Causes of the Civil War 1

Causes of the Civil War

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 Causes of the Civil War 1

The American Civil War lasted for four years, from 1861 to 1865. The events that

led to it, however, were not nearly as clear cut. The War of Southern Independence

(War of Northern Aggression, War of the Rebellion) was fought by eleven Southern

states thatseceded from the Union and formed the Confederate State of America and

took arm against five border slave states and the Free states. Three quarter million

people died in order to end slavery, restore the Union, strengthen federal government,

and begin the Reconstruction Era. Outlined herein are four major reasons behind the

deadliest war in American history,

On 4 July 1776, the Continental Congress signed into legislation the wording the

world would come to know as the Declaration of Independence of the United States of

America. Thirteen colonies formally severed their ties with the British Empire with

whom they were at war. Though the American Revolutionary War would last for some

time after the declaration was made, the act of severing ties with mother England was

the quintessence of the American spirit. The Settlers who would become the forefathers

of the great world power we know today came to the New World in pursuit of religious

and social freedoms. In their endeavor to this goal neither disease nor bureaucracy

thwarted those plans. Undeterred by the strength of British Navy or the relative

unfamiliarity of their new homeland, settlers stood their ground and fought for that which

they knew to be true. This fervor sets the precedent for the participants of the American

Civil War and the events leading up to it. Scarcely two generations removed, the luster

ofthat belligerent nature had not yet begun to dull. All of the future of the great nation
 Causes of the Civil War 1

America would grow to be can be retraced to the grassroots of the character the country

was founded upon.

The Northwest Ordinancewas the Congress of the Confederation of the United

States passed on 13 July 1787. After the Declaration of Independence, the “Freedom

Ordinance” established intent to expand west by means of the admission of new states

into the Union rather than the simple acquisition of more land by existing states. Once

called, ‘An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-

West of the River Ohio,’ the law disallowed slavery in the new territories. The text reads,

"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise

than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

This effectually established Ohio River as the boundary between slavery and free

territories. This clear physical delineation was the first of many lines draw between

North and South. The Northwest Ordinance shows several things. It is a sign of the

time and of where importance was founded, it brought to light the social strides the

United States were making, and presented the basis for many economic driven

decisions the country would face in its future. With material possessions creating a

blatant hierarchy, the real equalizer was land. This ordinance opened a whole continent

for the realization of the original American dream. Contingent on having the land was

working the land. Many slaves were still kept in the North West Territory by skirting

legality in the form of indentured servants. Though not yet a clear statement, this first

allusion to civil rights foreshadowed the provisions that would later be fleshed out in the

Bill of Rights. Exemplar set by the Northwest Ordinance would be utilized in further

United States texts.

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The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an agreement between pro- and anti-

slavery parties in the United States Congress that regulated slavery in western

territories. Essentially, the treaty boils down to illegalizing slavery in what once was

Louisiana Territory as well as anything north of the parallel 36°30' north(Missouri

Compromise, 1820) except in the proposed state of Missouri. Contingent with this

allowance, Maine would enter the Union as a free state. This temporarily quelled the

battle for superiority by maintaining the balance of free and slave divided states. The

admission of Missouri alone would have tipped the Congressional scales in the favor of

the slave states. Luckily, there was already a movement in the Senate to admit Maine,

and the two were combined to hedge off an ever immanent battle. This was not the

truly inflammatory affect of this congressional act. The genuine problems with this

congressional decision started in 1854, with its repeal. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of

1854, Draw up by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, was meant to birth

into the nation the aforementioned states and a new railway. However, in addition to the

states, the act also included the concept of popular sovereignty written into the

proposal. The desired result was to appease the North and South, but only served to

inflame the opposing factions.

Several proposals of similar subject matter had died on the Senate floor when

the standoff over whether the North or South would be allowed to control the railway. In

the year in question, Missouri Senator David Atchison made the fissure a canyon; he

would only support the bill if slaveholders were not banned from the new territory

(Kansas-Nebraska Act, 2008). This was in direct violation of the Compromise of 1850.

The matter was tabled.

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When at long last the issue was brought up again, the conflict with the Missouri

Compromise was simply ignored and the Kansas-Nebraska Act held that any decisions

on slavery were to be made "when admitted as a state or states, the said territory, or

any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as

their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission." Eventually, it came to

pass that simply ignoring the predecessor was unsatisfactory for the pro-slavery

Southern senators and a full repeal was necessary. The melee that ensued was the tip

of the political iceberg.

It had now been established that states should be able to decide for themselves

on matters of personal import. This detail is still challenged today, more than one and a

half centuries later. At that time, however, the socioeconomic ramifications of the bill

were widely held to be positive. The derision between the North and South, however,

was continuing to brew.

In a final show of flippancy and obstinacy, in the final days of 1860 South

Carolina secedes from the Union. Abraham Lincoln, a vigilant free-soiler, had just been

elected President of the United States. The South found herself in disarray and at last,

completely overruled. South Carolinians and Southerners in general, had valid reason

to fear the election of Lincoln. Though he vowed not to abolish slavery in the states

wherein the institution was already held, Southerners feared the cessation of slave

expansion, which they held to be against popular sovereignty. Mississippi, Florida,

Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas respectively followed the lead of their southern

sister state and seceded from the Union. After Lincoln’s inauguration in the beginning of

1861, Virginia followed by Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina all cut their ties with

the Union.
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Lincoln himself believed this ‘secession’ to be a show of rebellion. He did not

believe it was plausible for a state to remove themselves and viewed it unconstitutional.

If it could be said that the Civil War had one exact cause, the disownment of the South

and the North would be it. It was the final fruition of all the debates and disagreements

the states had had in the past years. As Lincoln simply did not acknowledge the validity

of secession, he refused to relinquish control of southern federal forts. One such fort

was Sumter, where the first shots of the battle that grew into the War Between the

States first rang out on 12 April 1861.

The secession of the south showed themselves as an entity within the Union.

This sort of solidarity exists still. The toll of lives, economic flourish, and social

standards revealed the nature of the people that America was comprised of. There is

still a kinship many Southerners feel for the Confederate flag under which the South

fought.

Slavery was not the cause of the Civil War. Very plainly, the institution, its

righteousness and its implementation, were the fuel to the fire. The true issue, though,

were the foundations upon which American was founded: the pursuit of one’s own

freedom. This is the principal upon which wars are fought and lives are shed. In

retrospect of whence this country came, it is clear to see how we arrived where we are.
 Causes of the Civil War 1

Reference Page

An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of

the River Ohio. § S 3, 1 U.S.C. § 31 (1787).

Missouri Compromise. (2009, January 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved 20:30, January 3, 2009, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Missouri_Compromise&oldid=26167

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Northwest Ordinance. (2008, December 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved 10:36, January 2, 2009, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northwest_Ordinance&oldid=25964

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