Civil War Dbq

The Civil War was fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America. And it would not likely have happened. If the federal government enabled states to do whatever they wished, and the Northern and the Southern states concluded that they didn't require each other. The North and the South had cemented into two unique societies with various necessities. One of the parts of the Constitution central to state powers, before the Civil War, was the Tenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1791. There were many reasons behind the civil war, yet the principle reasons were clashes amongst North and South states, Controversy over regions, and failure in compromises.
The dispute between the Southern and Northern states did

not start suddenly with the attack on Fort Sumter, and it long predates the 1860s. (Divine 342) Their war was not a sudden fight, the disagreements were based on many reasons. An unavoidable conflict had been long postponed. From at least the beginning of the 19th century, Southern landowners were becoming increasingly worried that a strong federal government posed a threat to the institution of slavery, and several events testify to the growing tensions between free and slave states.
The antislavery North believed in equality and justice for all, while the proslavery South believed in the rights of owners and the states.

These differing beliefs on slavery and constitutional rights are the undeniable cause of the war. “In 1820, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, which created Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state”. (Divine 344-345) This compromise was done in order to preserve the balance of power between North and South. However, in “1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act”. (Divine 345) This was the later compromise which stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the settlers of each territory, an idea known as popular sovereignty. The Act was passed in spite of the best efforts of Abraham Lincoln, who railed against it in his “Peoria Speech.” After the passage of the bill, violence increased between pro- and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas, in an event that signaled the battles of the Civil War. “According to the 1857 Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sanford, Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories”, (Divine 345) That was the reason why Missouri Compromise was rendered unconstitutional. This ruling pleased Southern slaveholders, and angered their Northern

opponents.
The Northern anti-slavery perspective was made clear in the Wilmot Proviso of 1846, in which David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania Congressman, proposed that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in lands conquered in the Mexican-American War”.

(Annual Edition, Pg. 113) These differing beliefs on slavery and constitutional rights are the undeniable cause of the war. Northerners feared that the spread of slavery would discriminate against “Free” farming in the west. Southerners just as adamantly believed that the institution should be allowed to exist wherever it proved feasible. (Annual Edition, Pg. 113)
The nation leaders had begun to debate on how to deal with slavery in the lands gained from the War with Mexico in 1848. The requested addition of new states increased feared and it balanced in the Congress between North and South. The discovery of gold in California brought thousands of people into that territory. There would soon be enough people in California for it to apply for statehood. Most Californians wanted California to be a free state, but this would gave more power to north. Southerners wanted to divide California in half, making the northern half a free state and the southern half a slave

state.
In 1849, President Zachary Taylor “proposed that California submit a plan for statehood that year, without going through the territorial stage”. (Divine 347-349) This stage could give Southern slaveholders little time to move to California with their slaves. “In March 1850, California applied to be admitted as a free state”. (Divine 349) This helped the northern side more than ever. With California as a free state, slave states would become a minority in the Senate just as they were in the House. Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi, warned, "For the first time, we are about permanently to destroy the balance of power between the sections." (Annual Edition, Pg. 117) This was one of the biggest step toward civil war. California brought power to the North States, while South States were being vulnerable due to the Gold Rush and many resources of the Northern States.