...The extent that state rights played was significant and was responsible in the outbreak of the civil war, however the issues such as slavery, Lincoln’s election, westward expansion and basic differences between north and south were also instrumental and a key factor in the outbreak of the civil war. Not just state rights but slavery also played a significant role in the outbreak of the civil war. Tension grew between the confederates and the union with slavery rights. The north wanted slavery out and the south wanted to keep them in. With this tension growing a civil war became closer and closer to out breaking. There were about three million slaves in America in 1619. The north grew out of slavery and the south did the exact opposite by depending more and more on slavery. From Yankees and confederates in the American stats in the mid – 19th century it reads, “This fundamental difference was one of the key causes of the American civil war”. Slavey was a fundamental difference because the north did not want slaves in America and the south did. This is because it was the way of life for the confederates. They did not want a anti-slavery country because number one their businesses would suffer but also the way they went about life. The south argued that the north just could not simply take away slavery and that it is typical for the union to tell the south what it should do. The south thought that the northerner’s assumed that they were better then them and they are of a high...
Words: 896 - Pages: 4
...The American Civil War (1861) took place between the Union (Northern States) against the Confederates (Southern States) over the argument over slavery. The dispute had escalated to such an extent that the Southern States declared themselves independent of the Unites States of America. As a result, a war took place costing the death of more than 600,000 Americans. In the article the writer explains how history had been written to dominate our historical understanding of the Civil war. The reason for the civil war without doubt was slavery, yet the defeated Southerners defended the incident by claiming that it was a war for the “states’ rights” (Article). This was the Myth of the Lost Cause in which defeated Southerners molded the truth in self defense (Class notes). This demonstrates the psyche of white Southerners that they were in a stage of denial; thus, they decided to distort the history to gain their dignity back. This sheds light on the fact of the issue that historians tend to add their personal opinions when they are writing. History is supposed to give us a detailed account of what happened without personal beliefs or opinions. Everyone has a different interpretation of events and incidents, but the history pages should only include facts. They manipulated the pages of history in self-defense to make the future generation’s believe that the war was fought not because of slavery but the states’ rights. A few historians even came out and defended the inhumane act of...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
...Civil War Essay Prompts Reconstruction Historian Synopses: • Dunning School (Traditional): Dunning and Moore. It is a Tragic Era. The Southerners were tortured. The two underlying foundations: (1) the South should have been readmitted quickly after its defeat (2) there should have been no discussion of racial equality for the freedmen. He is accused of being racist and pro-southern. The Republicans were divided between leniency (conservatives) and punishment (scalawags and carpetbaggers – radicals). The freedmen are not to be blamed because they were pawns and were used by the Republicans. Once a freedman voted for a Republican, he was not paid back for his loyalty. Corrupt and incompetent Reconstruction governments that were eventually overthrown when Democrats regained control and the Tragic Era could come to an end. Bitterness and hatred between the races resulted. South was converted into a colonial appendage. What the Radicals were trying to do was dominate the South as though it were a colony. Moore emphasizes the punishment of North on South. This is the very negative Traditional school • Revisionist School: Simpkins & Woody. In spite of the Traditional charges of incompetence, the Reconstruction governments achieved a lot. Most wrote new constitutions that introduced long-needed laws about school, administration, civil and judicial rights, etc. They were successful. The Reconstruction governments were not controlled by blacks. In no Southern...
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
...Channel Encarnacion HIST 102 10/27/14 Civil War Debate Was the Civil War Inevitable? Was the Civil War Avoidable? In The Irrepressible Conflict by Kenneth M. Stampp he does not argue that the Civil War was inevitable. He does observe, however, that it is hard to see how the country could have avoided some sort of showdown on slavery. Conflict was “irrepressible” in the sense that “the issues dividing the North and South were genuine and substantial and that conflict between them was a natural and logical result.” The civil war was inevitable given the circumstances under which it came. The three main causes: infringement on civil liberties, violation on states' rights, and the collapse of the two-party system made the conflict between North and South almost impossible to resolve. The war was going to happen one way or another. The south originally disagreed with Lincoln’s laws. The North and the South had very diverse views over slavery. The country couldn’t have been integrated if they didn’t come to a compromise. With the north wanting a strong federal government and the south with the contrary wants, the country couldn’t have agreed to go one way or the other. The war had to happen in order for a winner to take control and make the executive decisions. The country would have been splitting with every new state union, leaving the country with a very dissimilar outcome than what is today. The explosion of the American Civil War was caused by a vast number of conflicting...
