The Seeds of the U.S. Civil War The American Civil War was a prominent point in U.S. History. The Civil War was the deadliest war in United States history. The war could have commenced anytime before when it started on April 12th, 1861. The first event that could have led to a breakout of the war was the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was the act of making Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state; the 36 '30' became the slave/free dividing line for the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase territory (except Missouri). The western expansion of the U.S. through the Missouri Compromise contributed to sectional tension between the free North and the slave South. Later, in 1831, Nat Turner and a band of fellow slaves led a revolt …show more content…
Reactions of the Nat Turner Rebellion turned the North and South against each other, creating more sectionalism that invigorated the North and South. One of the first-ever states that tried to secede was South Carolina due to their refusal to pay the federal tariff; this was called the Nullification Crisis. South Carolina expressed their displeasure at the perceived favoritism of Northern economic interests that came at the expense of Southern economic interests. The Wilmot Proviso was the last act before the direct causes of the Civil War; it was an unsuccessful proposal in the U.S. Congress to ban slavery in the territory acquired from the Mexican War. This led the way to an increased debate over the expansion of slavery in the U.S., which became one of the most dominant issues in American politics in the 1850s. The events leading to the direct causes of the Civil War already created the foundation for the South and North being separated due to the various issues of slavery. Southern secession causing the U.S. Civil War was prompted by distinguishing factors. The war was caused by synonymous political, social, and economic influences of the two …show more content…
One of the first violent spurs was Bleeding Kansas, a series of violent conflicts between Kansas settlers from the years 1854 to 1861. The policy of popular sovereignty through the Kansas-Nebraska Act created an atmosphere of brutality. This was a prime example of Northerners and Southerners fighting, attacking, and killing each other over the expansion of slavery. Later on, there was the Harpers Ferry Raid where John Brown and 21 of his followers attempted to steal weapons from the Federal Arsenal. They faced resistance from the local town’s people and became trapped inside a fire engine house. John Brown was wounded, sent to jail, and was put on trial for treason. Brown was later found guilty and hung, but used the national media attention to put the country on trial for slavery and he became known as a martyr for the anti-slavery cause. His actions caused slaveholders to fear more rebellions and labeled all Republicans as radical abolitionists who wanted to instigate violent rebellions. An anti-slavery book written by abolitionist Harriet Beech Stower was a sentimental story highlighting the realities of slavery, including being sold down the river, breaking up slave families, slaves running away towards Canada, white supremacy, racism, the cruelty of slave masters, and sexual exploitations. This was a best-selling novel
He brutally kills many innocent people just because they are in his way. Although John Brown tries to end slavery, which is a good deed, he does use violence, and murder people who are innocent; therefore, John Brown is guilty of murder, treason, and insurrections. John Brown not only starts a very violent insurrection, almost like a war. He also brutally murders people who are just in his way. Insurrection means a violent uprising against authority.
On this evening, he and his men held many people captive and killed seven of them. Brown was surrounded and caught by the militia and a few months later he was hanged for murder and treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. Harpers Ferry confirmed the fears of the pro-slavers that John Brown was a monster and determined to destroy the South by committing genocide against all slave holders. His actions set the nation on an inevitable course to The Civil
The Civil War was a battle of great importance to our history of the United States. On April 12th, 1861 this battle broke out between the Union States, North, and the Confederate States, such as the South. The Civil War took place all throughout the United states, and did not come to an end until the Union won the war on May 9, 1856. So, our question of “What caused the Civil War”, comes with three important answers. The three main causes of the Civil War between the North and the South were Economic, Social, and Political differences.
Harriet Beecher Stowe strongly disproved the lies the South had through the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Stowe explained throughout her book the true struggles of a slave and how slaves were treated in the South. Stowe's book was directed toward the North to inform them that the South's political
When Missouri applied to be part of the states, many northerners were panicked because it was a pro-slavery territory and they felt that slave states had too much power already. In 1820, however, Henry Clay of Kentucky announced that if Maine were to be a free state then Missouri should be allowed to be a state too. From this came the notion that states be admitted in pairs, one slave and one free. It was also said that no slavery was allowed above the 36 30 latitude line. Despite the fact that the Missouri Compromise had taken place, slavery was still creeping into the north guised under the legal matter of “indentured servitude.
