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The American Civil War was unavoidable. Because of regional and political disputes the country would have continued to boil even if the extremists on both sides were kept under control. No matter what was done politically a conflict was necessary to eradicate slavery from this continent.
Anger in the South was becoming a growing trend. The Southerners were angered by the fact that, in their view, the North was trying to dissolve their way of life. Congressman Robert Toombs of Georgia says, “if by your legislation you [northerners] seek to drive us from the territories...I am for disunion”. This Congressman from the South is so intent on making slaves legal in the territories that he is willing to break with the North over it. He also says that California and New Mexico were “purchased by the common blood of the people”(A). This was the view of John C. Calhoun that people from every state fought to gain these territories so everyone should have equal access to them. It was not only the people of the South that were taking on these feelings of hatred toward the North, but the government also. The South Carolina government said “this government...[has] been defeated and the Government itself has been destructive of them [principles] by the actions of the nonslaveholding states”. If your government, which includes some of the most educated people from your region, believes wholeheartedly that the North are acting against those in the South wouldn’t that make you a litt...
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...
The Northern states believed that we should remain as one under the union, while the southern states wanted to secede from the union. In document E John C. Calhoun claims that the states have the right to secede from the Union. The southern states believed that since they voluntarily joined the United States, they should be able to voluntarily leave. But at President Lincoln's “First Inaugural Address”, he claims that secession is illegal and unconstitutional, and that the union was perpetual (Document F). Lincoln also claimed that the constitution binds the states together and that the country cannot legally be broken up.
The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict of the north and south. Other problems existed that led to this succession but none were as big as the slavery issue. The only way to avoid the war was to abolish slavery, but this was not able to be done because slavery is what kept the south running. When the south seceded it was said by Abraham Lincoln that “ a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Because slavery formed two opposing societies and slavery could never be abolished, the civil war was inevitable. These were all the reasons why the south seceded from the union, this succession was eminent and there was no plausible way to avoid it.
In the years paving the way to the Civil War, both north and south were disagreeable with one another, creating the three “triggering” reasons for the war: the fanaticism on the slavery issue, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the separation of the Democratic Party. North being against the bondage of individuals and the South being for it, there was no real way to evade the clash. For the south slavery was a form of obtaining a living, without subjugation the economy might drop majorly if not disappear. In the North there were significant ethical issues with the issue of subjugation. Amazing measures to keep and dispose of subjugation were taken and there was never a genuine adjusted center for bargain. Despite the fact that there were a lot of seemingly insignificant issues, the fundamental thing that divided these two states was bondage and the flexibilities for it or against. With these significant extremes, for example, John Brown and Uncle Tom's Cabin, the south felt disdain towards the danger the Northerners were holding against their alleged flexibilities. The more hatred the South advanced, the more combative they were to anything the Northerners did. Northerners were irritated and it parted Democrats over the issue of bondage and made another Republican gathering, which included: Whigs, Free Soilers, Know Nothings and previous Democrats and brought about a split of segments and abbreviated the street to common war. Southerners loathed the insubordination of the north and started to address how they could stay with the Union.
The Southern and Northern states varied on many issues, which eventually led them to the Civil War. There were deep economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. These differences stemmed from the interpretation of the United States Constitution on both sides. In the end, all of these disagreements about the rights of states led to the Civil War. There were reasons other than slavery for the South?s secession. The manifestations of division in America were many: utopian communities, conflicts over public space, backlash against immigrants, urban riots, black protest, and Indian resistance (Norton 234). America was a divided land in need reform with the South in the most need. The South relied heavily on agriculture, as opposed to the North, which was highly populated and an industrialized society. The South grew cotton, which was its main cash crop and many Southerners knew that heavy reliance on slave labor would hurt the South eventually, but their warnings were not heeded. The South was based on a totalitarian system.
The first reason that the civil war could have been avoided is there were compromises that were being used to try and prevent a civil war. There were a total of “6 constitutional amendments and four proposed congressional resolutions”. These compromises gave hope to Crittenden that there was a chance to get rid of slavery without a civil war. The compromises forbade the abolition of slavery on federal land in slaveholding state, compensated owners of runaway slaves, and restored the compromise of the line of 36 degree 30(Crittenden article). Civil war could have been avoided with the crittenden compromises.