Words: 667 - Pages: 3
...Disunion (2001) Charles B. Dew's Apostles of Disunion delves into the controversial topic of the causes of the Civil War and the secession of the states that eventually became the Confederate States of America. There are many accounts that point to defending states' rights as the primary cause of the Civil War. However, most people believe that slavery was the main and primary concern the deep South cited for seceding from the Union to form their own separate country focused on individual liberty and the progression of slavery in those states. Dew makes the point that searching for the cause for the Civil War is a search that continues to be debated today among historical scholars. Therefore, Apostles of Disunion and Charles Dew ask the reader to ponder and answer the question: “What was the cause of the Civil War?” Dew focuses his primary support for answering this question by looking at speeches and letters from men termed Commissioners. Commissioners were men appointed from each state to go to each of the slave-holding states in the South and present the state Congress with their home states thoughts on secession and slavery and the new Republican national government. These men were charged with the task of convincing the other states' governments to side with the soon-to-be unified South in her desire to ward of Northern aggression and plans to eradicate slavery in the Union. The best and brightest orators and politicians from each state were chosen for this daunting...
Words: 713 - Pages: 3
...Chaplin 30 November 2010 The Cause of the Civil War The United States Civil War was the result of conflictive ideologies between the Northern states and the Southern states. The North was abolitionist and heavily developed while the South was poorly industrialized and strongly dependent on agriculture. More than being a social issue slavery was the basis of economy in the Southern part of the United States. The problem was not about whether slavery was morally correct, but whether the South could economically survive without this type of labor; for Southerners slavery was an economical pillar and crucial for their subsistence, to the extent that it would rather fight or secede from the Union before giving up their profitable labor system. In contrast, the North was more densely populated and had more resources in terms of money, men, and supplies than the South did. Slavery for the North was not as necessary as it was for the rural South. Further more, the South was a strong believer of small national government and strongly advocated state rights over national laws, while the North was a strong supporter of federalism and believer in the Union with no option of secession or nullification, which was a common thread of Southern states against the Union. As all these differences grew bigger between the two, more issues and sectionalism emerged and finally led to the American civil war. To summarize, the American Civil War was caused by the differences between the North...
Words: 1604 - Pages: 7
...Russell History 121 July 31, 2014 Professor Russell History 121 Causes Of Civil War Generally, texts have showed that inconsistency between northern and southern financial prudence initiated the Civil War. The industrial revolt in the North, throughout the first few years of the 19th century, resulted into Machine age economy that depend on wage manual worker, not slaves. At the same time, the Southern states continuously to depend on slaves for their agricultural economy and cotton manufacture. South made enormous revenues from cotton, slaves and struggled to sustain them. Northside did not require slaves to maintain their economy so they fought to free abolish slavery as whole from United States. History shows us the agricultural economy was indeed one cause of civil war, but it certainly wasn’t the only cause. Wars are complicated and there causes are not simple understandable. In this research paper we will discuss causes what started the Civil War. A war that separated the nations, ruined harvests, towns, and railroad lines. Many issues embarked the nation into disorder in 1861. Key administrative foundations contain the slow collapse of the Whig Party, the establishment of the Democrat Party and, the 1860’s voting of Abraham Lincoln as president. Religious disagreement to slavery also increased, braced by ministers and protestors such as “William Lloyd Garrison”. Ecological struggle over the extent of slavery into western lands and states grew. Administrative agreements, such...
Words: 920 - Pages: 4
...bloody wars. One of the founders of what makes up our country today was Abraham Lincoln. He was born on February, 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. About 20 years later, Lincoln moved and settled in the town of New Salem, Illinois. He was a self-taught lawyer and legislator. Soon he became engaged in local politics. He worked as a supporter of the “Whig Party” and won the election to the Illinois State legislator in 1834. Lincoln was a staunch advocate of internal improvements, a national banking system, and frontier settlement. During his presidency, he continued to support these causes, and implemented policies to further them. He opposed to the idea of spreading slavery to the territories. His vision was to expand the united states with a focus on commerce and cities; rather than agriculture. An unsuccessful bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia later became law during his first term as president. So, generally, with reguard to domestic policy, Lincoln's presidency was of a piece with his previous political activity. The main difference between Lincoln the legislator and Lincoln the president lies in his attitude toward the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. As a Member of Congress, Lincoln had been extremely critical of President Polk's sweeping executive privileges during the Mexican War, arguing that only the legislature had the power to declare and direct the course of war; But during the Civil War...
Words: 2273 - Pages: 10
...When the Civil War came to a close on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, it was obvious that making amends between the conflicting regions was going to be a difficult task. Reconstruction was a period plagued by conflict because there was no precedent or blueprints on how to deal with secession because the Founding Fathers never thought it would happen. There were several different ideas on how to go about Reconstruction, but they all conflicted with one another. I agree with these different plans by Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress to a certain extent, the Reconstruction policies were mediocre and could have been improved, Southern resistance was provoked but not justified, and lastly the most lasting impact of Reconstruction was the increase...
