Blog #83 – Was the Civil War inevitable?
It’s easy to look back from the vantage point of 150 years ago and say that the Civil War was inevitable. That there was no denying that a clash over slavery would eventually occur, that the compromises would only last so long or work so well until something else came up to shatter the delicate balance that the Northern and Southern states tried to perpetuate.
And looking back over the past ten to 15 years before the war began, events like the Wilmot Proviso, the Mexican War, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the new Fugitive Slave Law, Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry all take on additional significance because with the aid of time, historians can look back and see which events were more pivotal and which ones weren’t.
And the last year before the war, 1860, so many things had to click into place for the war to happen. What if Lincoln wasn’t nominated or hadn’t won? What if there was only John Bell or Stephen Douglas to win votes in the South instead of splitting up those Union votes in many parts of the South? Could the election have gone to the House of Representatives if Lincoln hadn’t won the majority of the electoral votes, and what would have happened?
Other questions abound when I think of the last year before the war? What if the Charleston Mercury editorial hadn’t been printed? What if President Buchanan had been stronger in resisting the secession of the first seven states? He tried to resupply Fort Sumter in January 1861 but the ship was fired upon and returned to Washington w/o resupplying Major Robert Anderson and his men at the South Carolina fort. Buchanan didn’t think he had the power to stop the states from seceding, but he said it was unconstitutional. Or was Buchanan just leaving the job to Abe Lincoln (see cartoon below, courtesy of Aldo B)?
Did the Southern states actually have to leave or could they have done something else beginning in December 1860? They must have felt that working within the system of the established Constitution was not working even though that document guarantees slavery. The election of Lincoln had additional significance for these Deep South states b/c not all slave states left the Union right away (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware stayed, and North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee left ONLY after Lincoln called for troops when Fort Sumter was bombed). Were these Deep South states trying to resist Lincoln or were the resisting his party’s anti-slavery platform? He was the first president elected since John Quincy Adams in 1824 that was avowedly not a Southerner or a Northerner soft of slavery, so he must have been perceived as some kind of threat. Another thing people should take into consideration is that the Republicans, after Lincoln was elected, would be in charge of appointing almost 1,000 governmental jobs, including marshals, post masters, and others that had been appointed for the past 8 years under the Pierce and Buchanan administrations.
I know there are a lot of questions here that I’ve raised, and that’s b/c I wanted you to think about the inevitability of this whole stream of events that led to the bombing of Fort Sumter. Please answer the following two questions:
1. Was there ONE thing in the time period (1846-1861) that you think impacted the start of the war more than any other event or thing? Why?
2. Which event or action in the last 16 months (1860 – 61) had the greatest impact on starting the war? Why? Did this event make the Civil War inevitable or not? Why?
In many ways, it appears that the Civil War was an inevitable plague that ultimately turned out to be the real “necessary evil” for it eliminated slavery in the end. However, could this pivotal point in the U.S.’s history have possibly been avoided, or was this the unspoken can that politicians kept kicking down the road since the rudimentary formation of the country that would eventually have to be addressed? Looking back at all of these events, even with when considering the altercations of countless variables, the Civil War was most likely inevitable, and was bound to happen at some point in time. John Brown was correct on the morning of his execution when he said to one of the guards that, “the sins [slavery] of this country can only be purged with blood”.
A large aspect of this war is similar to the Cold War in the idea that it was based off of an economic and ideological struggle. With this idea in mind, probably one of the most vital catalysts in the sparks of the national turmoil was the prolonged constitutional debate of the Dred Scott Decision. Dred Scott, a slave originally from Missouri, moved with his master up to Wisconsin. Here, Scott was able to find a wife and start a family. Scott had been living in Wisconsin for a long time when his master soon passed away. Now the question at hand was “Is Scott and his family free because they’re in free territory, or are they to return to down south and be broken up and sold off?” Scott sued the Missouri Supreme Court and miraculously won. However, pro-slavery citizens couldn’t live with this decision and appealed to SCOTUS. In 1857, SCOTUS shook the nation by ruling against Scott, and by declaring three major arguments. Chief justice Taney ruled against Scott, reasoning the African- Americans are not considered U.S. citizens but as property, and therefore they don’t have the right to sue in court. Second and thirdly, Taney ruled that it is unconstitutional for Congress to limit the growth of slavery in the territories because it violates slave owners’ fifth amendment right to property of due process. It was this court decision that turned slavery into a national moral and ideological struggle. It questioned the validity of previous decisions and compromises such as the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It became the focus in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, as well as the presidential election of 1860. This court decision further polarized the country as people rallied around their sectional and ethic beliefs, dividing the country and solidifying the fate for Lincoln, Douglass, and the country.
During the last sixteen months before the war, the last straw was the election of 1860. The Lincoln-Douglas debates from Illinois were projected onto a national screen. There was also the Southern fire-breather Democratic nominee, John Breckinridge, whose campaign rooted for Southern Secession. The state of the Union was in disarray and there was no longer any trust from either side even among the nation’s leaders, especially after the caning of Charles Sumner. Conspiracy theories ran rampant, and both sides believed that either side was plotting to take over. When Lincoln won the election, all of the loose pieces of the discombobulated Civil War puzzle snapped together to form a massive linchpin. Southerners felt threatened and feared that Lincoln and his anti-slavery platform was going to eradicate their institute, and they had to make the first move. We see similar actions like this today. Slavery was a guaranteed right in the constitution, yet southerners feared that is was about to be prohibited. Today, similar actions occur in hysteria of having something dearly prized taken confiscated, such as firearms. Many people fear that some of the gun reform laws being discussed in congress today translates into the abolition of the second amendment, so we now have rapid formations of “patriots” and “militias” defending what they believe is right. These same people felt threatened and took arms to preserve their rights.
I think there was one thing that impacted the civil war more than anything and it would be the Kansas Nebraska act in 1854. It mandated popular sovereignty, to decide whether to allow slavery in the territory. I don’t think it impacted more than anything but I think it impacted most. I think it impacted the most because it led to bleeding Kansas which led to the war. All of this was very bloody and people died so to me that’s why it’s most important. We also can learn that it led to the order ruffians and then it angered north because there was another slave state. Which could have led to the war since they were mad, and didn’t like the slave state. There were also states that burned down a city because they were mad and all of that hurt the states and the relationship between south and the north. And since these actions hurt the relationship between north and south then it could have led to the civil war because it would make them angrier with each other.
I feel like the fact that the southern states seceded would be one of the most important reasons why all of this happened. The civil happened because these states left and angered the north and that led to the civil war. If they left the union and angered the north than it would have made them angry and started the civil war.
Yes I believe it made the civil war inevitable because the actually left the union. The union probably didn’t want them to leave the union so they probably wouldn’t let them leave without a fight. So they wouldn’t let them leave but since the south wanted to have slaves they would also fight to be free states and so they would fight too and it started the civil war.
1. The Civil War was most likely inevitable. Even if Lincoln wasn’t elected as president, the war might have still happened. It might have happened during a different time or a different way, but would have still occurred. It’s hard to think of one thing that had impacted the war more than others because every troubling thing was interconnected to create the war. Personally, I believe that slavery was the biggest cause of the war. But in the time period from 1846-1861, I think thing that most impacted the war was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act was issued, the Missouri Compromise was still intact. During the Missouri Compromise, the northerners and southerners weren’t really bothering each other because they each got what they wanted. The south got Missouri as a slave state, the north got Maine as a free state. The north, which benefited the south as well, also got equal representatives in the senate. But, the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise, which made the Northerners really frustrated. This meant that now slaves were allowed in territories in the north, in the territories over the 36-30’ line. The deal that was made years earlier was now broken and there was no going back, which made the northerners furious because, to them, that meant that slavery might eventually be able go anywhere. This also meant that if those territories would become slave states, there would be more southern delegates in the senate.
2. The action that had the biggest impact on the war in the last sixteen months was what happened in Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Lincoln knew that there was trouble at Fort Sumter and he wanted to help the people who were already there. He would send the people on the island food and other supplies. He would not send any men nor any bombs. Southerners weren’t too happy about this idea, so they attacked the island before the boat was able to get there. The southerners would bomb the island. Fort Sumter was one of the two places that was not taken over by the south, even though it was pretty close to them. The reason why I believe that Fort Sumter had the greatest impact was because it happened soon before the war started and many believed that this was a “practice war” for the upcoming war. I don’t think that the attack on Fort Sumter by itself made the Civil War inevitable. I think that everything leading up to the war made the war inevitable. In my opinion, the Fort Sumter attack, by itself, would not start the Civil War, but it might start a battle of its own, which it did. But I do believe that it did have a crucial effect on the Civil War.
1.
I think one of the biggest things that impacted the start of the war was the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. After Lincoln had won the presidency, southerners started raiding military bases in the south, taking guns and supplies for the states that were seceding from the Union. Sumter was a fort in Charlestown, SC, and was one of only two southern forts that wasn’t taken over. The soldiers on Fort Sumter decided to wait the southern rage out, and stay at the base. But, they were running low on supplies, so Lincoln announced to the Confederates that he was going to reinforce Fort Sumter with food and supplies only, not weapons or reinforcements, to avoid conflict. The southerners decided to go ahead and raid Fort Sumter before the supply boat got there, and they started a siege that lasted for a day and a half with no casualties, before the soldiers at Sumter surrendered. The resulting effect was that northerners were now more prideful than ever, and waves upon waves of men enlisted in the Union army. The attack on Sumter had helped the Union, even though they had lost, because now northerners were more supportive of the Union cause than ever. They weren’t just going to sit and watch while their soldiers were attacked ruthlessly while waiting for a supply ship. I don’t think the southerners could have done anything more to make it clear that they wanted war, which is mainly why it impacted the start of the Civil War so much. It sectionalized north vs. south more than ever, and the Union could use it to say that the south was heartless and wanted nothing more than to overtake the whole country.
