...Over the years people have thought of many different causes for the civil war that took over 600,000 American lives in 1861-1865. Many people believe that the only true cause of the civil war was because of slavery but the war itself was fought over something much bigger than just slavery it was fought over the great political difference between the North and South. The actions of the Democratic politicians from the South and Republican politicians from the North kept the conflict between the states at the center of the political debate for years and made the war inevitable. Key political causes of the civil war include the acts congress passed, the split that happened throughout the years between congress, and most importantly the election in 1860 that elected Abraham Lincoln as president. Congress, throughout the years since America won independence passed laws they believed would help their nation. But as slavery became more of a problem in the nation, acts passed by congress became more important and affected the outcome of the American nation and its citizens much greater. Congress passed many acts throughout the years leading to the Civil War, but some very important ones that both held off the civil war and pushed the civil war are the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Connecticut Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas – Nebraska Act of 1854. The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 after Missouri requested in 1819 to be part of the Union as a slave state. Missouri’s request...
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...which invited it, the civil war was undoubtedly inevitable, and despite the consequences and casualties America suffered as a result of it, it ultimately managed to unite the country as a whole into one.. The main causes for it were infringement on civil liberties, infringement on states rights, and the collapse of a two party system. Another cause of it was the north and south had different ideas regarding what a Government looks like. Much like the rest of Europe, the north’s economy was more industrial, with factories, railroads and shipyards while the south’s was agricultural with slavery playing a major part in; the north had their own ideal of a government in which slavery would be abolished, the south’s ideal involved slavery which would naturally cause tension between the two. The South favored an agricultural system, while the North was centered around a city life. it meant that the North’s economy grew through people of different ethnics and backgrounds working together, while the South had a fixed social order. Both sides did their best in trying to reconcile with each other but different events such as the fugitive slave act, bleeding kansas, and the dred scott decision only managed to pull them further apart; although they did create different compromises which managed to quell the tension for a little while but ultimately failed to unite them in the long term. Slavery was a major factor in the early to late 1900’s as well as the precursor towards the impending...
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...different societies can co-exist without going to war. Instead, a series of mistakes and misjudgements were made by blundering politicians. There are numerous examples of this; the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott and the Fugitive Slave Act to name just a few. In my view, the American Civil War was an irrepressible conflict since compromise on the slavery issue was impossible. Blundering politicians acted as catalysts to ignite the flames of war, however they did not create the differences which acted as the foundation for the irrepressible conflict. The issue of slavery is often cited as the most significant cause of the war. By 1860 the issue of slavery had become too great and compromise was impossible. As Frederick Douglass stated, ‘the more the issue is settled, the more it needs settling.’ The North and South failed to agree and kept compromising to fix the previous failed compromise. This series of compromises began in 1820 with the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of the 36˙30’ line of latitude, allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, and allowed Maine to enter the Union as a free state. This compromise can be...
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...The cumulative effect of failed attempts to back a common cause intensified party strains to the point where the organization of the party was faltering and looking to future elections brought uncertainty and dim hopes. Acclaimed writer, Michael A. Morrison, describes the struggle in his book Slavery and the American West, saying “As the integrity and coherence of parties became less distinct, the Fillmore administration and Congress found it increasingly difficult to hold a middle line or a national position on national affairs. The effect was that sectional conflict and recrimination cropped up at odd times and on peculiar issues.” The breakup of the political party brought uncertainty to the national scene and had a direct impact on the functions of congress at the...
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...lthough several attempts at compromise sought to resolve the ever-growing divide between the North and South, these desperate efforts only postponed the inevitable. Tensions surrounding states’ rights, western expansion, and the rise of the abolitionist movement made compromise impossible by 1860 and led to southern secession. The conflict between individual state power versus federal power reappeared and further separated the country, as southerners fought to protect their agrarian economy. The passing of the Tariff of 1828 sparked southern protest. The tariff bill imposed high tariffs on imported goods, in an attempt to protect the North’s manufacturing industries. The protective tariff would raise the price of foreign imports and discourage...
