Was The Civil War Avoidable Essay

April 12, 1861 was the first day of the Civil War. This was the war that would determine what kind of nation we would be. The causes of this war is mainly the lack of ability to compromise, and the poignant subject of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln, the first republican president, won the election in 1860 he guaranteed to keep slavery out of the territories. This caused an immediate uproar in the southern slave states, leading to seven of them seceding from the nation and creating their own; the confederates. The northern states, known as the union opposed the idea of slavery. Several times the question has came up; was the war avoidable? The Civil War was not avoidable, because of the inability to compromise, the defense and opposition of slavery,
and the racial inferiority.
In 1820 the Missouri Compromise was what indicated how states would be represented. Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Anything north of the 36° 30´ latitude line was considered a free state and anything south was a slave state. This was congress’ way of balancing slavery. Thirty-four years later, the compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act has been considered to be the single most significant event leading up to the civil war. It was proposed by the senator of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, who favored popular sovereignty and disagreed with the Missouri Compromise. He thought each state should have the right to decide to abolish slavery or not. At the time before the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, Kansas and Nebraska were not territories yet. Stephen Douglas wanted to create thousands of farms in the two territories and construct a transcontinental railroad through the midwest as well. Since popular sovereignty meant the choice of slavery was up to the people, northern abolitionists moved into Kansas as southern supporter of slavery fled to Kansas too. Constant conflict between the two groups of voters led to a bloody battle, known as Bleeding Kansas.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. At this time the population was made up with 2% of slaves in the northern states and 39% of slaves in the southern states. By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. A month later on April 12, marked the beginning of the bloodiest four years in United States history when General P.G.T. Beauregard, command of the Confederate forces, opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter.
This notorious Civil War was inevitable. The country could not agree on slavery to the point where things became violent. Northerners wanted to preserve the Union and prevent the spread of slavery. The south was torn between human morals and economy benefits. The north had factories and did not need slaves, they looked at slavery as morally wrong and cruel. The south disagreed insisting that the north was morally wrong. The south thought of slavery as beneficial to the slaves because they get fed, clothed, and taken care of.
To the Southerners, slavery made up a huge part of their economy. Slavery offered free labor, and lots of it. Slavery was considered a necessity to the South to work on rice plantations and tobacco farms. Without them, their economy would collapse and the tobacco fields would dry up. Northerners looked at the south as lazy for this reason.
While the popularity of tobacco slowly discontinued, the demand for slavery decreased. Although, soon after there was a new cash crop - king cotton! Slaves were needed to plant and farm the cotton, to pick the cotton, and to separate it from the seeds. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which separated the seeds and made it fairly easier for the slaves, but with labor being done faster, caused for more work, more slaves, more land, and more money earned to the south.
The racial inferiority was high in the south.
African-Americans were nothing but property to the southern white man. Even though African-Americans fought in the war too, they did not receive the same pay as a white soldier until 1864, a year before the war was over. They compared slaves to children implying they were unable to take care of themselves. Slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write, for it was illegal. Since the south has been so dependent on slavery for all this time, some were actually scared to free them and compromise with the north. The African-American population had grown so much that the southerners were fearful of what would come if they did free the slaves.
It was the spring of 1865 when the confederate armies surrendered and the union captured the confederate states’ president, Jefferson Davis. After that the resistance collapsed and the war ended. The cost of 625,000 lives were lost to bring our nation back to one and then eventually abolish slavery. It was bound to happen, because of the controversial topic of slavery and the constant disagreements. The southerners were too narcissistic and felt they were superior, but it caught up to them and answered the question on what kind of nation we would be; a nation where all men are created
equal.