What Role Did Slavery Play In The Civil War
During the decades leading up to the Civil War, the American people argued and compromised over the sensitive subject of slavery. It seems that the inflammation caused by slavery had reached its peak by the beginning of the war in 1861, and suddenly exploded at the battle of Fort Sumner. But did slavery really play the main role in igniting the American Civil War? Prior to the war it looked as if the government got stronger and more influential in the decisions of southern states in an attempt to keep them under control. Disagreement over slavery ultimately caused the Civil War, as it issued in Lincoln’s reinforcing the government, which antagonized the South into secession.
Preceding the Civil War, the American people disagreed over the slavery …show more content…
He had to keep the Union together, however, because all other nations observed America’s outcome to see if a nation of liberty could survive: it truly acted as a city on a hill. With slavery endangering America’s success, Lincoln had to enforce laws to keep the South under control, which strengthened American government. Although he did not want to fortify government simply to intimidate or oppress the South into submission, southerners worried that he did. According to the south, instead of saving the Union he abandoned the South’s “right to claim [its] property” (O). Southerners’ response to this stronger government seemed to worsen the …show more content…
Abolition societies in the North, they claimed, “[stirred] up insurrections among [their] slaves,” yet the government did not intervene (N). Why was Congress so inert concerning the protection of their rights? Disconcerted southerners wondered if it was not so much a matter of a passive government as that of an antislavery government. In the Constitution, “The only power conferred [to Congress] is the power coupled with the duty of guarding and protecting the [slave-]owner in his rights” (J). Southerners claimed that American government had grown to a stature in which it could do anything it wanted without protecting the slave-owner in his rights. Southerners “[were] made to conform to such rules as the North [dictated] to them” (M). Because of these offenses, southern states finally came to the conclusion that secession was the only possible answer, starting the Civil
Preceding the Civil War, the American people disagreed over the slavery …show more content…
He had to keep the Union together, however, because all other nations observed America’s outcome to see if a nation of liberty could survive: it truly acted as a city on a hill. With slavery endangering America’s success, Lincoln had to enforce laws to keep the South under control, which strengthened American government. Although he did not want to fortify government simply to intimidate or oppress the South into submission, southerners worried that he did. According to the south, instead of saving the Union he abandoned the South’s “right to claim [its] property” (O). Southerners’ response to this stronger government seemed to worsen the …show more content…
Abolition societies in the North, they claimed, “[stirred] up insurrections among [their] slaves,” yet the government did not intervene (N). Why was Congress so inert concerning the protection of their rights? Disconcerted southerners wondered if it was not so much a matter of a passive government as that of an antislavery government. In the Constitution, “The only power conferred [to Congress] is the power coupled with the duty of guarding and protecting the [slave-]owner in his rights” (J). Southerners claimed that American government had grown to a stature in which it could do anything it wanted without protecting the slave-owner in his rights. Southerners “[were] made to conform to such rules as the North [dictated] to them” (M). Because of these offenses, southern states finally came to the conclusion that secession was the only possible answer, starting the Civil