Why Was The Civil War Inevitable

The 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, once said that, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." The Civil War was inevitable. The issue of slavery was so controversial back in the mid-18th century that neither sides, pro-slavery or anti-slavery, would have stepped down from their opinions. The only way for the issue to be resolved was war, where only one side could win. Although the Civil War had thousands and thousands of casualties, it brought on a new era of equality
As stated in the book, “Give Me Liberty! “ by Eric Foner, chapter 13 page 380, “With the slavery issue appearing more and more ominous, establishing party leaders moved to resolve differences between the sections. In 1850, California asked to be admitted into the Union as a free state. Many southerners opposed the measure, fearing that it would upset the sectional balance in Congress. Senator Henry Clay offered a plan with four main provisions that came to be known as the Compromise of 1850. California would enter the Union as a free state. The slave trade, but not slavery itself, would be abolished in the nation’s capital. A stringent new law would allow southerners to reclaim runaway slaves. And the status of slavery in the remaining territories acquired from Mexico would be left to the decision of the local white inhabitants. The United States would also agree to pay off the massive debt Texas had accumulated while independent.” The compromise brought lots of opposition as well as support. Senators such as John C. Calhoun, representing South Carolina, and William H. Seward, representing New York, strongly opposed the compromise. But senators such as Millard
The first cause was how the northern and the southern states both had differences economically and socially. The northern state’s economy was based on factory work, and socially they were very opposed to slavery and felt that every man should be treated as equals. But the southern state’s economy was based on cotton, and socially they were very much in favor of slavery and felt that blacks and whites were not equal. Since the south’s money came from the cotton industry, they solely relied on the work of slaves. Slavery was the main driving factor that pushed the southern states to be a cotton super power. Without slavery, the south would have had drastic declines in cotton production, which in turn would have cost them millions of dollars. The second causes of the Civil War was defining when state governments had rights, and when the federal government could overrule the states. This issue has been apparent ever since the victory in the American Revolution. But it becomes more apparent in the years before the start of the Civil War. After the Dred Scott decision was made, many anti-slavery states were angry that the federal government didn’t respect their laws against slavery. The federal government didn’t have the right to press slavery laws into non-slavery states. The third cause of the Civil War was the issue of slavery in itself. Many northern abolitionist wanted slavery to be abolished for good and