Words: 1423 - Pages: 6
...Mexican-America war: included California as well as parts of other Western territories. Fire-Eaters: A general unofficial term used to describe a group of Southern politicians who were extremely in favor of slavery and thus advocated for secession. Underground Railroad: A route that slaves took to secretly escape from their masters to freedom. Harriet Tubman: A particularly famous conductor of the railroad, helping to sneak hundreds of slaves out of servitude. William H. Seward: A somewhat radical politician who advocated for the abolition of slavery on moral grounds. Higher Law: The stance that...
Words: 2835 - Pages: 12
...Through the course of American history a ubiquitous theme of seceding oppression and holding true to one’s rights and beliefs is accentuated, however this sweet tea of American values has been brewed by an otherwise tart source, the tea leaves of tension. In the debate over slavery which consumed nineteenth century America, proponents and opponents of free labor clashed ceaselessly. The ensuing Civil War was caused by a self-preservation instinct that each side used to substantiate their discord. Foremost, beginning with the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, the South began to resort to outcrying against the government, as they saw their future potentially dwindle away. Thereafter, through the repercussions of the growing sectionalism and...
Words: 1655 - Pages: 7
...Introduction 1. What is the author’s background? How does this affect the way he wrote this book? The author was born and raised in the South by his parents, who were strong proponents of the Confederacy. Ancestors on both sides of his family fought for the Confederacy. He even proudly carried the Confederate flag in his backpack and posted it on the wall in his college dorm room to signify pride in states’ rights. He also dreamed becoming a soldier in the Confederate Army. His grandmother was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. This makes him a great source for the purpose of this book because he has real world experiences of the events and ideas that circulated around that time. The author also mentions how hard it was for him to write the book because he was surprised to fully understand how secession was related to racism and white supremacy. However, his Confederate-minded childhood could also be a source of bias insofar as his interpretations of secession and the controversies surrounding the Civil War, in addition to the documents he used to write this particular book. Chapter 1 2. What are the controversies surrounding the mural of Robert E. Lee and Confederate History Month in Virginia (hint: they are related to the same issue!)? There were a series of debates surrounding whether or not a mural of Robert E. Lee should be placed by Canal Way built along the James River. The NAACP spoke against the mural, saying that Lee was an advocate for...
Words: 1951 - Pages: 8
...consider include the abolitionist movement, Populist movement, Progressive movement, women’s rights movement, civil rights movement, and the labor movement. Gathering the Facts: 1- The Abolitionist Movement • “The goal of the abolitionist movement was the immediate emancipation of all slaves and the end of racial discrimination and segregation. • Advocating for immediate emancipation distinguished abolitionists from more moderate anti-slavery advocates who argued for gradual emancipation, and from free-soil activists who sought to restrict slavery to existing areas and prevent its spread further west. • Radical abolitionism was partly fueled by the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening, which prompted many people to advocate for emancipation on religious grounds. • Abolitionist ideas became increasingly prominent in Northern churches and politics beginning in the 1830s, which contributed to the regional animosity between North and South leading up to the Civil War.” ~ history.com • “Although many New Englanders had grown wealthy in the slave trade before the importation of slaves was outlawed, that area of the country became the hotbed of abolitionist sentiment. Abolitionist newspapers and pamphlets sprang into existence. These were numerous enough by 1820 that South Carolina instituted penalties for anyone bringing written anti-slavery...
Words: 2348 - Pages: 10
...at our past in two separate halves: the first half being everything before the Civil War and the second half being everything after the Civil War. With this being said, it can be reasonably argued that the Civil War is one of the most critical events to every happen in our country’s rich history. The devastating war took over half a million American lives in just a little over four years. This tragic event in history, up until Vietnam, claimed more American lives than any other war (Rubin 11). In hindsight it is clear that this war should have been avoided at all cost but during the late 1800’s the tension was so high and hostile that the war was inevitable. Sectionalism had increased so much during that period that even citizens thought of their country divided into two halves, being the North and the South. Each section considered themselves as right and proper while the other as ridiculous and wrong. These tensions kept building until the thought of secession became not a question of if but rather a question of when. According to Cole C. Kingseed, author of The American Civil War, the seeds of the Civil War can be planted as early as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. By the time of the convention five states had already abolished slavery, which made the southern states tentative to join the union for the fear of not having their slaves counted for representation in congress. A compromise was made that allowed for three out of every five slaves to be counted as the population...
Words: 2217 - Pages: 9
...Gettysburg: the Turning Point for a War and a Nation The Battle of Gettysburg is commonly known as the turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union army, because up till the Battle of Gettysburg, it had seemed, that the war was in favor of the Confederates. It showed the Union that they could win and the Confederate that they could lose. It was also General Robert E. Lee’s second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign as it became known as. The Civil War would change the way we view people with different colored skin. They would no longer be our slaves but our equals. I know that they didn’t get their rights until the Civil Rights Movement, but the Civil War paved the way for the Civil Rights. Not only was the Battle of Gettysburg...
Words: 1946 - Pages: 8
