Preview

Why Did the Civil War Start? Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
589 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did the Civil War Start? Essay Example
In this chapter I will try to find out why the Civil War actually started, and what the consequences of the war were. To find out this I need to know a little more about the history of the Civil War.

The causes of most wars are often very complex, but in the America civil war it came down to two major issues, slavery and the protection of the Union. In the North, they were growing richer all the time as industry developed fast. The workers were mostly immigrants with low wages. The South didn't have these resources, and the slaves were essential for them. The Northern politicians insisted that the Slavery should be abolished and that this was an evil system that should be stamped out. Only the rich wool farmers and other wealthy southerners had their own slaves, but most of them thought each state should decide its own politics rather than the federal government in Washington. When the war started most southerners fought for their States' right and not just the slavery question.
The North primarily fought to preserve the Union, but soon they also wanted to free all the slaves in the South.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as President, he was liberally-minded, and this was the final straw for the southern states. The leaders of the south had been waiting a long time for an event like this that could unite the entire South against the "antislavery forces". When the election results were certain a South Carolina convention declared their state as seceded from the United States of America. Six more states seceded by February 1861 and the seven states made their own state called the Confederate States of America and established a capital in Montgomery, Alabama. The rest of the southern states were still a part of the Union. On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president of the United States. In his inaugural speech, he declared that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Civil War Essay

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The main reason the North wanted to maintain the Union was because they had not want other states seceding. Slavery was a very big issue for the North. Abolition and journalist, William Lloyd Garrison, stated in Document 4 that, “Slavery’s spirit is as brutal as unnatural; as it means it is wicked, as relentless as it is monstrous.” Even though, it’s true, the North did not want to abolish slavery from states that were a part of the Union. This was a way the North maintained the Union.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1860 Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the US. He was from Illinois and a member of the anti-slavery Republican Party. In December that same year, South Carolina, a slave state, seceded from the Union. Six more Southern states followed shortly after. The U. S. Civil War started in 1861 and that year Tennessee voters decided to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Johnson traveled…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    People do not actually know the exact things that started the Civil War but that is why I am here. Back then the South was pro slavery and the North was not. That was like the main reason it was a war plus other things that was happening involving the government. The South seceded from The Union because they wanted slavery but the North did not, they did not want to follow the national government's rules, and they did not have as much as the North.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lincoln was elected as the President of United States in 1860. By 1861, the nation had splintered into two factions, the Northern Union and the Southern Confederates. Being a president he concentrated on the military and political aspects of the war. Lincoln took the risky step of expanding the power of the president in his quest to rejoin the nation. Lincoln closely supervised the war especially in selecting the top generals, he brought leaders of both different parties into his cabinet and pressured them to coordinate. Under the leadership of Lincoln, the union took control of slave states at the beginning of the war to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond and he was successful in 1865. Lincoln was a very strong…

    • 2269 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many disagreements regarding slavery, the states, the economy, and compromises caused the buildup to the Civil War. The South wanted to…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Did The Civil War Happen? Bang! Why did the Civil War start? The main reason of the Civil War was John Brown,Bleeding Kansas and Abraham Lincoln they all have a lot to do with the Civil War and how it started.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    From January to February 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed South Carolina’s lead and also seceded from the Union. When Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inauguration speech, he needed to unify the country and at the same time explain his stance on slavery and how it connected to the war and the Union. During this speech President Lincoln explained, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists.” President Lincoln needed to table his personal views about slavery so he could appeal to all of the states with the ultimate goal of saving the Union. Since many southern states were seceding from the Union, President Lincoln tried to reach out to the southern states and gain their acceptance by stating that he would not…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A collection of adversities and disagreements served as a great window into the beginning of the Civil War. It was evident that the Southerners wanted to preserve slavery but what exactly was the Northerners fighting for? The North wanted to preserve the Union that was created by the ratification of the Constitution. Rendering enemies in one country was not the intention of the North. The secession of the South after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president was a spark to the tumult.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many reasons for the Civil War. As an example, most people feel as if the Civil War was about slavery, although recently we have found that it was actually about federal and state rights. Slavery was a small but effective role in the Civil War. The southern half of the United States were “slave states” as the north were “free states”, there were always an equal amount of slave and free states. The south and north had very different views and constantly got into disagreements with each other.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the reasons for the South fighting against North is slavery, one of the main reasons for the war. In the split of the North and South, the South developed tensions and is angered because of abolitionism. Abolitionism is a belief of freeing all slaves. The South is so angered because in plantations, slaves are their cheapest work and they earn more money when they…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several things that play into why the Civil War started, although the overall burning issue was slavery. Many people argue that the Civil War started over states rights. But when you look at it the states rights were to abolish or protect slavery. This problem seemed to arise as the north became more industrialized and the south stayed predominately agricultural based. As the north began to look towards a city life people began to work together as one.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As you may know about the civil war, about how it all started this and that. But what really started the civil war? There may be many reasons why it started. However, here's four main reasons why the civil war started. One of them was “The Election Of 1860” there was 4 candidates lincoln, douglas, breckinridge, and john bell.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When the United States received more land, states wondered whether slavery would be allowed in them or not. The laws and compromises mentioned previously reveal that this led to more conflict, mostly when the North didn’t agree with the Fugitive Slave Act. Also mentioned previously, the 1860 election revealed how important slavery was to the South when just the threat of it scared them to begin an entire new country. Abolitionist movements were also major occurrences that impacted the conflict between the North and the South. Abolitionist movements were eyeopeners to the people of the North to help them realize that slavery was more than a political issue and that it was morally not right.…

    • 3408 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To follow there will be more in depth analysis of why the biggest war on American soil started and how it eventually ended. To start, one of the main reasons that the American Civil War started was because of slavery. While American began to expand due to the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War, there was much debate on whether or not the States gained would be slave or non-slave States. The Union wanted to ensure that there was equal number between the two so there would be equal opportunities for both, which proved to be extremely difficult. The Missouri Compromise, which was passed in 1820, established a rule that there would be no slave states within the states gained from the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36 degrees, with the exception of Missouri.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If asked, most people would blame as the cause of the civil war the issue of slavery. This is understandable; many people in the U.S. at the time were against slavery, going to far as to help runaway slaves escape to the free north. But, while slavery at face value was a major factor, international politics and economics played a major role. Several factors, including the election of Lincoln, the raid on Harper 's Ferry, the Dred Scott decision, and, most importantly, the fugitive slave law, contributed to the growing rift between the North and South and, eventually, the Civil War.…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays