In the early nineteenth century, American politicians chose to avoid the growing sectionalism between the industrial, free North and the agricultural, slave-driven South. They came up with all sorts of treaties and compromises to stall the rising conflict. Unfortunately, during the 1820s-1860s, Americans were no longer able to prevent conflict due to ideological differences between the North and South and the threat of secession in the South. Ever since the North started industrializing, the North and South have had divided ideological beliefs and cultures. Up until 1860, the government was always able to think up a compromise to satisfy the needs of both. At first, the North only did not want slavery to expand into new territories due to the …show more content…
The South was very threatened by this movement. Pro-slavery Southerners and abolitionists detested each other and refused to compromise with each others beliefs. In the “Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention”, it states, “every American citizen who retains a human being in involuntary bondage as his property is (according to scripture) a MAN STEALER” (doc B). This quote illustrates how Northern abolitionists were extremely critical about anyone owning slaves and even implies that it is a sin to have slaves. The need of balance in the government and insistent extremists lead to many violent outbreaks. In 1854, the Kansas Nebraska Act was passed to keep both sides content through popular sovereignty. But the failed attempt to create momentary peace only lead to violence between extremists and within the government. Abolitionists and Southerners both migrated to Kansas trying to sway the vote in their direction, but it only ends in violent outbreaks and death. In document E, the image displays how the sectional tensions rose to violent level in the Senate, when Republican Senator Charles Sumner is beaten with a cane on the senate floor by Democratic Rep. Preston Brooks. Even the …show more content…
The tariff negatively affected the South’s economy and positively impacted the North’s economy which added tension between the two regions. Senator Henry Clay speaks of how ridiculous the idea is, by stating in his speech, “she [South Carolina] can defeat the execution of certain laws of the United States, I for one, will express my opinion that I believe it is utterly impracticable…”(doc A). The idea of a state seceding from the nation impacted the later monumental threat of secession by many Southern states in 1860. In Document H, the presidential election of 1860 map shows how divided the country was. Most of the North and Western states voted for Lincoln while the Southern states were divided between Breckinridge and Douglas.The Southern states were immensely opposed to having an whig, abolitionist president, Lincoln, that they warned of secession if he won the election. Senator Daniel Webster notes in his speech to Senate, “Secession! Peaceable Secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle” (doc D). The South was insistent on signing no more compromises to further unionize them to the United States. Secession, seen in the eyes of Lincoln, was a form of treason and was not letting the South get away with that. Nor did President
With the pressure following the passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act, many northerners opposed slavery and were concerned with the possibility of its expansion. In 1856, these northerners formed a new political party called the Republican Party. Once Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate, the South began making plans to secede from the union if Lincoln was elected as President of the United States. In the “South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession”, delegates state, “A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. ”15
In the early 19th century, the United States was relatively calm towards slavery as compared to the mid-1800’s. During this stage, agreements, such as the Missouri Compromise, satisfied both the northern and southern US and kept them at peace, but only for a brief period of time. As the years passed by, the belief in abolitionism grew, mainly in the North, as figures like William Lloyd Garrison increased the popularity of the movement. The South only felt anger towards the rise of the abolition movement and hence, conflict between the two sides developed over the next few decades, which eventually climaxed with the Civil War. Although the North and the South were able to compromise in the early 1800’s, the tension and violence caused by the
The election of Abraham Lincoln seems to have triggered the call for the separation of the Southern states, based on the need to end slavery as campaigned by his incoming presidency. The Union felt the need to launch an offensive campaign and attack the Confederate’s territory. The Confederates, on the other hand, was only preoccupied with the need to survive and stand up for their right to secede in order to preserve slavery (Woods, 2012). Although the Confederate generals had no interest in invading the north, the war strategists did not want to use the defensive tactic of waiting for the union to decide on the place and time for the battle to occur.
They were feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. They didn’t want Southerners to be convinced that slavery is evil. Also they didn’t want to be
From November 1860 to May 1861 we have had 11 of our Southern states secede from the United States of America. They threatened to secede if our current president Abraham Lincoln was elected into office. The reason all 11 states seceded is because they believe that the government was becoming too strong, and they didn’t want them to tell them how they could live and how they couldn’t. In other words they didn’t want the government to tell them if they could have slaves and if they couldn’t. The Southerners felt that if they stayed with the United states that the Northern states would begin to control them.