2.
I think the action that had the greatest impact on starting the war in the last 16 months was the two stage secession of southern states. As soon as Lincoln was elected president, the states in the Deep South, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. After Fort Sumter, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia seceded and joined the Confederates. The border slave states that remained in the Union were Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The secession of those eleven states basically declared that the South was never going to willingly give up slavery, and reinforced Lincoln’s need for war to save the Union. Those southern states were trying to become their own nation, and therefore throwing out the Constitution, while they tried to invoke the Constitution by arguing slaves were their property, and couldn’t be taken away. I think this action did make the Civil War inevitable because southern states refused to peacefully adhere to the Union principles, and were now a hostile force. They were also looking to Britain for support since they thought Britain would side with them for their dependence on southern cotton. If Britain recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation, not only would it open the Confederacy to make alliances with countries in Europe, but it would also be the death of the Monroe Doctrine as well, which stated that any efforts by European nations to colonize or interfere with states in North or South America would be seen as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. An alliance between the south and a European nation would be too much for the Union to handle, so that was also a cause for the start of the war. Overall, there was just no way the U.S. could be restored peacefully after the secession. The issue of slavery was one that had to be decided by force, with one side coming out on top. If the Union and the Confederacy had somehow made peace negotiations to restore the Union, or if the south had originally agreed to Lincoln’s policy of not touching slavery in the south, the issue of slavery would just rise again later when the south felt it was threatened. It would just be a never-ending cycle of secession and compromise, and that would never fix the issue of slavery. The Civil War was inevitable, as John Brown had stated during his time in jail, “the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood”. Lincoln had come to realize that too, which is why he changed the Union objective to emancipate the slaves through use of military force, effectively recognizing the start of the Civil War.
The Civil War was obviously inevitable for many reasons. First the North and South had tension growing between the two for a really long time. For them slavery was something they couldn’t compromise, or at least efficiently. As for letting slavery slowly die out, which would take forever and by that point the south could have gotten angry that they won’t be given more land, and thus the war breaks out but at a later date.
The one thing that impacted the war more than any other thing in the time for 1846-1861 was the Kansas Nebraska Act. The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 was a bill written by Stephen Douglas that allowed popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide whether slavery would be allowed or not. The bill however overturned the important Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was a way to make peace between the north and south by stating that all land above the 36 30 line wouldn’t permit slavery. So when the Kansas Nebraska Act not only disturbed this peace but also had boarder ruffians, this made the North very angry. The bill also lead to bleeding Kansas and other feuds. And when Kansas was finally admitted into the Union as a free state, the southern states were already starting to succeed and form the Confederacy.
The most important event in the last 16 months before the civil war was the 1860 election. The election of 1860 was very different in my opinion. First of all if Lincoln wasn’t elected things could have turned out completely different. But the election was Abraham Lincoln who wanted to get rid of slavery, Stephen Douglas who instead of really sharing his own views on slavery wanted popular sovereignty so things would be peaceful, Breckinridge who was your southern democrat and lastly John Bell who wanted to avoid the topic of slavery completely, like most past presidents. This election was key for starting the civil war because Lincoln was elected. The south didn’t succeed only because of him, but they certainly didn’t like him. Lincoln wasn’t even put of the Souths ballet because they knew that nobody from the south would vote for him. For Lincoln to be nominated as president defiantly helped push the south off the edge and for them to want to succeed.
1.) In my perspective, the historical event during 1846-1861 that greatly made America step closer to the Civil War, was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Initially brought from an outside contributor, Senator Stephen A. Douglas supported the proposal of organizing the set-up of the newly acquired territories, Nebraska and Kansas. However, Douglas planned to run in the future presidential election so, he wanted to definitely have the South’s vote under his belt. May 30, 1854, Stephen created the Kansas-Nebraska Act. When this took affect, Nebraska and Kansas would be admitted as a slave or free state through popular sovereignty. A unique aspect of the act was that voters did not have to be residents. From the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the country submerged into a new degree of mayhem and discord. The issue with Douglas’ vision was that it would completely go against the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that established the 36’30 line, which divided free and slave territory. However, now, the west was left vulnerable to the hands of slavery. Pro-slavery Missourians aka Border Ruffians and masses of abolitionist settlers (especially from New England) flooded Kansas. Both were armed and ready to fight for their vote. Also, the Whig Party evolved into the Republican Party in 1854. Those against the act, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, and Northern Democrats consisted of the party. May 22, 1856, two years later, violence reached the government when Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner after he delivered his “Crime Against Kansas” speech. This incident ignited a ferocious rage in John Brown producing yet, another trickle affect leading to the Civil War. John Brown had currently lost everything and felt it was his God given duty to end slavery and liberate the slaves in the South. During his quest, Brown and his troop of men hacked five men with swords in Pottawatomie Creek, on May 24, 1856, which was referred to as the “Pottawatomie Massacre” and the Harpers Ferry Raid on, October 16, 1859. Here, John planned to steal the arsenal from the armory in Virginia and pass them off to recruited slaves, but his plan went sour when the militia caught him. John Brown’s death was a vital turn point and influence on the future Civil War for, the South became defensive, suspicious, and wary of their fellow Northerners. Numerous amounts of individuals claim that the death of John Brown was the last straw to bring the Civil War, but the true question is what sparked his actions? From the Kansas-Nebraska Act to Bleeding Kansas, the “Crime Against Kansas”, and John Brown’s radical actions, they all led to one another. In essence, a domino affect followed the years to come after the “Little Giant’s” grand plan and gradually brought about the Civil War.
2.) I would consider the attack on Fort Sumter the event in the last 16 months (1860-1861) that had the greatest impact on starting the Civil War, because it showed the Confederacy, ex-Union members, were a threat to the foundation of the Union. These lone states were willing to risk their lives to fight against their homeland for what they believed in. Thanks to the Confederates in the Attic, I got a broader understanding of the reasons behind why the Southern states seceded, made the Confederacy, and engaged in the Civil War. Similar to the colonies feeling as though their rights were being ignored by the British, most Southerners felt as though the industrious Northerners were dominating everything economically and politically. Especially with the consideration of abolishing slavery which, in their eyes was a “necessary evil” that made the base foundation of their lives. Southerners couldn’t stand to watch their rights be suppressed. Although one might say that the 1860 presidential election/Abraham Lincoln becoming president should be the significant impact on starting the war, at this point the first seven states departed from the Union. Some individuals felt unfazed by their actions while some, like Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, wanted to desperately keep the country together and united. However, if we look at the attack on Fort Sumter, the Confederacy clearly made the first move. Once Sumter was fired upon there was no turning back or thought of potential compromises. The North and South were at war. Fundamentally, the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, truly did make the Civil War inevitable. Especially, after the Confederates initiated the battle and the Union had fired back and, the Union surrendered on April 14, 1861. Although this short battle had come to a conclusion, a new mark in history had begun. Northern states, clear on who the true enemies were, confided in President Lincoln and were prepared to go to war. Both sides, Union and Confederate had released and showed the tensions behind their sealed can of worms accumulated over their years of sectional strife.
The event that impacted the start of the Civil War more than any other event was the passing of the Kansas- Nebraska Act in 1854. The proposition of popular sovereignty seemed like a good determiner of whether those new states should be slave or free, while not only did it let the people decide for themselves, but it took the weight of this decision off of the politicians shoulders who would cause an even more unbalanced senate. These may all be aspects of the Kansas- Nebraska Act that made it seem like it would solve some tension between the North and the South; however, the Missouri Compromise was completely left out of the picture. The passing of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 was the only thing that held off the North and South from starting a Civil War right then and there. Yes, there was early abolitionism around this time, but it wasn’t until decisions had to be made about the Mexican Cession territories that really escalated the nation towards war. With that being said, the Missouri Compromise, which called for an equal balance of slave and free states, was the only compromise that was really made so each side could truly have what they wanted, because completely abolishing slavery was out of the question at the time. If the Kansas- Nebraska Act overturned this peaceful agreement that was really the only compromise around this time that as far as I am concerned was well liked by both the North and South, then isn’t it safe to say that this event is the most closely linked to starting the war? Not only this, but popular sovereignty led to a small civil war in “bleeding Kansas,” which after all was the start of the Civil War, because it was the same war going on in Kansas alone, it just spread throughout all of America. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was what originally sparked the Civil War.
The failure of the Crittenden Compromise was the event that most directly impacted the start of the war. Being an attempt to actually avoid war and secession of the Deep South by restoring the 36”30 line, the Crittenden Compromise would have saved the Union from immediate war and secession in the South if Lincoln had accepted it. If this compromise had been passed however, a civil war would still have eventually occurred because further issues regarding slavery would continue to arise, even if there was equal slave and free territory. The inability to pass this compromise, though having the greatest direct impact on the war, did not make a civil war in the future inevitable, but it could have temporarily saved the Union from collapse in 1861.