The American Civil War was caused by an explosion of conflictions, provoked by regional and sectional differences and an unfortunate sequence of political events. As explained earlier, the central theme of almost all of the events that brought about the Civil War was related to slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott Case, and the Election of 1860 were three events that played very instrumental roles in causing the Civil War, however each could have been handled differently by the parties involved. The approaches of the parties could have been more subtle, using compromises to settle disputes, in order to avoid a war.
Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia assembly speech will explain how the Southern leaders justify the secession from the United States.
It was because of causes such as failures of leadership and extremism on both sides that led to the un-inevitable American war – the Civil War. Although many major events occurred that ultimately led to the Civil War, the war could have been avoidable with proper, effective leadership and less extremism that very often ended in violence. The South had many grievances against the North while the North had its own complaints about the South as well. Initially, the Civil War was not fought for the main goal of abolishing slavery but to preserve the Union. The Civil War can be best contained and spoken of in the few words of Abraham Lincoln, “Malice toward none, charity for all…”.
In conclusions, the Civil War was an inevitable conflict because of slavery. All aspects mention requires slavery for there to be a conflict. In addition, all states that seceded from the Union indicated that slavery was their main issue. Unless the North continued to allow slavery in the South and the expanding western territories, the conflict was sure to occur. Moreover, once the idea of money became an issue for slave owners, there was no doubt a war would ensue. Each compromise initiated by the federal government fell short of pleasing either party and violence occurred in Kansas. Slavery is the core of the inevitable Civil War and it took war to abolish it.
The Civil War was inevitable in many reasons. The economic and industrial evolution was mainly in the North side of the United States while the South was just a cotton kingdom, Slave Empire. Also both were completely opposites of one another when it was about freeing the slaves or hiring more. With many debates there has to be sides that would be separated especially if the president has so much hate from the people. With that being said, since many want opposing ideas, the Civil War becomes much evitable.
...Northerners couldn’t respect their wishes to decide how to deal with slavery and fugitive slaves in their own states, they may as well not even be a part of the United States. This led to secession and once again, The Civil War.
After thoroughly assessing past readings and additional research on the Civil War between the North and South, it was quite apparent that the war was inevitable. Opposed views on this would have probably argued that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War. Therefore suggesting it could have been avoided if a resolution was reached on the issue of slavery. Although there is accuracy in stating slavery led to the war, it wasn’t the only factor. Along with slavery, political issues with territorial expansion, there were also economic and social differences between North and South. These differences, being more than just one or two, gradually led to a war that was bound to happened one way or another.
The main movement that occurred primarily in the north was the Abolitionist Movement, the goal of which was the eventual emancipation of slaves. This faction began from a moral standpoint, but quickly transformed itself into a political one when it received so much attention. It was also spurred on to new heights when Uncle Tom¡¯s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published, which turned the north¡¯s attention to the sensitive (and less spoken of) conditions of slavery. The south saw the Abolitionist Movement as an attempt to displace them by jeopardizing their way of life. The south had come to depend on slave labor, they had actually grown accustomed to the ideas that blacks were complete subordinates to whites and should be happy to serve such a great purpose as being slaves (Document C). Not only were slaves technically owned, they were considered chattel to their masters, even those who belonged to masters living in a state in which slavery had been abolished (Document B). Most southerners were of the opinion that, since they did not infringe on the north¡¯s economy of textiles and factories, the north should not contravene on their economy of cotton. Meanwhile, the north has a rather base opinion of the south as a whole, thinking of it as archaic society that was holding them back. The sectionalism was not helped any by the educational reforms taking place in the north. These movements helped education become more accessible to all citizens, while in the south education was ¡°put on the back burners¡±. The movements that occurred during the antebellum of the Civil War simply increased the sectionalist divide of the northern and southern societies, which threw their differences into greater light including slavery.
The numerous arguments surrounding slavery gave way to a war of epic proportions for the United States. Both sides had their own reasons and justifications, always believing they were right. Different laws were made to prevent the war but only prolonged the inevitable Civil War.