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... In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, America went into two different economical directions: the North became industrial the South agricultural. Although it is believed the underlying cause behind the Civil War was due to the abolition of slavery (slaves were considered a major asset in the southern states), the following timeline shows there were many other factors involved as well. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the firing of the first shots at Fort Sumter, America’s journey for equality and unity was a hard one, leaving in its wake destruction, discord, and civil unrest. ____________________________________________________________ ____________ 1776: Declaration of Independence • Was written by Thomas Jefferson • Was signed on July 4th, severing all ties to Britain 1787: Northwest Ordinance • Was passed on July 13th establishing the intent to expand into the West adding new states to the Union. Constitutional Convention • Held their final meeting on September 17th signing into effect the Constitution of the United States. 1794: The Cotton Gin • Was patented by Eli Whitney, increasing the production of clean cotton • The value of and need for slaves increased within the cotton states. 1820: The Missouri Compromise • Was established to...
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...Prize for historical writing and the National Book Award in 1954. Catton was named senior editor of the magazine in 1959 and held that position until his death. He lived in New York City till the age of 78 with his wife Hazel H. Cherry. She died of a heart attack in 1969 at the age of 69. His other books included The War Lords of Washington, U.S. Grant and the American Military Tradition and Mr. Lincoln's Army just to name a few. Catton’s thesis was that, in the 1860’s the Americans thought that they were the luckiest and happiest people in the world; he believed that the civil war was the end of America’s golden age of innocence. There were two different societies that had developed in America, the South and the North. One of the differences was the institutionalization of slavery in the South. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would set up the snowball for war. All other problems and differences between the North and the South could have been handled through democracy, but slavery defaulted that notion. Compromises of slavery had taken place but not lasted. They just about lasted long enough so that the North and the South would be strong enough to survive the shock of the Civil War. Catton believed that slavery was not a great problem in the beginning and that most Americans believed that...
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...hard anti-slavery groups fought for the rights of African Americans. But they were not the only ones fighting, Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner with a cane after Charles gave a speech about the rights of African Americans. This attack was a sign from the southerners saying we will fight back (Doc C). So both northerners and southerners were up for a fight to get their way about slavery, but even though there were people ready to fight; many people wanted America to stick together and have both sides compromise and work it out. States coming into the Union came...
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...Events leading up to the Civil War University of Phoenix There were many factors that led to the Civil War in 1861. Most people would say that slavery is the leading cause and the only reason for the Civil War. It was one of the reasons, but not the only reason. There were five leading causes that led to the Civil War and they were: economic and social differences, state versus federal rights, slavery, the Abolition Movement and the election of Lincoln as President. Economic and Social Differences The invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin in 1793 led to many differences between the North and the South. Cotton became a very profitable crop for both and the time to process it had been greatly reduced by the machine. In the South, more plantations began to produce cotton, which increased the need for slaves. The North on the other hand was based more on industry than agriculture and was purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. The ever evolving northern society encompassed people of different races and cultures working together. The southern states continued to hold onto their social pecking order. (americanhistory.about.com, 2011) States versus Federal rights Southern states were in favor of state’s rights over federal rights; northern states were in favor of a federal government. States rights would enable the states themselves to decide if a federal law was constitutional or not and whether or not that they were willing to accept it. When they were...
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...Eddie Bjarko Apush Chapter 13 November 23rd, 2014 Expansion War and Sectional Crisis What ideas did the term Manifest Digest reflect? Did it cause historical events such as the new political supports for territorial expansion, or was it merely a description of events? * In 1845, John L. O’Sullivan coined the phrase Manifest Destiny; he felt that Americans had a right to develop the entire continent as they saw fit, which implied a sense of cultural and racial superiority. It was an idea that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent. This led to “Oregon fever” The Oregon country stretched along the Pacific coast from the border with Mexican California to the border with Russian Alaska and was claimed by both Great Britain and the United States. “Oregon fever” raged in 1843 as thousands, lured by reports of fine harbors, mild climate, and fertile soil, journeyed for months across the continent to the Willamette Valley. 250,000 Americans had braved the Oregon Trail by 1860; many died en route from disease and exposure, although relatively few died from Indian attacks. Some of those pioneers veered off and went down to California, namely Sacramento River. To promote California’s development, the Mexican government took over the California missions and liberated the 20,000 Indians who worked on them, many of whom intermarried with mestizos and worked as laborers and cowboys on large cattle ranches. The rise of cattle ranching created a new society...