The main reason that I think the Civil War started was because of the continued disputes and debated between the slave states and the free states. As the country grew larger and as it became harder for the sates to split evenly issues started to begin. Before the time period given, the MO Compromise was born. This allowed an even number of free and slave states; many political leaders thought that this was the beginning of the end, and a war was going to occur. Following the MO Compromise The KS NE Act was established so that the citizens of Kansas and Nebraska could be given popular sovereignty to decide on whether they would become a slave state or a free state. This was a corrupt way of voting considering the fact that anyone in the whole country could use their vote for these two individual states. Initially, the state of Kansas as a majority, minus the voters who didn’t live there, wanted to become a free state. But, Southerners wanted to use the state’s land for growing cotton and expanding their industry, so the people of the South went up to Kansas to vote. This corrupt group of Southerners were called border ruffians. The event of this Kansas Nebraska Act was, wha I think, the final straw. Tensions were so high between these 2 different types of states that they fell apart and split. This act also lead to more violent revolts against either side of the slavery debates. You could argue that this was also the kick off of the war. The Act also contributed to many worries that the North and South had over the distribution of power in the government. King Cotton was taking over and the North wanted to stop this. Sadly, the war was inevitable and slavery was an underlying problem that was pushed under the matt too many times.
1. I think John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry contributed to the start of the war more than anything else. The raid caused so much to happen and was a precursor to what would happen years later. First of all, John Brown himself was not unique. He was not born rich, he was not an immigrant, he shared similar views with other Americans. Harper’s Ferry could have been carried out by any other agitated farmer. The attack also showed both northerners and southerners what violence could do. Northerners saw the Southerners freaking out, and realized that violence could work. Southerners likewise thought they should fight violence with more violence. Both sides were able to point at various flaws or success of Brown’s assault, and use it for their arguments. The raid also polarized the two sides. After Brown’s attack, moderates basically ceased to exist. More and more people began to pick sides between abolition and slavery. Brown’s last words also lead to the civil war. “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done”. Brown predicted the bloodshed to end slavery, and his prophecy came true. Even without his final words, Brown’s death is still important. Brown died for his beliefs, and northerners made him a martyr.
2. The most important event that lead to war was the secession of South Carolina. From a purely logistical standpoint, you need an enemy to fight a war. South Carolina’s secession lead the way to other states leaving the union. The chain reaction that followed was not unlike a chain of dominoes, leading to the downfall of the union. South Carolina’s secession promoted the idea of State’s rights, which all the other states followed suit with. If South Carolina hadn’t seceded, there wouldn’t have been a civil war.
I think that it is a good question that merits consideration. There were many factors over a long period of time that led to the civil war, and I don’t think any one thing caused it. Some of the tipping points however that had the most significant impact I think are the Kansas Nebraska act of 1854 and the election of Lincoln in 1860. The Kansas Nebraska act mandated popular sovereignty to choose whether to legalize slavery int he territory or not. It also overturned the Missouri Compromise, which had said that slavery was illegal in those places. This led to unhappy feelings in the citizens because of the ruffians coming in from other states and voting for slavery, when the actual residents of the state were free-soilers and opposed slavery. It angered both the north and the south and increased sectionalism. It made the southerners angry about the government so they wanted to secede so they could make their own laws. This of course led to the Civil War directly.
The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1960 was the exact tipping point where the south felt they couldn’t be in the union any longer, which is why it is also important. I think that the South would have seceded anyway if Lincoln had not been elected, because the South had basically already made up its mind at that point. Some evidence for that was how popular Breckinridge was. His whole campaign was rooted in the idea of secession and he had a lot of supporters. So I think the election of Lincoln was extremely important the south to concede but I would consider it more as the last straw leading up the Civil War instead of causing the war by itself. Because people had been considering secession for a while I think that it was inevitable that the south split away and caused the Civil War.
1. There are many causes of the Civil War. However, one event sticks out as the biggest cause of the war. The publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin caused the biggest stir among the nation, especially in the North. Before this book went nationwide, the country thought that the slaves were perfectly content with their situations regarding comfort and food supply. However, Uncle Tom’s Cabin exposed the terrible truth about slavery. This book made a lot of the North realize the evils of slavery and turn against it. The South however thought that the gory details of the book were exaggerations. This was a major cause of the civil war on the long term because Northerners who tolerated slavery now turned against it which increased the sectional divide in the country. Compromises would only work so well for so long and they will not work forever.
2. The event within the last sixteen months before the bombing of Fort Sumter that caused the Civil War was the election of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was the first president besides John Quincy Adams that was against slavery. This was a threat to the southern states who were for slavery. Lincoln was not even on the ballot in the south. The Deep South states were actually happy when Lincoln was elected because this gave them an excuse to secede. The secession is what officially divided the country into the Union and the Confederacy which are the two sides of the Civil War. Another reason why Lincoln’s election caused the start of the Civil War was because when the states began to secede, he let them go. He followed the example of James Buchanan, who was still in office before Lincoln was installed as president which was when this whole situation began. It is possible that Buchanan either did not want to start war, or he left Lincoln to deal with the states. Rather than stopping the states from leaving, the two presidents chose to go with the option of waiting and seeing what would happen. All of this roots back to he election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
1. I think the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was the single most impactful event between 1846-1861, in causing the civil war. The Kansas-Nebraska Act written by Stephen Douglas allowed Nebraska and Kansas to participate in popular sovereignty when deciding if they would be considered a free or slave territory, and then eventually a state. This act overthrew the Missouri Compromise because Kansas and Nebraska were above the 36, 30 line. Douglas felt that this would end the slavery problem and unify the country, as that was the whole point of the civil war. Instead, this widened the gap in the country. Multiple attacks were held in Kansas between pro and anti-slavery groups such as, the Sac of Lawrence and the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre. When it came time to vote for the anti or pro-slavery legislature, border ruffians from Missouri came and voted for pro-slavery, since there was a lack of voter requirements in Kansas. The sectionalism in America was growing drastically between the North and South fueling the war.
2. In the last 16 months, between 1860-1861, I think the Presidential Election of 1860 had the greatest impact on starting the war. I believe this because after Lincoln was elected that was when the southern slave states seceded the Union. Secession happened because the South economic structure depended on slave labor and the only candidate that was for the abolishment of slavery was elected as president. The South knew that if they stayed the North would officially be superior to them and they weren’t going for it, so they created the Confederacy. After Lincoln being elected the country was officially divided and rebellious attacks were already starting to begin such as, Fort Sumter. This event made the war inevitable because states were already seceding and Lincoln refused to compromise when Senator Crittenden proposed restoring the 36, 30 line and guaranteeing slavery where it already exist. The only way to unify the country again was to fight since both sides were strong on their beliefs.
1. I personally believe that the event that impacted the start of the Civil War was the passing of the Kansas- Nebraska Act in 1854. This act gave two states to choice whether or not to be a slave state, it could have been good if the people in the state and only them decide if it would be free or not, but there were people from slave states who come in and voted for Kansas to be a slave state which was not the point of the act. At the time popular sovereignty seemed like a good decision because it would give the states a say in how they govern their own land, but I think that it can only cause one side, either opposing slavery or for it, to be stronger than the other not a balance in the country solving each problem. When passing this act the government thought it could solve tension between the north and south, but instead it increased in such a matter that it would inevitably lead toward the bombing at Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War.
2. The key incident had the largest impact on starting the war was the secession of the southern states. The first state to secede was South Carolina, which cause other southern states to follow in the footsteps and leave the union. This cause an even more hatred to grow between the north and south. If South Carolina hadn’t succeeded in the first place other states wouldn’t of had anyone else’s footsteps to follow which could have led to more tension to grow between the two, but maybe not the start of a war. If there was no succession there could have been an agreement which wouldn’t of had as large of an effect on the country, but maybe a large enough one that could have stopped the tension.
I think John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry impacted the start of the Civil War more than any other event between 1846-1861. In October of 1959, John Brown attacked the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, planning to start a slave revolution in the South to put an end to slavery. This event showed that people were willing to go to great lengths to fight against slavery, whether it was fund an attack on a government armory or lay down their life for the cause of abolition. John Brown showed the US that talk and compromise was no longer sufficient to hold the country together. Sides were being firmly drawn, and this was proved by the split North/South reactions to the raid. The North called John Brown a martyr, while the South labeled him a wicked murderer. Brown’s raid proved to be an opening skirmish in the Civil War, as blood was shed in the name of actually ending slavery, not just preventing it from spreading westward as was the cause in Bleeding Kansas. There was no turning back from Harpers Ferry until one side of the abolition argument had victory over the other.
During the last 16 months before the start of the Civil War, I believe it was the Southern secession and the formation of the Confederacy that had the greatest impact on starting the war. After Lincoln’s election, seven Southern seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. It was this Confederacy that surrounded Fort Sumter and decided to fire upon it when Lincoln sent relief supplies to the Union soldiers trapped there. I think this event made the Civil War inevitable since it literally divided the country. Instead of Southern states talking about seceding from the Union, they actually went ahead and separated from the US. No compromise could keep the Union together any longer, and now armed conflict was just waiting to be started. Lincoln refused to validate the Confederate states’ secession, and the South refused to be a part of the Union. If the succession hadn’t happened, Fort Sumter wouldn’t have been fired upon and the Civil War would have been at the very least prolonged to a later starting date. This is why the Southern succession made the Civil War inevitable.
1. The Compromise of 1850, I feel, had the most impact for the start of the civil war. The Compromise of 1850 involved so many different things so it makes sense that the north and south would get mad at each other for what they got. The south got New Mexico and Utah to open up to popular sovereignty and a more powerful fugitive slave law. The north got upset over this because it messed with the Missouri compromise and they didn’t want a more powerful fugitive slave law because it meant that they would have to follow it. The Compromise of 1850 had one of the greatest impacts to the leading of the civil war because of the effects it had on the north and the south. Both sides did not like what the other side got so it fueled the fire even more for the start of the civil war.
