Reasons for the Civil War

A detailed Summary of Reasons for the Civil War

Thomas Jefferson once said, "Maintaining slavery was like holding a wolf by its ears. You didn't like it, but you didn't dare let it go." (Civil War) Slavery was apart of this nation's birth. It would be the deciding factor in the separation from North and South. The separation of the two would cause fear and hatred, which would eventually lead to war.

Future president, Abraham Lincoln said it best, "As a nation we began by declaring that all men are created equal, we now practically read it: all men are created equal, except Negroes." (Civil War) Slavery was introduced to the lands of North America from the very beginning of English, later American, colonization. Throughout the American Revolution, this idea that all men are created equal was the driving force for change, blood was spilled, but after years of warfare, it was all over; a new nation had been born. Finally, there was a chance to start over, but with this idea of equality came hesitance and there was no change. The question of morality was surpassed by greed and profitability.

At the Constitutional Convention, the topic of the Black slave was discussed and after much deliberation, it was proposed that the slave would be treated as three-fifths of that of a White f

When California applied to become a state, it applied to become a free state, but the only way this would have happened is if there would have been a compromise in Congress. It turns out that there was such a compromise in 1850. Congress passed a compromise allowing California to come into the Union as a free state and have the Utah-New Mexico territories be decided by popular sovereignty, where the people would vote if they wanted to have slavery practices in their state or not. But, this meant, yet again, the South would get screwed. The land that was below the original 36° 30'N line, which would automatically be slave territory, could now be up for grabs by the North. The South got increasingly fed up with this.

The Americans had recently picked up some real estate from Britain: the Oregon Country. After some negotiating, the Americans came out on top with a new Canadian/American border and a chunk of property, we now know as the Pacific Northwest. The Americans sent over diplomat John Slidell before the first shots were fired. They offered $25 million dollars for the purchase of California, the New Mexico and Utah territories, and to settle the boundary-line that separates the United States and Mexico. His mission failed, but American politicians needed this real estate to counter balance the purchase of the Oregon Country, so they went to war. With the conclusion of the Mexican-American War, the United States purchased all of the land described above and settled the dispute of where the border lies, all for a mere $15 million dollars. Southerners weren't really pleased with this. They were no longer able to expand southward into South America. Not only that, but the North got all of the land from the Oregon Country and the Louisiana Purchase (bought from France and included roughly a third of the entire country as we know it today) as free territory. The South was swindled away from the possibility of regaining ground in the House of Representatives.

(Fredrick Douglas) In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright, blue sky, her grand, old woods, her fertile fields, her beautiful rivers, her mighty lakes and star-crowned mountains, but my rapture was soon checked when I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slaveholding and wrong, when I remember with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are born to the ocean disregarded and forgotten, that her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters. I am filled with unutterable loathing. (Civil War)

But, one question arose. What do we do about the federal forts in the seceded new-nations? Do we just hand over federal property because it lies within their boundaries? Or do we occupy them indefinitely and hope that the states change their minds soon? President James Buchanan decided to hold Fort Sumter because his term in office was almost over and therefore, Lincoln could deal with it. The South believed that the Federal property was theirs. Their strong beliefs in state's rights said that whatever lied within the state belonged to it. The South wouldn't let it go. After attempts by the North were made, to re-supply Fort Sumter in South Carolina (the first state to secede), Confederate Army regulars opened fire and thus began the American Civil War.

(David McCullough) The Civil War was fought in ten thousand places, from Val Verde, New Mexico and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont and Fernandina on the coast. More than three million Americans fought in it. And over 600,000 men, two percent of the population, died in it. American homes became he

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Category: History