Slavery Was The Main Cause Of The American Civil War

The Missouri Compromise was a solution to the issue of the difference in slave states and Free states. Missouri desired to become a slave state; however with the addition of Alabama this would upset the balance with twelve slave states and only eleven Free states. Conflict arose, as according to the article, “The slaveholding states claimed that Northerners were trying to end slavery”. The compromise was solved by a clever solution by Henry Clay. Missouri would be allowed to enter as a slave state, as desired, and Maine would be brought into the Union as a Free State, causing an equal twelve to twelve ratio of slave to Free states.

The civil war was one of the biggest battles in american history. America’s worst clash of army’s,The civil war (1861-65) made the union against the confederate states. ”In the spring of 1861, decades of simmering tensions between the northern and southern United States over issues including states’ rights versus federal authority, westward expansion and slavery exploded into the American Civil War. ””In 1854, the U.S. Congress passed the KANSAS-NEBRASKA Act, which essentially opened all new territories to slavery by asserting the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional edict.”

The growing tension between proslavery and antislavery with the United States had the nation divided by sectional differences regarding slavery. At the time there were twenty two states in the U.S. which were evenly divided between free and slaves states. So when the State of Missouri requested to be admitted as a slave state conflict arose. This meant that the balance of free and slave states would be disrupted and the clash of whether Missouri should be a free or slave would be put before the North and South. As expected, The North and the South turned to a bitter debate.

To begin with, Lincoln was a vital person to the Civil War because his election in 1860 was one of the key causes of the war. During the presidential election of 1860, slavery was a major issue that divided the nation in two: the North, which disapproved slavery, and the South, which supported it. Because of this, the candidates’ positions on slavery were important. People had been aware that Lincoln personally opposed slavery and thought it was immoral. His view of slavery caused most Southerners to oppose him.

Through the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri Compromise, Manifest Destiny, Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the United States developed a unique policy regarding new territories that would greatly affect history and slavery. Although expanding territory would be beneficial to a country if done correctly, the United States suffered fracturing division and eventual civil war indirectly as a result. With lingering questions over the definitions of slave and free states, the country would always face questions regarding slavery whenever a new state wished to enter the Union. Ultimately, the bond of the country would crumble and require reconstruction for many years to come. With endless controversy, unpopular decisions, and poor agreements,

The Missouri debates concerned the Northerners because they were not reassured their distance from slavery. Along with the fear of their own liberties in the Missouri constitution. The anxiety of Northerner’s distance from the South led them to oppose all slavery expansion. The Missouri Crisis had given a new clearness in the sectional politics of the United States and guided each section towards consistency on the issue of slavery. The Missouri Compromises brought awareness to the sectional nations, but it was a new beginning that would lead to civil war.

Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, won the Election of 1860 with approximately forty percent of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral votes. Lincoln grasped the attention of the nation with his Cooper Union Speech which opposed the expansion of slavery but not slavery itself. Lincoln embraced a more popular free soil opposition to the expansion of slavery. This caused the Republican Party to become a supporter of free soil but not abolition. Soon after Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, South Carolina seceded from the Union.

Throughout the United States history, particularly during the mid 1770s to the 1960s, tension erupted in regards to slavery between the Northern and Southern states. Both states were evolving into their own distinct society. The Northern states were rapidly expanding in successful industrial developments, foreign trade, and commerce banking. At the same time, the Southern states were swiftly expanding in agriculture, were growing dependent on the production of cotton and enslaved African Americans. Additionally, numerous western territories were being acquired and as a result the Southern states wanted to expand slavery into the western territories but the Northern states opposed the expansion of slavery creating conflict.

While Abraham Lincoln was opposed to slavery, he embarked on a civil war to preserve the country. The

The North longed for the end of slavery, and the South was worried about the end of slavery. The Compromise of 1850 was only a temporary resolution. Although it was created to ease tensions, these tensions continued to rise, which ultimately led to the Civil War. The circumstance of slavery continued to divide the United States.

In January 1861, Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the first of many events that would lead to the Civil War. The South Carolina legislature took this as a threat, and at a state convention,

The Republican Party was committed to restricting the growth of slavery, and its victory in the election of 1860 was the trigger for secession acts by Southern states. The debate before 1860 was mainly focused on the Western territories, especially Kansas and the popular sovereignty controversy. Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate for president in the election of 1860. Lincoln was opposed to the expansion of slavery into new areas, but held that the federal government was prevented by the Constitution from banning slavery in states where it already existed. His plan was to halt the spread of slavery, and to offer monetary compensation to slave-owners in states that agreed to end slavery (see Compensated emancipation).

Before the Missouri Compromise there was a lot of tension between the people who were pro-slavery and antislavery. It became more heated after the Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to balance between slave and free states. Congress created a two-part compromise, to create peace between the states. They did this by granting Missouri’s request which was admitted as a free state but also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory. This established a boundary between free and slave regions which remained the law of the land until it was nullified by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Douglas, was an important election that would, and did, go down in history. Lincoln had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, created by Stephen Douglas, which lead him into becoming a Republican. Here, nobody was able to Compromise. He ran against Stephen Douglas, and won the election with getting one hundred eighty electoral votes, and Douglas getting twelve (Southern Democrat Breckinridge seventy-two, and Constitutional Union Bell getting thirty-nine) (Doc H).

Abraham Lincoln would lead the Republican Party even though he did not win the south over in the election. He promised that he would save the Union no matter what the cost. This disconnect in policy would later lay the basis for the Civil War, which started in 1861. He never envisioned a proclamation or ending slavery but he was ultimately committed to saving the Union from the succeeding south. Lincoln gave into the antislavery Republicans toward the end of the war and finally decided to make slavery the true basis of the war.