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In the United States, the southern states' economies were mainly based on agriculture, but not any normal kind of agriculture, they were based on the agriculture of slave labor. Slavery was deeply ingrained in the culture, so much that only a war could stop it. This war was a gruesome war, made far worse because of the advent of modern rifles, combined with an ignorance of advanced military tactics and lack of medical knowledge. At the time, the method common method of warfare was to line up on a big field and stand up and then shoot.
The time that the war occurred was pre-germ theory, methods of antiseptics were unknown. This made it so that great damage would be inflicted upon a person, but there would be no way to properly heal treat it. This combination of factors made this war a particularly bloody and devastating one. A main factor of this war was that the social entrenchment of slavery ran particularly deep. The institution of slavery had been in place since the first colonies were established in the Americas. Early in American history, when the Constitution of the United States was drafted, slavery was also part of the institution.
The southern states wouldn't have ratified the Cons if slavery were outlawed. The Constitution of the United States was held to be the most holy of documents regarding law. Yet even these "high principled people" and "educated and sophisticated hierarchs" that approved and created the constitution left grievous discrepancies that later cause a terribly bloody war. If they had taken a clear stance on anti-slavery, the southern states would never have joined the Union. They discretely mentioned slavery in three different sections, but never out right say that it is legal, or illegal. It gave people the right to sue against slavery.
And that put doubt (whether they should be in the union) and fear into southern slaveholder's hearts. This fear and suspicion was only deepened by the growing abolitionist movement, and gin. The cotton gin was of particular importance because much more cotton could be processed. That meant that more acreage could be planted and harvested. This created a huge increase in the amount of slaves wanted for labor. And because of active abolitionism, any significant increase in slavery automatically meant that the north's resentment toward the south would be increased exponentially.
Only a few years later in 1787 congress began to outlaw international slave trade involving the United States. Because of this violation of state rights to choose what they wanted, to choose their own course, the south resentment became grew because it was so much harder to acquire new slaves. In an effort to make a legal barrier, between the north and the south, congress imposed the Missouri compromise. This made the northernmost states automatically free states, and the southernmost states automatically slave states. There had to be an even ratio of slave to free states.
This not only intended to serve as a partial buffer, but to keep the power in a divided congress even. Many Supreme Court decisions furthered the rift between states. In The Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford state: "It is the opinion of the court that the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning [enslaved persons] in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned [, the Missouri compromise, ] is not warranted by the constitution and therefore is void. " This was considered to be a great victory for the south. There is always a backlash for any victory.
John Brown's raid on a United States arsenal was the first violence on a large scale that preceded the Civil War. John Brown was an avid abolitionist who thought that it was his God given duty to free slaves. While trying to incite a slave rebellion, he and his party got attacked by a contingent of US marines. John Brown's entire party was killed, and John Brown himself was tried by a Virginia court for treason. He was sentenced to hang. Congress increased tariffs on many essential utilities that the United States (particularly the south) deemed essential.
South Carolina threatened to secede. The state of South Carolina said in an official document titled "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union " that "an increase in hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the general government have ceased to effect the objects of the constitution. " They also state that "We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure with all its consequences. " They write this because many of the articles and amendments, such as the fourth article, had been repeatedly broken, and nobody had done anything to stop it. The fourth article states that "No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence with the law or any regulation therein, be discharged from service or labor. " They felt hounded by the government, and that it was their right to do whatever they want as a free and nearly independent state. Because the Fourth Article of the constitution was broken, they felt that it was right to break completely free from the union. They also stated "This stipulation was so material to the compact, that without it that compact would not have been made. " With that, they established a valid argument that they should secede. They argue that they have the right to secede when they quote the Declaration of Independence; "[when ever any] form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government. ' Deeming the government of Great Britain to have become destructive of these ends, the declared the colonies 'are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown. " By that argument they are saying that it has all been done before, look, you yourself did it, so don't be unjust and let us break away like you did.
The citizens South Carolina were feeling that they had been violated and abused by the breaking of a viable contract. The northern states were trying to take away their inalienable rights, and they would stand for it. President Lincoln tried to make it clear that "I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the constitution of the Union of these States is perpetual. " South Carolina and all of the other southern states simply did not listen. Lincoln tried to talk sense into them, counter arguing their every point but they would not take any middle ground, as they felt they had already tried that. When it came down to fighting, Lincoln had the high moral ground, and not only that, the larger, more advanced, and better equipped armies.
Lincoln tried to not push the point but he was forced to attempt to keep the union together by any means necessary.
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Research essay sample on Institution Of Slavery Constitution Of The United States
