Slavery and the American Civil War
By
Adam Overman
History 101
Professor Brett F. Woods
June 14th, 2015
The American Civil War is also referred to as the war between the Northern and Southern States or the Rebellion War that began in 1861. Slavery was regarded as the main cause leading to the start of the war, as a high level of discrimination against the African Americans existed upon their arrival in the United States. The African Americans were either sold and traded by the elders in their villages or plucked from their native countries for a sometimes deadly transatlantic journey to serve wealthy southern families. They were not viewed as peers but as laborers and farmers. Americans who were rich and owned large plantations took the African Americans as their slaves. They suffered as if they were not worthy of compensation including working without pay and the standard consequence was lynching. During the period, they fought for their freedom, which was not given to them until the Civil War was fought. Consequently, they aligned themselves with the white men who were also soldiers in fighting for their freedom.
There were several factors that led to the American Civil War. The key issues were slavery, political unrest, equality, and economic pressures. However, the key reasons that lead to the Civil War was slavery. Slavery is touted as the main cause of the conflict between the states in the northern part and those in the south. Although the war did not
While it is certainly simple to attribute the start of the Civil War solely on the issue of slavery, the issues run much deeper. Even though slavery is one of the underlying causes of the American Civil War, issues regarding political and economic differences are also to blame for the start of the war. However, many of these problems that caused the country to split had their roots in the problem of slavery.
The American Civil War occurred between April 12, 1861, and May 9, 1865, and began due to the long-standing controversy of slavery in the country. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln took office, Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and among the 34 U.S. states seven Southern slave states succeeded from the United States. More states seceded and the Confederacy grew up to eleven slave states. This split the country between the Union in the Northern states, and the Confederate States of America in the Southern states. One big disagreement many Americans have today is whether slaves rights was the cause of the Civil War or not. Charles B. Dew believes the Civil War was fought over slavery, using speeches and public letters of 41 white southerners who were commissioners and appealed to their audience the ideas of the preservation of slavery and white supremacy as his evidence. Gary W. Gallagher believes that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, and the main goal for Northerners was to preserve the Union, using letters of white Northern soldiers that do not show much concern for black people as his evidence. Frederick Douglass’s statement, “The cry of Free Men was raised, not for the extension of liberty to the black man, but for the protection of the liberty of the white” is valid because the Civil War was not fought for the equality of black people, African Americans were treated very poorly after the Civil War and the emancipation proclamation was passed for
Cotton was the king of the South. It was bringing in large amounts of money as the textile industry in the North grew. Slavery was vital to the economic well-being of the South, and when the North began to question the “peculiar institution” of the South the wall of civility between the two sectionalized areas began to crumble. Due to the growing issue of slavery in the 1850s, the United States of America was in a state of total disarray and turmoil. The tension that had always existed between the North and South over the matter of slavery was no longer ignorable. As the United States expanded to the West, the status of slavery in the new states erupted in a violence that could no longer be controlled by sectionalism. The peace treaties that had worked in the past became Band-Aids over stab wounds. Southern states began to leave the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America and war was declared as the South fired onto the forts of the North. The Civil War was caused directly by the issue of slavery; the fugitive slave act in the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Bleeding Kansas prove that slavery was the key factor in the eruption of the nation.
Throughout the 1800s in America, slavery was a controversy between the north and the south. A Slave was one who was the property of another human being under law and was forced to obey them. The North felt that slavery was unfair and inhumane, whereas in the South, they felt as though slavery was crucial to their success. African American slaves were not allowed many rights: they were not allowed to testify in court against a white person, could not receive an education, or even sign contracts. Due to the brutality they faced each day, many slaves escaped with hopes to find freedom. The Underground Railroad, a system utilized by many runaway slaves to help them escape from the South to Canada, played a large role in the downfall of slavery and eventual abolition in the United States following the Civil War.
14. There are many reasons that led to the civil war. President Lincoln becoming president was one of the first reasons. Societal differences between industrial north and agricultural south. Slavery mostly because all Southern whites wanted to become a slave owner. Slavery was a major cause for the Civil War. Only a few amount of Southerners owned Slaves because of money issues. The destruction of the Missouri compromise was another reason.
The causes of the Civil War were complex and have been controversial since the country began. Some causes include; states’ rights, economics, and slavery. The most recognizable and popular cause is slavery. The freeing of the slaves was an important moral issue at the time and one of the greatest causes of the civil war. "It was only by carefully avoiding the moral issue involved in slavery that Northerners and Southerners could meet on any common ground." (Goldston, 79). The time came in which our great country would finally address the moral issue of slavery. Although there are many different causes to the American Civil War, the main cause was slavery because other causes are rooted in the issue of slavery.
