for much of the profit.Most of those men genuinely believed that the white race was far more superior. In Stephen’s speech, he stated that slavery in the natural condition of the black race. Davis’s opinion on slavery was that it was not the cause of conflict. The conflict would be bound between the two sides of the war. The Southern Manifesto was an aspect of the apostle of disunion since it determined that nothing could be done to save the union. The South used the constitution as an excuse to succeed because they believed that the Republicans would defy
it. The South used the issue of state’s rights as an excuse to succeed. The South was a morally crooked side that believes that the White Man was the supreme ruler of all. However, the North’s intentions were not always morally justified because most of them dealt with political ideologies. The issue of slavery has never truly been about the color of the skin, but the issue of supremacy. Dew also discussed that many Southerners believed that when two races would be compressed together, one would get rid of the other. Again, this has to do with the issue of supremacy. The major pillar of disunion has always been about the dominant race. Hence, much of the supremacy issue hasn’t changed but transformed due to laws and rules in place.
The United States began to dissatisfy some of its citizens and so the concerns of sectionalism, or the split of the country began to arise. There was a continuous riff between the south and the north over a few issues, a major one being slavery. The south argued that the slaves were necessary to support the southern economy. According to document A, the south were angry that the north was creating taxes that hurt the southern economy, thus increasing the need for slavery since they had to make up for the expense of the taxes. The south felt that the north was able...
In, “Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War,” Charles B. Dew analyzes the public letters and speeches of white, southern commissioners in order to successfully prove that the Civil War was fought over slavery. By analyzing the public letters and speeches, Dew offers a compelling argument proving that slavery along with the ideology of white supremacy were primary causes of the Civil War. Dew is not only the Ephraim Williams Professor of American History at Williams College, but he is also a successful author who has received various awards including the Elloit Rudwick Prize and the Fletcher Pratt Award. In fact, two of Dew’s books, Tredegar Iron Works and Apostles of Disunion and Ironmaker to
The American Civil War is one of the biggest turning points in American history. It marks a point of major separation in beliefs from the North and the South and yet somehow ends in a major unification that is now called the United States of America. It still to date remains the bloodiest war in American history. The book “This Republic of Suffering, Death and the American Civil War” by Drew Gilpin Faust better explains the change in thought from the American people that developed from the unexpected mass loss of soldiers that devastated the American people. Throughout this review, the reader will better understand the methods and theory of this book, the sources used, the main argument of the book, the major supporting arguments, and what the author did well and what the author didn’t do well.
South Carolina seceded from the Union on December of 1860, General Robert Anderson and his troops were stationed out at Fort Moultrie. They did not think Fort Moultrie was safe enough so then he had a plan to move his troops to Fort Sumter. The Commander of the Union was Robert Anderson, and the Confederate commander was P.G.T. Beauregard. Anderson had moved his troops from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. Soon after coming to the fort Anderson realized he only had a couple week’s supply of food left. The confederate soldiers came and surrounded the fort and demanded Anderson had over the fort to them. Anderson was starting to run out of supplies for fighting and food. General Beauregard thought the Union would leave the South Carolina fort but Anderson refused. Beauregard threatened the Union to surrender but they would not, then the firing began. Anderson eventually realized there was no hope for them winning this battle, he then surrender the Southern for...
I felt like the author could clearly show the true contributing factors of the civil war. As an admirer of history, I could use utilize his book for references later on in my academic studies. The book is 127 pages chronicling the events that led to the civil war. Holt gives novices history readers a wonder firsthand look into the world of young America pre-civil war. His book brought out new ways to approach the study of pre-civil war events. The question whether the Civil War was inevitable or could have been derailed was answered in The Fate of Their Country. Holt places the spotlight on the behaviors Politicians and the many congressional compromises that unintendedly involved the actions of the residents of American. These factors at hand placed the Civil war as inevitable. Most of the politician’s views in The Fate of Their Country were egotistical and shortsighted which left gaps in American’s social future. To consider the subject of why, first we need to understand the contributing causes, America’s great expansion project, the Manifest Destiny the driving factor behind the loss of virtue and political discord.
In Apostles of Disunion, Dew presents compelling documentation that the issue of slavery was indeed the ultimate cause for the Civil War. This book provided a great deal of insight as to why the South feared the abolition of slavery as they did. In reading the letters and speeches of the secession commissioners, it was clear that each of them were making passionate pleas to all of the slave states in an effort to put a stop to the North’s, and specifically Lincoln’s, push for the abolishment of slavery. There should be no question that slavery had everything to do with being the cause for the Civil War. In the words of Dew, “To put it quite simply, slavery and race were absolutely critical elements in the coming of the war” (81). This was an excellent book, easy to read, and very enlightening.
