Southern Revolution During the time that President Abraham Lincoln entered the office of President of the United States, the Southern States were leaving the Union and forming the Confederate States of America. Tensions had been rising for years now, but with the President Lincoln’s election, the tensions reached a fever pitch in the South. Rising slave populations made the white southerners fearful of a slave revolution, while the financial loss that emancipation without sufficient financial compensation added to the many pressures. Then with the supposed support of the previous president, James Buchanan, the southern states acted quickly. The South’s choice of leaving the Union was an offensive act rather than a defensive one. In 1860 the …show more content…
The North had been pressuring the South for years at this point, but it had not yet done anything significant enough for their actions to be considered offensive. The governments of the southern states had begun to assemble an army. In South Carolina “the state legislature prepared to arm a defense force of 10,000 men” (Dew, 25). The thought of secession was one not focused upon the defence of the confederate state, rather the focus was upon the revolutionary aspect of it. In the document, the “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union,” they compare their leaving the union to the thirteen colonies leaving the control of the British Crown. Each of the ‘Declarations of causes of Seceding States’ documents mirrored the Declaration of independence in their writing and structure. Clearly, they were written in this manner to help validate their revolution by associating themselves with one of our most revered documents. By their association though, their intentions make themselves …show more content…
Clearly, the Northern abolitionist had been working to free the slaves that the white southerners owned. To protect their ability to control the rising population of slaves as well. The Republicans of the North wanted to destroy an institution that was integral to not only their economy, but their culture. It seemed to be a clear violation of the state’s right to govern itself. The worry of the federal government restricting the state rights pushed the South into a corner it would seem. Yet, this is not the case. The northern abolitionists were certainly trying to end slavery across the United States, but it was not a matter of the state’s right being violated, but the rights of the people trapped in slavery. With people many living in horrendous conditions under the rule of cruel and sadistic masters, with the rest of the people being deprived of their right as Americans and of humans to equality. The states had no right to keep a race of people oppressed and unrepresented. Additionally, the slave revolution was inevitable as the population would simply overpower the white population. Without something radical such as deportation or massacre, the call for freedom by the black population would be realized at some point in the future. So, while many supporters of the revolution desired for their cause to be seen as a defence of the right to slavery, it was really an attack on
The idea of a “just cause” precipitating the Civil War pushes back the transgressions of Slavery and can be further manipulated to serve the idea of “valor.” The Southern States made intentions clearer with their assembling of State Succession
During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.
Based upon superficial analysis of the Civil War, one would get the impression that the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the Emancipation Proclamation further incited the tensions between the North and South that contributed to the formation of the Southern Confederate States of America. The first point that stood out to me, contradicts the popular belief that the Civil War was caused by radical opposing views of slavery. A.K. McClure’s address highlights the ideology of both, the North and South, was rooted in rational principles. In addition, he discusses the opposing political views between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 aroused the Southern slave states. Those states saw the Republicans as people who were not supportive of keeping the institution of slavery alive in the South. Lincoln effectively demonstrates why the south should not fear if he were to be president. Lincoln wanted to calm the leaders of these states and keep them from seceding from the United States, so he tried to put them at ease in his “First Inaugural Address”.
The coming of the Civil War caused the level of uneasiness to grow ever greater with the threat of more states seceding and the election of President Lincoln. It was barely a century since the Revolutionary War had ended, and the threat of a new war seemed just around the corner. This was not a war between external foes, but one between brothers. The secession of South Carolina in 1860 brought seemed to bring tensions between the northern and southern states to a head. Both John S. Preston and President Lincoln gave speeches that greatly influenced the war.
The north side aiming to abolish slavery as it’s a cruel treatment and it gave the United States a bad name world-wide. On the other hand, the south wished to keep slavery a thing and fought for ownership of “property”. Once the 1860 Elections came up can the final four candidates were revealed, doubts were made. Southerners did not like Abraham Lincoln as he was the favorite to win the election.
Lincoln following his campaign goals supported abolishing slavery. The South was not happy when Lincoln became president because they knew he was against slavery and realized the threat he brought to their “peculiar institutions.” This led to the southern states to believe there was no hope for them to stay with the Union if Lincoln were to become President. If slavery were to be abolished, then their own individual states will not prosper. South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union, and this led to more states leaving to create a new group called the Confederation.
If a southerner wants to get a slave all they have to is get a certificate from a southern judge saying that it is his or her slave. The northerners were outraged because slavery was outlawed in the north so they didn't want to be a part of it. Many of the northerners were abolitionists. An abolitionist is
The Southern states believed that if they stayed in the Union, under the government controlled by the North, that the Northers would win their fight to abolish slavery. Henry Benning, during
Lincoln’s basic arguments against southern secession were basically that: sececcsion wasn’t legal, that it sets the precedent for social and politcal anarchy, that it would deeply—perhaps irrevocably polarize the northern and souterhn parts of the nation (60). Lincoln would also argue against the Union separating on the premise that the states were already so integrated, that they could not separate without imposing serious harm to American society, and the stability on hich Americans depended (60). Last, but not least, Lincoln felt that secession would symbolize a major failing in American society, particularly in the eyes of europeans, many of whom still living under monarchies at the time. The American experiment of democracy would have
The American Civil War changed Americans and their ideals about freedom in many ways. Northern and Southern United states began to have simmering tensions for the states’ rights versus federal authority, plus westward expansion, and slavery had huge effects on the states. An election which made anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln the president of the United States of America in 1860, caused seven of the southern states to concede from the Union to make The Confederate States Of America soon after four more joined afterwards. It changed Americans in many ways as neighbors fought each other through the 4 gruesome years of the war. Conflict between the sides were like fights between brother and brother instead with many deaths.
‘Slavery was the root cause of secession’. ‘November 6 1860, Lincoln was elected president of America which resulted in panic emerging in the South’ . The election of Lincoln as president who was a Republican leader meant that ideologies, movements and values from the North would be implemented in the South which meant the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a huge characteristic of the South as the economy; politics; social status and psychological mind-sets were influenced by the process of slavery. The southern white population then derived the idea of secession which meant the South would gain independence from Northern aggression .
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
“The lack of… nationality, I believe, is one of the great evils of the times…” Senator John Sherman stated on February 10, 1863. The United States had been split into sections from the beginning, and it created a lack of unity and togetherness. In Document A, the reader can acquire from the reading that South Carolina (and later many other states) seceded from the Union because of states’ rights. Document A states that an amendment (specifically the
The utter contempt and loathing for the venerated Stars and Stripes, the abhorrence of the very words United States, the intense hatred of the Yankee on the part of these people.” The South perceived the North as a tyrannical power, and South Carolina’s secession emphasizes the relationship between the right to revolution and separation from the Union paying homage to the American Revolution. The Union’s defeat furthered the