2. Yes there is one event that I feel pushed the issue of slavery even further and impacted that start of the civil war; the succession of the deep south. The reason the south succeeded from the union was because of the new president which was Lincoln. He was anti-slavery all the way and the south didn’t want to give up their slaves so they thought that in order to keep slavery alive in the south they had to leave the union. The succession of the south from the union is obviously a big deal because it shows how far the south is willing to go to protect and keep slavery. They broke away from the rest of the country because of what they believed in. The civil war was bound to happen if the south left the union of not. The south was so involved and invested in their slaves that giving it all up was not even an option for them. The south wanted to keep slavery around so bad that they would leave the rest of the union to be by themselves with slavery. They would rather be there ow separate country with slavery then be with the rest of the US. Yes this event did make the civil war inevitable because the north originally fought the civil war to keep the union together.
1. I believe that the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was single-handily, the biggest impact on starting the Civil War. While the time period spanning from 1846 until 1861 was full of tense arguments and separation between all types of people, the year of 1854 destroyed the minor balance, which had been set up in 1820. In that year, Henry Clay, known as the Great Compromiser, successfully proposed the Missouri Compromise. This law prohibited slavery above the 36”30’, including the Louisiana Territory. This compromise as agreed upon by both anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions. The United States had survived 34 years somewhat peacefully, until the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. Stephen Douglas wanted to open up thousands of new farms and make a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. There was however, a popular sovereignty clause within Douglass law. It opened up Nebraska, Kansas, and all entering territories to popular sovereignty. Many hated this law because, it disturbed the balance, which had been in place for three decades and it threatened slavery taking control of the country. If the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had never been put in place, the United States may have been able to survive until something stronger than the Missouri Compromise was approved.
2. In the last 16 months leading up to the Civil War, I believe that the attack on Fort Sumter had the greatest impact on starting the war. Lincoln did not want to be responsible for starting the clearly inevitable war, so he ordered his men to stand by. He then attempted to resupply the fort, which was located in Charleston, South Carolina, which was the first state to secede. The Unions attempt at resupplying the fort was cut off by South Carolinians. Eventually, southerners fired upon the fort with a massive artillery attack for 34 hours straight. Union soldiers had not fired towards the fire-eaters for nearly two hours after the first shot was fired at 4:30 a.m. In my opinion, this was an attempt to prove that Southerners would be responsible for starting the Civil War, and even possibly, to avoid any unnecessary deaths by allowing the enemy to dispose of all their ammunition into the walls of Fort Sumter.
1. In the time period 1846-1861 I believe there was one event that impacted the start of the war more than any other event or thing. That single event was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act made both the Kansas and Nebraska territories open to popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty was the idea that a state or territory could decide on whether it would be a slave or free state. The Act was greatly founded on Stephen Douglass’s principles. Many anti-slavers disliked the act because both territories should have been free due to the Missouri Compromise. The act also led to interstate riots and bloody battles known as bleeding Kansas. These fights between the anti-slavers and border ruffians were gruesome. In the end, slavery had won causing a spiral downturn towards inevitable civil war. The conflict between both sides of the nationwide issue truly showed what was soon to come.
2. In the last 16 months before the start of the Civil War between 1860 – 61, Lincoln’s election as president had the greatest impact on starting the war. When a Republican and northerner was elected, the power of the south was outraged. Lincoln, who publicly had said he was not a fan of slavery and wanted to leave it alone, was a threat to the South’s precious slaves and cotton farms and could not be tolerated. If anyone had threatened the South’s “invincible” economy, they would revolt. And that was the end result when Lincoln’s election to presidency most directly led to the secession of the deep south from the union. I do think that the civil war was inevitable and could not have been avoided. The constant battle over the controversial issue of slavery could only ever end bloody violence due to it’s own nature of violence.
1) In my opinion, I believe that the raid on Harper’s Ferry by John Brown greatly impacted the start of the war. John Brown knew that bloodshed would eventually put a stop to slavery and that it would be to the key to a brighter and a more promising future. The attack on Harper’s Ferry was the start of the physical hatred and anger that the north and south gradually built up, and would foreshadowed what would eventually happen. The reaction to the attack gave northerners the idea that violence could possibly work, but on the other hand, southerners were outraged and knew they had to fight back. The attacks identified the unique characteristics and portrayed the varying controversial thoughts between the abolitionists and the conservatives. People in turn began to take sides on the war and began to realize what would be more beneficial, whether to maintain the slavery institution or to abolish it?
2) I believe that the Kansas- Nebraska Act had the biggest impact on the war, because it overturned the Missouri compromise, which made the Northerners extremely angry, since the Missouri Compromise was a bright idea that benefited both the north and south on different aspects. The north and south were content with the solution and did not complain or uproar in that aspect. The Kanas Nebraska Act issued that slavers were now allowed in territories located in the North, which was above the recently established 36-30’ line. This made northerners realize that they were promoting slavery, and that would spread exponentially and the United States of America would become a world-renowned slavery institution. Also, the overcoming of the Missouri compromise meant that if there were more slave territories throughout the United States, there would be more southern delegates in the senate. I think that the Civil War was definitely inevitable, I feel like a war and argument at such magnitude could not have been avoided with the result of a different president with opposing views.
The civil was the bloodiest war that America has ever fought, and in my opinion the tragic thing America has gone through as a country. This war was completely necessary for America to get rid of slavery. The war was something terrible that had to occur to get rid of something even more terrible. In my opinion the thing that had the most impact in starting the civil war is the confederate soldier’s attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861. Before this attack there had not really been any physical fighting or violence, but after this attack it became very clear that this war would be a long fight between the North and the South. This attack only came to be because of our president at the times attempt to resupply the fort. This attempt upset the confederates and later that night they began attacking the base with cannon fire and soldiers. In the last 16 months leading up to the civil war there were many big events but I think the one that mainly affects the started of the civil war was after Lincoln was elected president most of the deep south states seceded away from our union and started to form there own country. These states were Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. Later some other states that seceded were North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee. When these states seceded I believe that this pushed Northern to fight so that they could take back the seceded states and make the union whole again. If this would not have happened the country may not have gone to war as quick. The seceded states tried to form their own government using our constitution with a couple changes; they elected their own president and congressmen. They were like their own country. When the North won the war the states came back to the U.S.
The Civil war was inevitable, with or without Lincoln the war would have happened and slavery would have been dealt with. Unfortunately, it would most likely have been dealt with blood or conflict. Since the consequences and effects of slavery ran to far and too much in American blood. The event that was a big cause for the war was the Dred Scott decision in 1857. The Supreme Court had taken it in their power to end the issue with slavery. By ruling that African Americans had no political rights, and that Congress could not limit slavery in the West because it was a depriving Southerners of their “property”, which goes violates the 5th amendment. The Dred Scott decision polarized people between the issue of slavery, and most importantly makes the Republicans go nuts. Now since the people had stronger beliefs about the subject, they began to more openly speak about it, many joined the abolitionist side, though that does not include all, since many still wanted slavery. Some didn’t care about the slavery issue, such as Lincoln at the beginning of the Civil War, though as the Civil War went on, he realized that to end this war, and to successfully bring the Union back together he would need to face the struggles of slavery, which he did with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862.
The event that caused the greatest impact on starting the war was the attack of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. It had less to do with slavery, but it impacted the war more on the fact that the North was starting to realize that the South was getting serious. Maybe, they already knew this was a serious deal, but the fact that the Confederates shot at their ship. Sparked a patriotic feeling, and a scary feeling throughout the north. Now the people realized that this was a big issue, and made the war inevitable.
The one thing between the time period of 1846-1861 that impacted the Civil War was the Kansas Nebraska Act. Stephen Douglas formulated the Kansas Nebraska Act in faith of becoming president. The Kansas Nebraska Act allowed the people to have the choice of becoming a slave or free state (popular sovereignty). Unfortunately, in order for this act to pass, Douglass overturned the Missouri compromise, which would allow slavery above the 36-30 line. With the compromise overturned, the northern states would be able to become slave states if they wanted to and would upset the balance of the South vs. North. Therefore, this act lead to Borer Ruffians messing with the popular sovereignty polls for Kansas. Also, bleeding Kansas and other riots were the outcome of the Kansas Nebraska Act. Kansas was eventually declared as a free state while southern states started to Secede.
I think the most important event that happened in the past 16 months that had the greatest impact in on the war was the Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. When Abraham Lincoln was elected I think that this was the point where the people finally noticed that a war needed/was going to happen. As a turning point in history, this needs to be greatly considered in studying the Civil War. Lincoln enforced his opinions to the people and the most of the North agreed with what Lincoln had to say but the South strongly disagreed and wanted to leave the nation. Even without Lincoln being elected the South would have made their opinions heard and they would have tried to secede no matter what. We also see little hints of the South wanting to secede before Lincoln was elected. This made the war inevitable because when two sides have different opinions, something is bound to happen. Personally, I believe that the Civil war was fought over the opinion of slavery.
