ch is the abolition of slavery and, therefore, the destruction of the South, carries the country at the next Presidential election, shall we remain in the Union, or form a separate Confederacy? This is the great, grave issue. It is not who shall be President, it is not which party shall rule -- it is a question of political and social existence." [Steven Channing, Crisis of Fear, pp. 141-142.]Political divisionsAmerica was thus divided by economic structure, and was led into fratricidal warfare by a series of political clashes. The most common cause was the future of the West. The crises over California's admission in 1850 and over KansasNebraska in 1854 were typical of the divergent economic interests of North and South in relation to the West.The North wanted free land for independent labour in the same new territories where the South sought to perpetuate its traditional way of life by extending slavery. The issue was not the slavery already practised, but the prospect of its extension into the West.Only in the Southern states of the USA did slavery persist as a major, if not essential, component of the economy providing the labour force for the cotton and other plantations. While the Northern states abolished slavery in the 17871804 period, the Southern states insisted on protecting the institution. Slavery became an issue in the economic struggles between Southern plantation owners and Northern industrialists in the first half of the 19th century, a struggle that culminated in the American Civil War.Despite the common perception to the contrary, the war was not fought primarily on the slavery issue. Abraham Lincoln, however, saw the political advantages of promising freedom for Southern slaves, and the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted in 1863. This was reinforced after the war by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US constitution (1865, 1868, and 1870), which abolished slavery altogether and guaranteed citizenship and ...
