Causes of the Civil War

Causes of the civil war

The civil war raged on for four years, but why was there even a civil war The obvious reason is the differences over slavery between the north and the south. Another reason was the election of Abraham Lincoln, mainly because Southerners believed he was in favor of Northern interests. Yet another reason was the secession of South Carolina from the Union which directly angered the North and made other Southern states secedes as well. One last reason was the attack on Fort Sumter which was the last straw the north took before declaring war.

Ten years before the Civil War even started the issue of slavery began with the admission of California to the Union and whether it would be a slave state or a free state. This was solved by having California send one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery senator to Washington D.C. Then there was the Fugitive Slave Act which was pretty much annulled by the personal liberty laws. Every meeting that congress had the main issue was slavery and slave rights etc. Such as what would Kansas or Nebraska be a slave state or a free state Then came along the Dred Scott Decision which increased the tensions between the north and the south, because it deprived free African Americans of citizenship if they were descendants of slaves. The last major slave associated action was John Browns Raid. This was when John Brown raided a U.S. Arsenal at Harpers ferry, Virginia. There was a lot of controversy whether Browns punishment should have been execution or life in prison. Some other effects of John Browns raid were increased fears that abolitionists would inspire slave revolts in the south and increased tensions between the North and the South.

The election of Abraham Lincoln was yet another big reason for the civil war. A southern newspaper said, ???A party founded on the ??¦ hatred of African slavery is now the controlling power.??? This showed the souths disapproval of Lincoln. How could the south survive with four more years of an abolitionist president Most southerners believed that Lincoln would enact laws that would prevent the spread of slavery and they were right, but Lincoln waited to see what would happen, because whoever he sided with it would anger the people that he opposed. So southerners automatically assumed that Lincoln would oppose slavery and use any means to stop the expansion of slavery and stop it ultimately. So that is what led to South Carolina seceding from the Union.

South Carolina seceded and the following are the reasons why. South Carolina noted that the Declaration of Independence established the peoples right to abolish an abusive government and create a new one. South Carolina claimed that the federal government had failed to properly protect slavery and safeguard the property rights of slaveholders. The secession of South Carolina mainly caused the sudden secession of other southern states including Mississippi, Florida, and the rest of the southern states in favor of slavery. These seceded states then formed the confederate states of America. In the meanwhile reactions in the North were varied from some people thinking we were better off split in half and other people were thinking that soon the U.S. Would cease to exist because if one state could secede why couldnt all the states secede

Then came the Fall of Fort Sumter which was the last straw that the Northerners could take from the south. Beauregard led a group of confederate soldiers to Fort Sumter and opened fire on the fort. The fort only held off for 2 days until they flew the white flag of surrender. Confederate soldiers then moved into the fort and raised the confederate Flag which meant they were claiming the fort as their own. The citizens of the North were outraged by the attack on Fort Sumter. In the South, feelings also ran high. The men who fired the cannons at Fort Sumter were considered heroes, and the newly formed Confederate government was emboldened to form an army and plan for war. While the action at Fort Sumter had not amounted to much militarily, the symbolism of it was enormous, and intense feelings over what had happened propelled the nation into a conflict that would not end for four long bloody years.

There were so many factors in the cause of the civil war that there can never really be one true cause to the civil way, the cause was many factors put together. If either the South abolished slavery or the North accepted slavery there would have never been a civil war, but they could not so there was no other option other than having a civil war and that has brought me to the end of my analysis of what was the true cause of the Civil War in the United States of America in 1861.