1.In my opinion, the terrible Dred Scott decision of 1857 was what significantly influenced the start of the Civil War. With the Dred Scott decision, a few things emerged: first, territories were told that they could not declare slavery illegal, because that would violate the personal property rights of those in the South. With this statement made by Judge Taney, the Northerners feared the slippery slope of slavery that could possibly appear. They worried that eventually, Taney would decide this to be true for the states, too, and that slavery would naturally infiltrate the North and survive for decades at the very least. Also, the Dred Scott decision brought along something even worse— a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. The new Fugitive Slave Law simply polarized the country even more so than before. When the new law was established, the backlash from the North was impressive. The law required Northerners to help slaveowners look for runaway slaves whether they were willing to or not. If they didn’t help, they would be fined. Also, slaves were not safe/free anywhere in the North, they could be captured by their slaveowners anywhere within the boundaries of the United States. With the help of this Supreme Court decision, the chances of a Civil War increased significantly.
2. The event in the 16 months prior to the start of the Civil War that impacted the start of the war was the 7 states in the deep South seceding in 1860-1861. With the Southern states committing treason, this showed how divided the country was. For something this extreme to happen, there had to have been extreme tensions between the North and the South. Due to the fact that 7 very powerful states left the Union, Civil War seemed inevitable. Now that the Union had been split apart, those in the North felt like it was essential to preserve the union and once again unite the country to prove that we could govern ourselves. At this point, the only way to save the Union was to commence in a Civil War.
1.
One event that impacted the start of the war more than any other event was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas-Nebraska was
passed May 30, 1854, and allowed Kansas and Nebraska to chose whether or not they were going to be slave states, it also repealed the Missouri Compromise, which was a pretty big deal. The passing of the Kansas-Nebraska act created a lot of turmoil, riots, and complications with Border Ruffians all of which added to the already increasing tension between free states and slave states. The Border Ruffians were especially disastrous since they attacked Free-Soilers, and Settlers, they also sabotaged polls that determined if Kansas and Nebraska would be considered slave or free states. If the Kansas-Nebraska act had not been passed there would have been much less tension between the North and South, also even though I believe a Civil War was inevitable the Southern states might not have split right after the election of Lincoln.
2.
The secession of South Carolina was the event that had the greatest impact on starting the Civil War. South Carolina split from the Union on December 20, 1860 and most other states in the Deep South followed suit. This split led to a large increase in tensions between the Union and the seceded states. This event assured the inevitability of war. The Civil War was now destined happen because two countries, who already had been fostering tension, were now in extremely close proximity. Also the secession of the Southern states was directly related to the bombing of Fort Sumter, even if the bombing at Fort Sumter had not occurred the North and South had many ties so something like it was bound to happen. In conclusion South Carolina’s secession was the catalyst for the Civil War and if the South had not seceded the war might not have happened for many more years.
Personally, I believe that the Civil War was inevitable. The country was divided in many ways regarding the issue of slavery and to solve this issue, the country needed to go to war. I believe that this may have been the only solution to fully reunite and allow the country to be on the same page. If I had to choose one event that impacted the start of the Civil War more than anything else, I would choose the attack on Fort Sumter. With the Confederates taking away military supplies and raiding military bases in the Southern part of the country, the North then began to take action. The Northerners began to take pride in the Union even after those in the Union did not technically win the battle. This also separated the North and South even greater because it was believed that the Southerners wanted to take over the country and simply wanted to secede rather than try and work to put the country back together. The greatest action in the last sixteen months that had the greatest impact in starting the Civil War was the election of 1860. The candidates consisted of Abraham Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln came out on top which was something that was not favoured by the South. This led to the immediate secession of South Carolina which later led to other states seceding resulting in the Confederate States of America. If Lincoln was not elected, I do not think that the Civil War would have taken place at this time. Even though the war itself may have been inevitable, with a different President, the War may simply have been postponed or dealt with completely differently. No matter when or how the war was dealt with, it ultimately benefited the country in the long run.
1)I think that the one thing that impacted the start of the war more than any other event was the abolitionist works of fiction that were released in this time period, particularly Uncle Toms Cabin. Now I don’t believe that any strictly singular event caused the civil war or led to it but I do think that if perhaps the civil war couldn’t be tacked to event then it could certainly be attached to the emotions of an event. What I mean is that time periods and things in time periods are often tied to the emotions of the people living in those times. In this way we can better track the goings on and get a better feel for the overall events throughout history. Therefore Uncle Toms Cabin goes hand and hand with the start of the civil war, because it is strongly attached to emotion-the emotions people had in regards to slavery. Let’s not forget the horrors of Slavery had been around far longer than uncle toms cabin existed yet people ignored it. It wasn’t that they were blind to them, its just that the citizens of American (namely the north) didn’t have to confront it in such a manner. And I do believe in the power of fiction. Literature and peoples reaction to literature shapes nations and changes lives. Books give us the unique opportunity to walk in people’s shoes and when uncle toms cabin was released for the first time the whites had to (not physically obviously, reading about it and experiencing it are very very different) walk in the shoes of the blacks and truly understand slavery and it’s horrors. People cry when they read books because they relate to the characters being presented. The whites now had a form of empathy they never had before and this empathy drove them. Because it was no longer a distant issue in a distant land (for the northerners) it was an issue of great importance happening in their own back yard. It was a crime against humanity, and that’s when it stopped being about economics and stated being about humans and human suffrage. This book stuck a wedge between the north and the south on the issue that was slavery and in this way it is directly responsible for the civil war (which we all know was about slavery at its core).
2)Lincoln’s election in 1860 had the greatest impact on starting the war because the south saw it as being completely blocked out. To elaborate I mean that Lincoln had pretty much all the free states and none of the slave states. I believe that the south even said that if Lincoln was elected they would secede. And they did. Lincoln was in office for like two months when the first southern state left the union. This event made he war inevitable because Lincoln’s original goal in the war was saving the union. Lincoln wasn’t about the be the president who would be seen in history as the man who broke the nation. He would have definitely gone to war to save America and make her whole again, he did.
1. I believe that the one thing in the time period of 1846-1861 that impacted the start of the war more than any other thing was the Dred Scott Decision. Dred Scott sued for his freedom after living in a free state for many years. He lost the case and with the Dred Scott Decision, the Supreme Court ruled that black people are not citizens, congress cannot limit slavery in the territories, and congress can’t regulate slavery because of the Fifth Amendment. This drove the divide between the North and South to be greater and would lead to more conflict as the North continued to abolish slavery after the decision, as the South became angered by their efforts. The South believed that the nationalization of slavery would occur and their booming economy from slavery would continue to flourish and grow. The issue of this case would come under great scrutiny, specifically in the Lincoln Douglas Debates. The Lincoln Douglas debates got Lincoln further support and eventually would win him the election.
2. I believe that the event of Abraham Lincoln getting elected had the greatest impact on starting the War. Southern slave states had threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected because they believed that he would end slavery and destroy their way of life and economic gains. A month and a half after Lincoln was elected, the Southern states met at a Secession Convention and seceded from the Union. To keep the Union together, Lincoln had to take drastic measures and go to war with the Confederates. The seceded states weren’t about to give up slavery and come back to the Union and the Union states weren’t about the allow slavery. This deadlock caused the fighting to begin, resulting in the inevitable war.
It was inevitable because there wasn’t anyway that this conflict could end without bloodshed. John Brown, the radical abolitionist, once said that “…the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood”. Without war and loss, the Southerners would not change their ways and the constant back and forth fighting between the North and South would not end.
1) The single most important event that led up to the civil war was John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. This event is key to the start of the civil war because it pushed the scale from high tension, to violence. I mean this in the sense that there had been slave revolts similar to John Brown’s raid, like Nat Turner’s rebellion, but this raid was special because it was led by a white man from the north. Also, soon after John Brown was executed, the south discovered that the raid was funded by northern abolitionists, this alarmed and enraged the south because it showed them that some northerners were willing or in support of taking violent action on the south. This eventually led to greatly increased tensions between the north and the south, eventually and inevitably leading to the civil war. I think that the cold war is a good synthesis point because even though it never led to a physical war, had one of the countries taken out an act similar to that of John Brown’s, we very well could have seen a war. The fact that a raid that intended on freeing slaves was initiated by northern abolitionists is why John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was the biggest influence on the civil war.
2) With the last 16 months before the start of the civil war, the greatest impact on starting the war was the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861. This was the most important event right before the civil war, because if he had lost the election, the other candidates would not have acted on slavery as strongly as Lincoln, let alone start a war over it. Though I think that Lincoln’s was one of the primary forces to the civil war, I do believe that the war would have happened anyways, but maybe in a different time, under different circumstances, and maybe even with a different result. The bottom line goes back to one of Lincoln’s most famous quotes “a house divided cannot stand”.
1. If there were any one thing that impacted the start of the war more than anything else, it would likely be the Kansas Nebraska Act. It allowed states to decide slavery based on popular sovereignty. The actual act itself wasn’t what brought along the most impact, but it led to Bleeding Kansas. Bleeding Kansas resulted in, obviously, a very bloody and dangerous situation. This situation seemed to be one of the major things that led the country to the idea that war may have been the only answer to the ever-present dilemma of slavery. It showed just how divided the nation was on the slavery issue, and the mounting tensions between the north and the south over the topic. Past that point, the tension just increased between the two areas, up until the breaking point: the start of the war.
2. In my opinion, the election of Abraham Lincoln was an event in the sixteen months leading up to the war that contributed the most to its start. This is because he was the first president to take strong actions against slavery, which alarmed the southern states. If he hadn’t been so strongly against slavery and the spread of it, the southern states may not have chosen to secede from the union. When Lincoln chose to speak out on the issue, he was, whether knowingly or not, dividing the nation between the north and the south. In general, I think that the Civil War was inevitable, and Lincoln’s election just set it in stone even more so than it already was. The southern states chose to secede because Lincoln wanted to do more about slavery than had been done in the past, which angered them. They wanted the spread of slavery to be fair game in any new territories, which he disagreed with. These big disagreements ultimately led to the civil war, and it was inevitable. A war seemed to be the only way that the nation could settle this disagreement, it wouldn’t have set in without the unfortunate use of violence through the four years of the war.
