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There were reasons other than slavery for the South’s secession. The manifestations of division in America were many: utopian communities, conflicts over public space, backlash against immigrants, urban riots, black protest, and Indian resistance (Norton 234). America was a divided land in need reform with the South in the most need. The South relied heavily on agriculture, as opposed to the North, which was highly populated and an industrialized society. The South grew cotton, which was its main cash crop and many Southerners knew that heavy reliance on slave labor would hurt the South eventually, but their warnings were not heeded. The South was based on a totalitarian system. Constitutionally the North favored a loose interpretation of the United States Constitution, and they wanted to grant the federal government increased powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states themselves. The South relied upon slave labor for their economic well being, and the economy of the North was not reliant on such labor or in need of this type of service. This main issue overshadowed all others. Southerners compared slavery to the wage-slave system of the North, and believed their slaves received better care than the northern factory workers received from their employers. Many Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. Southern leaders had constantly tried to seek new areas into which slavery might be extended (Oates 349). After the American Revolution, slavery began to decrease in the North, just as it was becoming more popular in the South. By the turn of the century, seven of the most Northern states had abolished slavery. During this time, a surge of democratic reform swept the North to the West, and there were demands for political equality, economic and social advances for all Americans. Northerners said that slavery revoked the human right of being a free person and when new territories became available in the West, the southern states wanted to expand and use slavery in the newly acquired territories. The North opposed this and wanted to stop the expansion of slavery into new territories. The North wanted to limit the number of slave states in the Union as well. However, many Southerners felt that a government dominated by free or abolitionist states could endanger existing slaveholdings. The South wanted to protect their states’ rights, and the right to own slaves. The first evidence of this came when Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. After months of discussion Congress passed the Missouri Compromise. This Compromise or legislative measure regulated the extension of slavery in the United States for the next three decades. Now the balance of free and slave states was even. Maine was admitted as a free state soon after this Compromise. To appease the South, slavery would be permitted in Louisiana Purchase territories. Southern extremists opposed any limit on the extension of slavery. Missouri and Maine were to achieve statehood simultaneously to preserve sectional equality in the Senate. Fundamentally, the Compromise was not a settlement of sectional disputes since it was an evasion that bought time for the nation without setting guidelines for solving territorial questions (Norton 263). For almost a generation, this Compromise seemed to settle the conflict between the North and South. However, when the Union acquired a huge piece of territory from Mexico this opened new opportunities for the spread of slavery for Southerners. The distribution of these lands increased development of this section of the United States, and it was disliked in the South for it aided the free farmer more than it aided the slaveholding plantation owner. Current Congressional legislation dealt mainly with the question of whether slavery was to be allowed or prohibited in the regions acquired from Mexico because of the Mexican War. This legislation allowed abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and admitted of California as a free state. The legislation also included the Fugitive Slave Law, which provided for the return of runaway slaves to their masters. This piece of legislation was meant to appease the Southerners. However, many free states in the Union passed personal liberty laws in an effort to help the slaves escape. After these states settled the slave question, the conflict over Kansas generated bad feelings on both sides. Since everybody agreed that slavery had to expand or die, and since Kansas was the only national territory into which it could conceivably expand, proslavery and antislavery forced girded up for Armageddon (Oates 353). Due to the many controversies, the North was angered and the beneficiary of Northern voter’s wrath was a new political party. The newly formed Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln on principles that opposed the further expansion of slavery. As Lincoln was elected, the South felt expansionism being threatened and the South felt expansion was vital to the survival of slavery. Lincoln maintained that he had always hated human bondage, as much as any abolitionist (Oates 364). The South felt their very way of life being threatened and since slavery was economically important to the southern states, the south felt that they would not prosper without it or the ability to expand their views. The South was convinced that they should make a bid for independence by succeeding rather then face political encirclement. Lincoln stated his belief that succession was illegal and said that he intended to maintain federal possession in the South. Slavery was an issue on which compromise was impossible and because of this, the South began to leave the Union through Secession (Norton 271). Southerners hoped the threat of succession would force acceptance of southern demands, but it did not. South Carolina adopted an ordinance of succession first, and then all these states met in Montgomery, Alabama where they drafted a Constitution for the Confederate States of America. This outraged the North and is what was led to the Civil War. The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict between the North and South. Because slavery formed two opposing societies, and slavery could never be abolished, the Civil War was inevitable. Strangely, most Northern soldiers had very little feeling against slavery as such, and very little sympathy for the Negro himself (Oates 399). The Civil War was not a struggle on the part of the South to destroy free government and personal liberty, or on the part of the North to preserve them. Never before and not since have so many Americans died in battle. The American Civil War was truly tragic in terms of human life. The war was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then, Federal armies were spread throughout the Confederacy, and the Confederate Army had shrunk extremely in size and strength. In the year before, the North had lost an enormous amount of soldiers, but they had more than enough to lose in comparison to the South. In summary, the Civil War was a completely tragic event. A war in which thousands of Americans died in their home country over a difference in opinion. We should remember the great sacrifices our fellow citizens made during this time and appreciate their actions or endeavors. Especially that of Abraham Lincoln. The best way to assess the value of Lincoln is to think what the condition of American would be in today if he had never lived or never been President (Whitman 262). Yes, slavery was the cause of the Civil War, half of the country thought it was wrong, and the other half just could not let it go or continue. The war was fought overall in different places, and the monetary and property loss cannot be calculated. Arguments about the causes and consequences of the Civil War, as well as the reasons for Northern victory, will continue as long as there are historians to wield the pen – which is, perhaps even for this bloody conflict, mightier than the sword (Oates 388). The Civil War was a great waste in terms of human life and possible accomplishment and should be considered shameful. Before its first centennial, tragedy struck a new country and altered it for an eternity. It will never be forgotten, but adversity builds strength and the United States of America is now a much stronger nation (Oates 388). Bibliography: Word Count: 1445
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