He writes: "The 'plan of secession,’ "if any, and the purpose of secession, unquestionably, originated, not in Washington City, or with the Senators or Representatives of the South, but among the people of the several States, many months before it was attempted.” After Lincolns victory was announced on November 6, 1860, things happened fast. The first state to secede was South Carolina on December 20 1860, with 6 additional states also seceding during the first month of the new year. In their own minds, their secession was totally legitimate and they felt they ought to be recognized as a fully independent nation. This is illustrated well in the last few lines of the Declaration of the Immediate Causes of Secession of South Carolina, which state that the state was a “separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right
When Congress issued tariffs on foreign goods, Southerners believed that Congress favored the North since this tariff would benefit them. John Randolph spoke of this issue, arguing that Congress was being unfair since the South was not benefiting from the actions of Congress at all while the North benefited (Doc A). As for political conflict, there was a clear case of factionalism and political rivalry in 1824 (Doc I). With these conflicts amongst the varying factions and political parties, the political tension and sectionalism within America continued to grow. Accusations and anger from the South further separated them from the North, which did not contribute “good feelings” to the country at
When Henry Clay created the Compromise of 1850, his intent was to reduce sectional tension between the North and South, or more specifically, the free and slave states. In awarding each side a part of their list of grievances, the Compromise was supposed to appease the divided the country and stop a conflict. Unfortunately, the Compromise was not successful in its intent. It further divided the country due to the loopholes found in the Compromise´s words. The North got the upperhand of the Compromise of 1850 due to the region's power in the Senate, their unwillingness to obey the laws, and the idea of popular sovereignty.
‘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 .
There were disputes over territories. The main disagreement was over slavery. Slavery was legal in the south but had become banned by then states north of the Mason-Dixon line. The southerners feared that the slave ban would eventually lead to no slaveholding states, and which would give the control of the government to abolitionist. If this happened the institution of slavery would be outlawed completely.
On the eve of the Civil War, the South was determined to protect what they considered their way of life. This way of life included their right to slaves, which they felt the North was threatening (OpenStax, 2016). The South generally felt that the North was attacking them, and this belief only strengthened after Lincoln’s election. The Northerners, specifically the Republican Northerners, were determined to stop the expansion of slavery. When the South seceded, Lincoln declared that they could not secede, and fought to bring them back to the Union (OpenStax, 2016).
Several different events led to the civil war. In the North, several events occurred that angered the South, including the refusal to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, the raid on Harper's Ferry, and Lincoln being elected president in 1860, when he didn't even appear on the ballots in the South. The North was also angered by many of the events in the South, including the secession of several states, the outcome of the court case Dred Scott v. Sandford, and the outcome of the vote in Kansas to be a slave or free state. When the South seceded, many Northerners felt that the South should not be allowed to secede, but the most of the South felt that it was within their rights. The South came up with many ways to justify their succession, and one
With expanding the union came disunion. The states began to feud about the expansion of slavery. This quote from John C. Calhoun captures the mind frames of the time. “ I have, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely effective measure, end in disunion… the agitation has been permitted to proceed… until it has reached a period when it can no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have thus had forced upon you the greatest and gravest question that can ever come under your consideration: How can the Union be preserved?”
The northerner had been a loud voice against the slavery that took place (mostly) in the south and with him winning the election, there was a lot of opposition from slavery-advocates. Lincoln was against slavery and with the possibility of his end-goal being the abolishment of slavery seven states where already done leaving the union before Lincoln had taken his place in the Oval Office. The Confederate states of America had been formed and it was composed of the pro-slavery states in the south. However, even though people in the north believed that the
After Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States, the South became very concerned that the end of life as they knew it was near, (Shultz, n.d.). President Lincoln was opposed to slavery and he was against the spread of it in the West. The southerners assumed that if the all the western territories remained free, the Republicans would accomplish their abolition efforts. Secession began with the states in the deep south, (Shultz, n.d.). South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union and several others began to follow.