1. I will always stand true to the fact that I think the civil war was inevitable, we couldn’t have emancipated all blacks without it. In my opinion, one thing that really pushed us to start the war, or at least thinking about it, was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. There was already a lot of sectional tension between the north and south at this time regarding slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act by Steven Douglass opened up Kansas and Nebraska to popular sovereignty regarding slavery. Both these states are above the 36’30’ line and giving the people the option to decide whether or not there is slavery in their state. This overturns the Missouri Compromise of 1850. So now slavery is allowed in the north, which enraged many northerners and led to the birth of the Republican Party (also the death of the Whig party led to this). Douglass thought that his act would help keep the union together, but it actually did the opposite. Kansans people didn’t want slavery but Missourians came in a voted for slavery so then Kansas turned into a slave state and this unbalanced the number of slave and free states in the house and senate. All these things that happened because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act brought on more sectional tension and led people to think that maybe laws and regulations wouldn’t stop slavery.
2. In the 16 months before the official start of the war the secession of the 11 southern states from December 20, 1860 to June 8, 1861 was the biggest thing to happen that led to the Civil War. This started the Confederacy and proved that the Union had fallen apart. The north started the war in hopes of winning (which they did) so that they could get the south back and call for total emancipation of the slaves. Secession was the war inevitable, the north was even unhappier when states started succeeding and the south was ready to fight the north for slavery. If the south hadn’t succeeded then maybe the war wouldn’t have happened or it would’ve happened later, either way when the south started to succeed, we knew a war was on the horizon.
1. I think the Civil War was absolutely inevitable. Without fighting, there would have never been a solution to the ongoing dispute between slavery and anti-slavery. I also think that lots of things helped start the Civil War, including literature and major political disputes, as well as economic differences. All of these further divided the North and South, but I think that the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was a major catalyst of the Civil War. This event sparked anger in all areas of the country. The North was mad when border ruffians snuck into Kansas and voted for slavery. The South was mad when the anti-slavery Kansas citizens tried to enter the Union as a free state. Both the North and South didn’t want to be overpowered by one another, which made having Kansas a huge deal. This sparked controversy and fighting between the states, which I think makes it a huge part of the beginning of the Civil War.
2. Another event that was significant to the start of the Civil War 16 months before its start was Lincoln’s election into office. The south knew that as a northern Republican, he was going to put an end to slavery. Almost immediately, the southern states began seceding from the Union because they knew that if they didn’t, they would lose their slaves. This should have been seen as a warning to the start of the Civil war, as the split from the Union into the Confederacy was an ultimate showing of sectionalism between the North and South. Many things sent the two halves of the Union apart from each other, such as the Kansas-Nebraska act and Fort Sumter, but Lincoln’s election was seemingly all that the South could take until collectively splitting into the Confederacy to fight for their beliefs against the North.
The Civil War was more than just a battle between two separate armies, it was a bloody crusade between brothers. The Civil War wasn’t a chapter of history to be stored away in heavy textbooks and mentioned in history class once a year; it was an internal struggle that both strengthened and weakened our nation. We came away in 1864 after four long and tireless years of fighting as a united nation on paper, but when examined closely, it seems we weren’t as merged as it appeared. Because of how mush this era of American History affected out present, we need to take a look back into the past to understand exactly what occurred and why. The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate General Beauregard ordered his men to open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, the Union forces stuck on Fort Sumter surrendered the fort. Two days later, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to end the Southern rebellion. This firing of guns was the official start to the Civil War. However, the civil part of the Civil War took root long before the first bullets were fired. I don’t believe there was any one moment that affected the start of the war for everybody involved, because there were so many reasons people had for fighting. It was the rich man’s war but the poor man’s fight, as they say, so there were several levels of complexity to the battle. If I had to choose one event, however, I’d say Stephen Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act. This act overturned the Missouri Compromise line which excluded slavery from the Louisiana Purchase Territory. This move angered the free-soil party and fights broke out across the territories. One that still rings clear in memory is the Kansas civil war which sprung up as proslavery and free-soil party members fought over the territory. Bloodshed became inevitable, and the entire nation became involved. This string of events led to more chaos in America, and eventually to the shots fired at Fort Sumter at the outbreak of the Civil War. In the last 16 months leading up to the official start of the Civil War, the event I would say was the most influential in sending the first shots was the Confederate Nation’s attempts at seceding in 1860. When Confederate President Jefferson Davis announced the “new nation’s” plans this sent an alarm through America’s Unionized federal government that something big that had simply been a threatening shadow before, was now a startling reality. This realization sent the loyal Union into action, and in no time we were engaged in a full on battle within our own nation.
The Southern plantation owners depended on slave labor and the use of slaves to function and put out cotton so they could pay off their debuts. Slavery was the way of the south and southerners defended it as a way of life. Southern aristocrats made up 2% of the population they also held the most slaves, while poor farmers might have owned one or two. The North, however, was turning towards anti-slavery and slowly turning to abolitionist methods. Abolitionist saw slavery as a national sin and saw less use of a compromise. The Dred Scott decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln’s presidency and candidacy, and Fort Sumter all pushed the democratic country towards war and rebellion. What turned from a fight to keep the Union together became a fight against slavery.
The Supreme Court decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that the black population of America weren’t citizens, free blacks and slaves a like where considered foreigners who had been brought to America to “civilize” them. The court decision also stated that state government could not band slavery in that state because it was encroaching on the slave holder’s property. Never the less the Underground Railroad continued to operate and take slaves north to Canada and freed them. Even under the Fugitive Slave law that allowed slave/bounty hunters to bring back any escaped slaves. Even more restrictions and security was put on slaves, for the South feared an all out slave rebellion like Nat Turner or Denmark Vesey.
After the US annexed the western territories from Mexico the dilemma of Slave or Free states was again an issue. Just as slavery seemed to be dying Southern states set out to expand slavery into the new territories. One of the most recognized clashes was during the Kansas-Nebraska Act that opened the territory up to popular sovereignty allowing the state to decide whether it would slave or free. The law defied the Missouri Compromise and the slavery couldn’t expand above the 36-30 line. The act out raged and polarized the North, while the South was allowed to move over the border and squatted and cast false votes that allowed Kansas to become a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution, which was also shortly after John Brown and his attacks was declared unconstitutional because the Kansas voters didn’t get to vote on the matter. This also resulted in an even stricter Fugitive Slave law would sentence anyone involved in the Underground Railroad to 6 months in prison of a thousand dollar fine.
The election campaign of 1860 involved four candidates; Abraham Lincoln a Republican Illinois Senate member, John Bell a Constitutional Union supporter, Stephen A. Douglas a former Illinois senate member and Northern Democrat alienated Southern Democrats, and John C. Breckinridge a Southern Democrat who wanted the South to secede from the Union. Lincoln won by a landslide but only with Northern voters. Lincoln’s inauguration cased eleven states to secede from the Union; South Carolina seceded before Lincoln was sworn into office on December 20, 1860. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee would secede on June 8, 1861. Forming the Confederation and electing Jefferson Davis to be president. The Confederates took action and seized forts in the Deep South territory. The monumental battle that sparked the war was the battle at Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was the most important battle that forced Lincoln’s hand to declare war on the Confederates. The Confederates shot at the fort for nearly 34 hours until the Union troop’s surrender and called for an evacuation. Lincoln responded with giving the fort more supplies to Fort Sumter along with 75 million soldiers just three days after the attack on the fort to fight the rebellion.
The Civil War was a historical moment that changed history, tensions in both the North and the South where so tightly wound with conspiracies about both sides that would lead to an inevitable war, not even congressmen could contain the strain slavery had put on the countries social structure, and morals. The disturbed peace between the North and the South was becoming a frightful storm that would dawn the bloody four year war. War was an inevitability the Union turned from keeping the country united to freeing the slaves of America, slave which the South wouldn’t give up voluntarily. The North didn’t want to compromise with the South
I believe that the most important event leading up to the Civil War was John Brown’s Kansas raid. That raid was the first time that abolitionists had really taken violent actions. As more and more Northerners rallied behind Brown, especially after his raid on Harper’s Ferry, the atmosphere between North and South became tenser. Here the South saw many Northerners rallying behind a cold-blooded murderer, where any reasonable person, in their eyes, would reject him. Brown brought the beginning of the end of peaceful Abolitionism, and showed that many Northerners would outright ignore the laws of the country. How could the South remain in a country whose citizens seemed on the edge of anarchy? Brown’s shenanigans signaled to both sides that the time of peaceable discussion was at an end, a point further drilled in by the caning of Charles Sumner.
During the last 16 months leading up to the Civil War, I would say that the secession of the Deep South immediately after Lincoln’s election. By seceding, they burned any bridges they may have used to keep slavery running within the confines of the law. Considering that the South had a majority in the Supreme Court, they could potentially have leveraged that to overrule any Northern limits being placed on slavery. The Supreme Court had already been used like this before, in the Dred Scott case, and had the authority to prevent the other branches from counteracting them. However, the moment the states left, they lost any bargaining ability in the Union government and thus lost their ace in the hole. Also, once the states seceded, they had nothing more to threaten if they did not get their way. Lincoln was open to compromise, but by seceding, the South forced his hand.