At the time, the South depended on slavery to support their way of life. In fact, “to protect slavery the Confederate States of America would challenge the peaceful, lawful, orderly means of changing governments in the United States, even by resorting to war.” (635) Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong and realized that slavery was bitterly dividing the country. Not only was slavery dividing the nation, but slavery was also endangering the Union, hurting both black and white people and threatening the processes of government. At first, Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union in which “he would free none, some, or all the slaves to save that Union.” (634) However, Lincoln realized that “freeing the slaves and saving the Union were linked as one goal, not two optional goals.” (634) Therefore, Lincoln’s primary goal was to save the Union and in order to save the Union, Lincoln had to free the slaves. However, Paludan states that, “slave states understood this; that is why the seceded and why the Union needed saving.” (634) Lincoln’s presidential victory was the final sign to many Southerners that their position in the Union was
A controversial issue during 1860 to 1877 was state’s rights and federal power. The North and South were divided over this issue. The North composed of free states and an industrial economy while the South was made up of slave states and an agricultural economy. The South did not like federal authority over the issue of slavery; therefore, they supported the radical state rights’ ideology. South Carolina seceded from the Union because it believed that since states made up the Union, it could leave when it chooses to. The government argued against the South saying that they had no right to leave the Union because the Union was not made up of just states but people. However, the South counteracted this argument with the case that the 10th amendment “declared that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by its states, were reserved to the states.” (Doc A) However, the government still believed that secession from the Union was unjust and decided that a new change surrounding state’s rights was necessary. As a result, when the Union won in the Civil War, a resolution was made, where the state’s lost their power and the federal government gained power. U...
The North and the South had been sectionalized for years on many issues, yet the majority of the congressmen had still come together when necessary for the good of the Nation, up until 1854. After Lincoln won the election in 1860, the nation was divided by sectionalism. Due to the Nation being divided and the Southerners being paranoid about the slaves being freed, I believe both issues were causes that led to the Civil War. Works Cited Brands, H. W.. American Stories: A History of the United States. New York: Routledge, 1998 2nd ed.
Constitutionally the North favored a loose interpretation of the United States Constitution, and they wanted to grant the federal government increased powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states themselves. The South relied upon slave labor for their economic well being, and the economy of the North was not reliant on such labor or in need of this type of service. This main issue overshadowed all others. Southerners compared slavery to the wage-slave system of the North, and believed their slaves received better care than the northern factory workers received from their employers. Many Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. Southern leaders had constantly tried to seek new areas into which slavery might be extended (Oates 349).
The basic story of the Apostles of Disunion takes place between eighteen sixty and eighteen sixty one. Commissioners appointed by the state traveled all over the south in pursuit of one goal: to persuade political overseers and gather citizens of the slave states to help diminish the Union and form their own nation, a Southern nation. Regarding the speculation that slavery was not to blame for the secession, the commissioners kept reiterating that the election of Abraham Lincoln signaled an unfair commitment to the North specifically to destroy the idea of slavery. The South was worried this would cause a heap of unnecessary racial conflicts and discrepencies. What makes Charles B. Dew’s argument so significant is his discoveries of the speeches and letters of th...
...ld not protect the interest of the Southern states. Coupled with the hostilities, lack of votes for Lincoln from the South and disregard for the constitutional protection of slavery is a justifiable reason from the Southern leaders to secede from the Union.
Alexander Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, referring to the Confederate government: "Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery . . . is his natural and normal condition." [Augusta, Georgia, Daily Constitutionalist, March 30, 1861.]
The American Civil War was the bloodiest military conflict in American history leaving over 500 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded (Roark 543-543). One might ask, what caused such internal tension within the most powerful nation in the world? During the nineteenth century, America was an infant nation, but toppling the entire world with its social, political, and economic innovations. In addition, immigrants were migrating from their native land to live the American dream (Roark 405-407). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousand African slaves were being traded in the domestic slave trade throughout the American south. Separated from their family, living in inhumane conditions, and working countless hours for days straight, the issue of slavery was the core of the Civil War (Roark 493-494). The North’s growing dissent for slavery and the South’s dependence on slavery is the reason why the Civil War was an inevitable conflict. Throughout this essay we will discuss the issue of slavery, states’ rights, American expansion into western territories, economic differences and its effect on the inevitable Civil War.
The question is, what was the true reason for the Southern secession? In my own opinion, the South seceded because of the subject of slavery, growing tension between Northern and Southern economic beliefs, and finally over the government’s oppression over State Rights. Despite the all of the factual evidence supporting one aspect, the obstacle in the south was just too complex to be fixated on one subject. Professor Charles Dew has worked on the problem of Southern secession for many years. He believes that the only way to understand the point of view from the Southern’s perspective is through their personal writings, such as letters and speeches of the Southern commissioners.