Before the southern secession, there were conflicts between the North and the South due to slavery. Southerners did not want slavery to end, while the North wanted it abolished. They thought slavery was a right and a necessary evil. In a message to congress, James Buchanan stated that “Congress can contribute much to avert [Southern withdrawal from the Union] by proposing…the remedy for existing evils…an ‘explanatory amendment’ of the Constitution on the subject of slavery” (Buchanan 1860). The South wanted to be left alone, they wanted to continue with slavery.
John Brown has always been a controversial antebellum topic. Some have called him a hero for his bravery in the face of battle and death, and some have called him a villain because of his difficult-to-justify actions. John Brown has been called a martyr because of his good motives, but he was really an egomaniac, obsessed with the idea of destroying slavery. Brown’s history of violence in Kansas and Virginia proves this. The Pottawatomie, Kansas massacre, which John Brown planned as revenge for the sack of Lawrence, and orchestrated, was a preemptive strike against pro-slavery settlers.
John Brown was an extreme abolitionist who believed so much in the eradication of slavery, that he resulted to violence and bloodshed in order to achieve his goal. He felt he was "called by God" to end slavery by any means necessary. He failed to achieve his goal in his lifetime, but his actions had a major impact on the North and South before the Civil War. John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was probably his most effective attack against slavery. This attack on slavery caused tensions to boil over in the North and South, creating a conflict which could only be resolved with war.
“Fight with fire and strike terror in the heart of the proslavery people” (“UShistory” 1). This inspired John Brown and his followers. John Brown grew up with a father that passionately disagreed with the idea of slavery. As Brown grew older he became a radical abolitionist. He lead the Pottawatomie Creek massacre and the raid at Harpers Ferry.
His intention was to arm slaves with weapons from the arsenal, but no slaves came to his calling and the raid was put to rest by Colonel Robert E. Lee and his marines. These acts of treason are what made John Brown a important figure back then. He tried a different approach to having slaves freed but in the end it back fired and cost him and some of his kids their lives. Some people say he was a hero because he stood up to the south bulling of slaves but others say he was a terrorist because he killed innocent people based on their
Secession had been considered for years earlier but officially took place when Abraham Lincoln was elected as the President of the United States in 1860. Lincoln’s main aim was to preserve the Union but the South was upset because Lincoln was against slavery and in the end cherished abolishing slavery. South Carolina almost instantly seceded from the Union after the presidential election and built the Confederate States of America at which point other southern states soon linked. However, there were many causes leading up to South Carolina seceding from the Union. Each state was likely a set of duties they were to fulfill to continue their existence as sovereign states.
Though this may be true, secession was not the primary cause because slavery was a problem far before the South ever decided to secede. The United States didn’t want to have to secede from one another but they felt if there were no change with slavery it was bound to happen: “‘ Congress can contribute much to avert [Southern withdrawal from the Union] by proposing and recommending to the legislatures of the several States the remedy for existing evils which the Constitution has itself provided for its own preservation,... an ‘explanatory amendment’ of the Constitution on the subject of slavery...”’ (Buchanan 1860). This shows that they were even talking about adding a new amendment to the constitution strictly for slavery.
In many ways, John Brown’s death was the galvanizing agent of the long-brewing tensions over slavery. In his words, “If it is deemed necessary that [he] should forfeit [his] life for the furtherance of the ends of justice [...]—let it be done!” John Brown became the first martyr of the Civil War, attracting the support of many. Transcendentalist writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson released speeches and pamphlets on his behalf, forever memorializing him. Thoreau gave the speech “A Plea for Captain John Brown” on October 30th, 1859 deifying Brown: “Some eighteen hundred years ago Christ was crucified; this morning, perchance, Captain Brown was hung.
George Fitzhugh claimed that "The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest the freest people in the world." (Document H). John Brown a major person in the fight to end slavery "led a band of 18 men into Virginia to seize the federal arsenal there, distribute the captured arms to slaves in the area, and create a general slave uprising." (Document I).John Brown was executed and the aftermath of his death made tensions rise betwwen the North and South. "
There were three main causes of the civil war including slavery, sectionalism and secession. Slavery was a huge part of it and it led to the Missouri Compromise where any states below the border would be slave states and the anything north of that was free states. (Mrs. Wise) "The south feared the declaration of freedom for the slaves by government leaders in the North." Next, sectionalism. Sectionalism-