I believe that the most important event leading up to the civil war was the Publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book brought more attention to the injustices of slavery more than any other event leading up to it’s publishing. The publishing of this novel brought to light the injustices of slavery and the fugitive-slave law, angering northerners, sparking the abolitionist movement. Southerners were also greatly angered. They believed that the novel was utterly false and that the author was lying in her descriptions of slave conditions. While other events helped to cause the civil war, Uncle Tom’s Cabin greatly intensified the debate over slavery and added fuel to the flame of the abolitionist movement. With this new shed light on slavery, northerners were outraged with the conditions and wanted slavery abolished, while southerners fought harder than ever to keep their beloved slaves and hoped to assert their dominance over the north, both economically and politically.
I think that within the last sixteen months before the war started, the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for president had the biggest impact on the inevitability of the civil war. Lincoln was a northern republican who openly opposed slavery. The southern states hated him, and many did not even put him on the ballot during the election. When Lincoln was elected, South Carolina was the first of seven states to initially succeed from the union, creating their own constitution, guaranteeing that slavery could continue. This caused even more hatred to grow between the north and south. If Lincoln had not been as open about his opposition of slavery, the south may have stayed part of the union, and the civil war might never have happened. But because Lincoln was so openly opposed to slavery, the south left the union and a war started that cause the most American casualties in our nations history.
(http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp)
By the mid-1800s, people knew that there was going to be a Civil War- it was just a matter of when. One thing that happened between 1846 and 1861 that impacted the start of the Civil War more than anything, in my opinion, was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This impacted the start of the Civil War not only because it was so controversial, but because it also launched a series of poor outcomes. The Act itself stated that allowed for the Kansas and Nebraska territories to vote by popular sovereignty to decide if they would be admitted as a slave state or a free state. This lead to the border ruffians, pro-slavery activists, crossing into Kansas from Missouri to vote for slavery on the Kansas ballots, as they had no voting laws. Most Kansans were against slavery and voted against it, the amount of border ruffians were able to overturn this conclusion. Bleeding Kansas was another outcome, where John Brown and other anti-slavery radicals (including his many sons) attacked whites, destroyed property and towns, and fought pro-slavery white men. The caning of Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks in the senate demonstrated the sectionalist tensions and slavery problem affecting those even in the senate. Kansas was eventually let into the Union as a free state, and the Deep South states were becoming increasingly closer to succession.
In the last 16 months leading up to the war (1860-1861) that had the greatest impact on the start of the war was the election of 1860 and Lincoln’ s win. Stephen Douglas, the Democratic nominee, had alienated the South in a previous debate with Lincoln where he was tricked into saying that states had the right to popular sovereignty in regards to slavery. Lincoln was not put on the Southern ballots, but won the election overall, even with this disadvantage. The Democrats were split into the Southern and Northern, each with their own nominees (Douglas was Northern). John Breckenridge was the Southern Democrat, in favor of slavery and was for the disunion of the country. John Bell was a Constitutional Unionist, and all he was for was the Constitution and Union, with nothing to say for slavery. It was only after Lincoln was elected that the first Deep South states succeeded the Union and formed the Confederacy, soon to be followed by many more Southern States. After the secession of South Carolina followed by more states, the Civil War was set in history. The whole war was started over the Union and people fighting for and against it. However, I believe that Carolina and the other Southern states would have succeeded anyways because the Southern Democrats (who came in second) were for disunion and the South was set on separation.
1. I believe the Civil War was inevitable due to the sectionalism that existed during the time period. This divide between the North and the South was already strong, but the divide between the two sides increased after the Dred Scott Case. In the case of Dred Scott, he believed that since his owner had passed away and that he had lived in the North for 10 years that he was a free man. Little did he know that the wife of the owner was still down south and wanted him back because she believed that he was still a slave and that she owned him. This case went to the Supreme Court where it was ruled that Dred Scott, along with all other blacks, were not people, therefore he couldn’t sue the wife in the first place. Not to mention Congress stated that they can’t limit slavery in the territories, which was a huge deal because it overturned the Missouri Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Dred Scott case created a bigger divide between the North and the South because since the court ruled that they cannot control the territories, this allowed slavery to occur, angering the North because they believed that there was a line the separated what could and could not be a slave state.
2. In the last 16 months leading up to the Civil War, the event that had the greatest impact involving the start of the Civil War was the 1860 presidential election. In the 1860 election, it was almost the Civil War, before the Civil War. Abe Lincoln, the supporter of the North and the abolishment of slavery, versus John Breckenridge, a Southern Democrat that wanted the continuation of slavery. In voting for Breckenridge, the South would be voting for secession. Abe Lincoln was elected though, so the South began to secede. Shortly after the South began their secession from the North, the Civil War began.
1. One of the most influential parts of the start of the war was the passing of the Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854. In the Kansas Nebraska Act, it was determined that that popular sovereignty, or the people in the territory, were going to determine if the land was slave or free (taking out all federal government control). This act led to many border ruffians, pro-slavery people who specifically came in to vote the territory as a slave state, flooding the territory. In addition, the Kansas Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise which had stated everything above the 36 30 line would be free. Upset northerners started coming raiding pro-slavery cities and killing people in them. These type conflicts became known as a mini civil war known as Bleeding Kansas. Bleeding Kansas as a whole was fighting over the possibility of expansion or abolition of slavery. If these sort of events were to happen in one state, any action that would led to expansion or limiting slavery would just upset the other, causing a conflict that made the Civil War inevitable. In the end, both the north and south were upset about this, which just increased sectionalism to the point where the South wanted to secede, leading to the Civil War.
2. Lincoln winning the election of 1860 was one of the last tipping points of the election. The Lincoln-Douglas debates, between Lincoln and democratic candidate Stephen Douglas, where the Freeport Doctrine arose. In this Doctrine, when Lincoln asked Douglas “if the people in the territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could not do so, who would you side with?” And Douglas answered “the people,” there was a split of the Democratic Party, resulting in the democrats not being able to win the election. Lincoln was a republican who was beginning to express anti-slavery views more and more during his election time throughout his time in office, displaying that he hoped slavery would soon come to an end. The 1860 election had many other components that would have contributed to the Civil War happening either way. There were conspiracies going around about both abolitionists and pro slavery individuals wanting to basically take over the nation with a spread of their ideals. “Fire-eaters” were threatening to secede if a Republican were to go into office, and after the split of the Democratic Party, was certain to happen. At that point, with Lincoln’s views, Southerners were certain that he and the Republican platform were going to make the slavery institution dissolve to nothing, resulting in secession of first South Carolina to many other deep southern states.
1. In my own personal opinion, I believe that there was one particular event within the time period of 1846-1861 that impacted the start of the war more than any other event or thing. The event I believe which had the greatest impact, was the decision in the Dred Scott case. This case was taken to the Supreme Court in which it was decided that even though Dred Scott and his family had been living in the Nouth for over ten years, they could not be freed. The Supreme Court justified this ruling by saying that Dred and his family were property to his owners and that removing them as slaves or in other words freeing them was a “violation” of the 5th amendment. This decision had such a major impact because by declaring these human beings as property was showing that blacks really were of the lowest degree and had basically no position in society. The decision in this case to me is absolutely sickening. How can human beings be identified as property? I believe that the 5th amendment was completely misinterpreted in this court case and that some of the people involved in making the decision had lots of bias and allowed that to sway the overall ruling. The reason in which I think this event had such a large effect on the eventual civil war was that in this decision, Congress basically declared that they could not limit slavery in any territory therefore allowing slavery in areas previously declared as free states and by saying that the act of 1850 was unconstitutional. This caused great uproar with abolitionists and many other people throughout the North. Britain and abolitionists were so appalled by this ruling that they decided to raise enough money to buy Dred and his families freedom. This created a much larger divide between people in the North and the South and made the issue of slavery much more prevalent. Because of the decision in this case, I feel that the different opinions and ideas about slavery surfaced and created greater unrest within people throughout the country.
2. The most important event that occurred within the last 16 months prior to the civil war the election of 1860. I think this event made the civil war inevitable because it pushed several southern states towards secession. Many southern states had already been contemplating secession, but the election of Lincoln was their last straw. I think the secession of southern states was inevitable, but because of who Lincoln was and what his principles were, the southern states viewed him as a threat and therefore seceded earlier than the would’ve had Lincoln not been elected. Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but he was anti-slavery which posed a great threat to southern slave owners. The secession of southern states showed the collapse of our union because it was being split in two therefore making the civil war inevitable.
I think that the Kansas-Nebraska Act really led to the start of the Civil War more than any other event or thing. Firstly, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was a strict defiance of the Missouri Compromise, which led to the repeal of the compromise. The Missouri Compromise was the glue that was managing to hold our country together, it was cracked and peeling apart but it was still managing to keep the Union intact. When the Missouri Compromise was repealed, Northerners saw this to led to a slaveholding nation and they were horrified as to what direction the United States were going. Second, the Kansas-Nebraska Act fully split the Union; the Northerners were enraged and they feared that if The Compromise of 1820 could be ignored, then The Compromise of 1850 would be ignored as well and the entire nation would become slaveholders. The Kansas-Nebraska Act also led to “Bloody Kansas;” which were border ruffians fighting and this led to deaths as well. John Brown’s attack on Pottawattamie Creek perfectly exemplifies the fight between anti- and proslavery Americans. These blatant attacks enraged both sides and further pushed us to the Civil War. The South was scared of a way of life where slavery was not allowed and the North was scared of a way of life where slavery was the norm. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had the power to lean towards either side, which was why it was a spark that ignited a nation and led to the Civil War.