The peculiar institution, Slavery, is always a highly debated topic as to what role it played during the civil war. Questions about why the Civil War occurred leads to many narrower questions all with different answers. However the sole reason for the war wasn’t slavery but the questions it brought about such as states rights, economics and political control of slavery, territorial expansionism, and the election of Lincoln. I agree with Howard Zinn that “the clash was over slavery as a moral institution, rather the war was brought on by northern and southern elites who recognize the incompatibility of two distinct economic systems.” The Union and Confederacy had an economic system and ideals too different that it was impossible to avoid a war.
Escaped slaves from the South helped the north to win the Civil War by increasing the number of soldiers fighting in the war for the north and by spying on the south for the north. With the help of escaped slaves fighting the South, the north outnumbered the south in battles, which eventually led to the North’s victory in the Civil War. Escaped slaves form the south also helped the north by spying on the south and reporting to Union officials who reported the information to the Union army. The purpose of this paper is to consider how escaped slaves from the south helped the north win the civil war resulting in the abolishment of slavery.
The question of slavery and the rights of states to decide on the matter for themselves completely controlled politics in the years prior to the Civil War. Laws were passed, such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it so any slaves that escaped were to be sent back to their owners. Not only would these runaway slaves be punished severely, but anybody who aided them in escape would also be subject to harsh punishment. These desperate men, women, and children had no protection in the legal system and were left with no options in life other than escape. Many of these escapees had to watch friends and family be beaten, sold, or even killed and were expected to work just as hard, like nothing had happened. After losing everything, it
Since the foundation of the United States slavery was present. Afro Americans from Africa had to work for Americans for example on their fields. They had no rights and became slaves. Slavery was present in the whole US until 1804, in which the Northern states banned slavery, whereas the Southern states did not ban it, because they believed that slavery was right and part of their life. This caused the Civil War in which the Northern states were the victories. Although slavery was banned in the whole US in 1865 it did not mean the end of racism.
The Civil War was caused by many reasons. The factors that were most responsible in causing the Civil War were the different views of the Constitution among the North and South, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the arrival of Lincoln as president. They caused immense destruction throughout the nation. If these factors were prevented, the United States could have been preserved and civil war could have never occurred.
What causes the civil war I believe there were many reason why civil war was causes ,but this are some overall reason why it got into a war (1) the ethical issues of the principles or the blame of the parties leading to the conflict and their political parties or leaders (2) retaining of Negro slavery (along with the establishment's function in a racial society) not only as the indication to the moral issue and of course racial issues,but as the center on which the meaning of the war turns into, causes for these two reasons political and economic standings (3) the United States as a federal or national body established in the revolutionary period and either preserved or perverted by the civil war( Church History).
There is no debating the cause of the American Civil War. The root of this historical war was slavery. The United States’ Civil War was over the ideology of slavery: the morality, expansion, and abolishment. Conditions that set the stage for the conflict rose internal to the United States, however international factors played a paramount role to the creation of the catastrophe that was the American Civil War. Transnational factors that caused the Civil War are foreign influences or events that helped set the stage for the Civil War to erupt. No foreign country is to blame for the eruption of the US Civil War, however foreign countries demand of American cotton, policies on slavery, and the United States collection of new territories from foreign powers are important when examining the causes that lead to the Civil War.
Cause of the Civil War was slavery; however, some think that the Civil War was caused by multiple causes known as pseudo causes. The 3 so-called causes are states’ rights, tariffs, and sectionalism. These causes are all dependent on the slavery. This dependence makes this a pseudo. Slavery is the main reason that caused the war. The north didn't want slavery but the south wanted to have slaves. The north thought that slavery was a cruel thing to do humans or any living thing. The southerners didn’t think slaves as human beings or living creatures, they thought of them as property and didn’t have a mind of their own. The slave owners didn’t think that slavery was something bad, but it was actually something horrific and cruel. The southerners didn’t think of slavery as something bad or something cruel. They grew up thinking that slaves weren’t living things
Some of the contributing factors that led to the Civil War were the foreign relations, supreme court cases, and presidential elections. One cause of the Civil War is the Mexican-American War. The new territories gained from this war pushed America to answer the question about the expansion of slavery. America asked this question because they had gained land from the Mexican-American War and people wanted to expand thus resulting in having to figuring out how to solve the slavery issue. Pro-slavery Southerners would inhabit the land if it allowed slavery because slavery is what