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...121 Causes Of Civil War Generally, texts have showed that inconsistency between northern and southern financial prudence initiated the Civil War. The industrial revolt in the North, throughout the first few years of the 19th century, resulted into Machine age economy that depend on wage manual worker, not slaves. At the same time, the Southern states continuously to depend on slaves for their agricultural economy and cotton manufacture. South made enormous revenues from cotton, slaves and struggled to sustain them. Northside did not require slaves to maintain their economy so they fought to free abolish slavery as whole from United States. History shows us the agricultural economy was indeed one cause of civil war, but it certainly wasn’t the only cause. Wars are complicated and there causes are not simple understandable. In this research paper we will discuss causes what started the Civil War. A war that separated the nations, ruined harvests, towns, and railroad lines. Many issues embarked the nation into disorder in 1861. Key administrative foundations contain the slow collapse of the Whig Party, the establishment of the Democrat Party and, the 1860’s voting of Abraham Lincoln as president. Religious disagreement to slavery also increased, braced by ministers and protestors such as “William Lloyd Garrison”. Ecological struggle over the extent of slavery into western lands and states grew. Administrative agreements, such as the “Missouri Compromise in 1820, Compromise of 1850...
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...Eyejan Saadoon ALCE 1605 King and Chaplin 30 November 2010 The Cause of the Civil War The United States Civil War was the result of conflictive ideologies between the Northern states and the Southern states. The North was abolitionist and heavily developed while the South was poorly industrialized and strongly dependent on agriculture. More than being a social issue slavery was the basis of economy in the Southern part of the United States. The problem was not about whether slavery was morally correct, but whether the South could economically survive without this type of labor; for Southerners slavery was an economical pillar and crucial for their subsistence, to the extent that it would rather fight or secede from the Union before giving up their profitable labor system. In contrast, the North was more densely populated and had more resources in terms of money, men, and supplies than the South did. Slavery for the North was not as necessary as it was for the rural South. Further more, the South was a strong believer of small national government and strongly advocated state rights over national laws, while the North was a strong supporter of federalism and believer in the Union with no option of secession or nullification, which was a common thread of Southern states against the Union. As all these differences grew bigger between the two, more issues and sectionalism emerged and finally led to the American civil war. To summarize, the American Civil War was...
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...The United States was one of the few democracies in the nineteenth century. Thus, many European nations detested the so-called “democracy”, and they wanted to see the fall of it (lecture December 8). Unfortunately, our nation was on the edge of collapsing, for the Civil War in 1861. However, with the defeat of the Confederates States of America in 1865, the union was saved. Until today, the Civil War remains the deadliest war in America history. The war is a result of a series of conflicts within the society, mainly revolved around slavery. There were many obvious causes that led directly to war and causes that were hidden but impacted the nation profoundly. In the early eighteenth century, slavery became the most controversial issue in America,...
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...|Cornell Notes | | |Lecture, reading/chapter/novel/article during |Name: Jaylyn Bercier | |class, power point, movies (if need to collect | | |info.) |Class: Mrs. MyerPeriod: ________ | | | | |Topic:____8TH grade history |Date: 46:20 | |_________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...slaves in the South to grow it. This coincided with the North becoming a more industrialized region that didn't need to depend on slaves. 1819 Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was brokered by Senator Henry Clay to settle the dispute between the North and the South about if the Western territories would be slave or free. Under the terms of the Compromise, slavery would only be allowed in Missouri and south of the 36th parallel. The need for the Missouri Compromise illustrates how the North and the South were beginning to hold very different views on how allowable slavery was to the nation. Bitter feelings about the compromise persisted in both the North and the South. 1828 The Nullification Crisis The Nullification Crisis grew out of a protective tariff of 1828. The tariff was popular with the Northern states, because it provided protection for American made goods. Southern states traded heavily with Great Britain during this time, and felt it would damage their economies. With the support of Vice-President John C. Calhoun, South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification. It stated South Carolina did not have to abide by the tariff, because the tariff was unconstitutional. It looked like force might be used by the national government against South Carolina, but instead the national government reached a compromise with South Carolina. There are strong parallels between...
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