Abolition Of Slavery Dbq Essay

In 1830, 15.6% of the U.S. population was slaves, a percentage which stayed about the same until after the Civil War. The North wanted to solve the issue of slavery for a long time, and finally decided to attack it head on with the Civil War. With the main goal of the war was to end slavery, and the tension caused by this issue, slavery was the primary reason for the outbreak of the Civil War. In addition, the elimination of slavery was the ultimate justification for the war and loss of life because many lives were lost in slavery and the abolition of slavery was just a building block for further change.
The primary reason for the outbreak of the Civil War was slavery. Tension caused by slavery quickly amounted to become enough to begin a
Civil War. According to Document M, Lincoln said, “We are now far into the fifth year… of putting an end to slavery agitation… In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’” If the U.S. was in the fifth year of trying to solve the issue of slavery, there must have been a lot of tension between the North and the South. The “crisis” Lincoln is referring to is a war, and he is saying that they cannot both win the war, only one side's’ opinion would be made the law. In Document H, George Fitzhugh said, “The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world.” Although, in Document G, Frederick Douglass, a former slave, said, “I answer, a day that reveals… the gross injustice and cruelty to which he [African Americans] is the constant victim to.” These two documents provide very different opinions which caused tension between others. The two opinions are polar opposites and if someone from the other side heard the opposite sides opinion, they might get agitated which would build up to many people with a lot of tension between each other. The Civil War was fought over slavery. “Northern states felt that white southerners were lazy, wealthy planters who succeeded due to slave labor,” (Disunion Intro Notes). The main issue that the North had with the South was that they used slave labor. They were so bothered by the fact that the South used slave labor, after all of the tension amounted, that they began the Civil War. Slavery was the main reason for the outbreak of the Civil War. The outcome of the war was ending the reason it started.
The elimination of slavery was the ultimate justification for the war and loss of life.
Many lives were lost in the war, but many were also lost during slavery. For example, “Turner’s rebellion… resulted in the executions of over 100 African American(s),” (Was Nat Turner’s Revolt a Success?) Just a few people acting out caused another 100 people, who could have been innocent, their lives. This is just one instance where many slaves lost their lives. They were also treated horribly, as Douglass expressed, which adds up for all of the casualties in the war. The end of slavery was a building block for more change, so there would be more change than just the end of slavery, which made up for the number of casualties in the war. “14th Amendment - all freed people are citizens… 15th Amendment - black men can vote,” (Slavery by Another Name Video Worksheet). The 14th and 15th Amendments were both huge advancements because now African Americans were seen as humans, and a whole person in the census, not just ⅗ of one, and they were able to vote. African Americans received two rights that white people had, which was only the beginning. Today, every race has the same rights in the U.S. The ultimate justification for the war and loss of life was the elimination of slavery.
Slavery was the primary reason for the outbreak of the Civil War, due to the tension it caused and because the Civil War was fought over slavery. The outcome of the Civil War was ending the reason the war began. The end
of slavery was justification for the war and lives lost because many lives were also lost in slavery and the end of slavery was just a building block for more change.