The election of Abraham Lincoln had the greatest impact on starting the war because when Abraham Lincoln was elected, this gave the Southern Democrats the excuse they needed to split from the Union. They believed that their secession would be peaceful and that the “Yankees” wouldn’t fight back. This was, as we see, false and the search for the unity that the South had dissolved led to the bloodiest American war we have ever known. The Union fought, not for slavery, but for an undivided nation and Abraham Lincoln’s election led to that dissolution in the first place.
1. The one event during the time period of 1846-1861 that impacted the start of the Civil War more than any other even event or thing was the Compromise of 1850. Prior to this event, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 evenly divided the country at the 36’30’ line prohibiting slavery north of the line, and allowing slavery south of the line. The Compromise of 1850 opened up popular sovereignty to decide if Utah and the New Mexican territories would be either a free of slave territory. This impacted the start of the Civil War because it stirred up more tension between the north and the south. Yes, there was tension before the Compromise of 1850 but more violence broke out like reactions to Uncle Tom’s Cabin and later Bleeding Kansas. The Compromise of 1850 opening up the chance to vote if the state should be free or slave later led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 which opened up even more land to popular sovereignty. The Compromise of 1850 stirred up more tension, which led to violence and eventually the Civil War.
2. The event in the last 16 months of 1860-1861 that had the greatest impact on starting the Civil War was the first shot fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Prior to this event, tensions throughout the north and south had been rising. Two months into Lincoln’s presidency, seven southern states succeed and formed the Confederate States of America. At Fort Sumter, the north was inside the fort with the south surrounding them, both waiting for the other to fire the first shot. This event had the greatest impact on starting the Civil War because it showed that they were willing to kill each other over the issue. Some maybe thought that the issue wouldn’t lead to a war and a similar resolution would do. This event made the Civil War inevitable. Due to the fact that each side was willing to fight, proven with the first shot at Fort Sumter, this war had to be fought. Slavery was just too much of a controversial issue to sit down and debate over.
In my opinion, the occurrence of the Civil War was most likely inevitable. Tensions between the north and the south had been growing immensely in the years leading up to the war, and eventually all of this pressure was enough to start one of the most famous wars in our nation’s history. There were a great amount of events that could be argued to have started the Civil War, such as the Dred Scott decision, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, or the attack on Fort Sumter. But out of all of these events, I believe that the Kansas-Nebraska act was the most influential. This act ruled that the debate over slavery in the new states be determined by popular sovereignty, which meant that the people could decide. As a result, tensions flared between the pro slavery men in the south and the anti-slavery men in the north. Along with this, certain groups such as the border ruffians came along and completely disrupted the “good idea” of popular sovereignty. This event causes the hatred between the north and south to grow, and also resulted in a rise in sectionalism throughout the nation.
During the last sixteen months leading up to the start of the Civil War, there were a few events that some say directly started the Civil War. Out of all of these events, I believe that the election of President Lincoln in 1860 was the most influential. The southern states did not want anything to do with Lincoln as president, but almost all of the states in the north cast their votes toward him. This division in opinions clearly exemplified the split between the nation, and that the south was about to have to do something over the issue of slavery. Eventually, states began to secede from the union, forming the Confederacy. These states basically copied the constitution, but edited it to explicitly allow slavery, and protect it. Fighting began to occur in 1861, and with it the Civil War. I believe that the Civil War was inevitable due to the events that occurred leading up to it, and the total division between the North and South.
1.) If one event in the time period of American history impacted the start of the war between the years 1846 and 1861 the most, I would argue that the Kansas-Nebraska Act gave the nation the momentum that inevitably pushed to war. This one act passed by Congress led to many other events and decisions that further divided the nation. First of all, it completely disregarded the Missouri Compromise and its 36°30’ line. This led to bitter outrage in the north because slavery was promised never to be legal north of this line. Popular sovereignty in these two territories led to Bleeding Kansas when southern slave-owners flooded in to vote pro-slavery. Meanwhile, this dreaded act also caused John Brown’s rampage of terrorism both in the Pottawatomie Creek and his attack on Harpers Ferry. The blood that Brown spilled filled southerners with terror, and brought early talk of secession by southern “fire-eaters.”
2.) The event in the last 16 months before the start of the Civil War that had the greatest impact on starting the war was the election of Abraham Lincoln. The most obvious effect of this event was the secession of the 7 Deep South states. There was no convincing white southern slave-owners that the election of the first northern anti-slavery president since Quincy Adams wasn’t a threat to their southern way of life. Another key piece of evidence that Lincoln was the reason the South seceded is seen when reviewing the bombing of Fort Sumter. President Lincoln made it extremely clear to the Union and the Confederacy that he was simply sending supplies to Fort Sumter; not military reinforcements. The South completely ignored, and decided to attack anyway. If a president that didn’t have a past of anti-slavery views were to have made this move, who’s to say the Confederacy would still attack? After all, slavery was obviously the biggest reason why the South seceded in the first place. Lincoln’s election sealed the country’s fate for civil war. War could not have been avoided, as an attack on the Union such as Fort Sumter enraged the North in a similar magnitude as the terrorist attack on 9/11. Lincoln had already dedicated himself to fighting a war to re-establish and heal the Union; there was no turning back.
The civil war was an event in American history that was inevitable. The North and the South were just had views that were too divided, making it impossible for them to agree. Eventually the tensions about slavery between the north and the south would clash, resulting in a violent but necessary war that would put an end to slavery.
1) The event that I believe was the most influential event between the time period 1846-1861 that impacted the start of the war was the Kansas Nebraska Act passed in congress in 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for new territories to decide if they were a free or slave state by popular sovereignty. The Kansas-Nebraska overturned the Missouri Compromise, and started conflicts that arose between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers known as Bleeding Kansas. The idea of popular sovereignty was pushed by Lincoln’s competitor, Stephen Douglas. He believed that popular sovereignty would end the slavery problem by unifying the nation, and trying to give everyone what they wanted. This further sectionalized America, and the South and the North absolutely hated each other. This would lead to the bombing at fort Sumter and it therefore dramatically fueled the start of the Civil War.
2) The event that I believe was the most influential during the time period 1860-1861 was the Election of 1860 which elected Lincoln as president. I think that this was so influential because after the election, the south was very angered, this was their last straw. Lincoln’s election 1860 led to South Carolina seceding two months after the election. This was the start of the first wave of secession which ended February 2, 1861 with the secession of Texas. This wave of secessions had a huge part in starting the war. After Lincoln’s election there were also many rebellions from the south, and the biggest one, Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter literally divided the nation, and after it happened there was no going back, there had to be a war.
One thing that impacted the start of the war more than any other thing between 1846 to 1861 was the Kansas Nebraska Act. When it was passed in 1854, it gave the power to the citizens of the states to decide whether or not they would be free or slave states. This defied the Missouri Compromise and went against what the founding fathers wanted, which was to prevent the spread of slavery westward. This was important because it showed that the South believed that States rights were to be valued and respected and they wanted to choose for themselves instead of having the federal government decide. I believe that the one thing within the last 16 months that impacted the start of the war more than any other event or thing was Abraham Lincoln being elected as the President of the United States. This was the most important because it seemed to be the final straw for the Southern states, to have a president that wasn’t pro-slavery and was pro-Union, and it caused them to secede from the Union. When South Carolina seceded and then other states began to follow, Lincoln had to take action. He believed that the only way to keep the Union together was to start the Civil War. This chain of events started with Lincoln’s election to office which then caused all of the other events to spiral out of control and the war began. I believe that this made the Civil War inevitable because it was known that the Southern states wanted to secede and they would if Lincoln was elected. Southerners wanted States rights and many other things that Lincoln did not strongly promote like their candidate did.
1. In my opinion during the time period 1846-1841 I believe that the Kansas-Nebraska Act held the most weight in the causing of the Civil War. The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 allowed the new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, to choose whether they wanted to be free or slave using popular sovereignty. This act only worsened relationships between the North and South due to the fact that the Kansas-Nebraska Act went against the Missouri Compromise which made all land north of the 36’30 line against slavery. To add to the North’s frustration there were people not from the territories voting for slavery making the ballots completely untrue, and because there were no voter id laws they could get away with it. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was then the main cause for Bleeding Kansas, and the devastating violent actions taken by both North and South. Even after when Kansas was declared a free state and the North was somewhat pleased the Southern states had begun to secede.
2. In the last sixteen months (1860-1861) the Election of 1860 was the breaking point leading to the beginning of the battles in the Civil War. As the Southern states knew that Lincoln was anti-slavery seven states seceded following his election and formed the Confederacy, and without the Confederacy there wouldn’t have been a battle to fight from the beginning. South Carolina began the cycle by seceding first and even though Lincoln wasn’t the main reason for the Civil War his election definitely sent the South over the edge. During the election a combined 60 percent of the voters voted for someone other than Lincoln and a majority of that population belonged to the South mainly due to Lincoln’s beliefs on slavery. The simple answer to the question is that the establishment of the confederacy was the reason for the Civil War because without the Union having an enemy to fight there wouldn’t have been any battles. As Lincoln was elected the South lost hope and states began to secede then creating the Confederacy.
1. I believe that the event that impacted the start of the Civil War more than any other event was the Kansas-Nebraska Act proposed by Stephen A. Douglas (Lincoln’s opponent) in 1854. Before this, the Missouri Compromise in 1820 had made the number of free states and slaves states equal. Nebraska was above the line (36˚30’) where slavery had been outlawed, so the compromise was overturned. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to make their own decision on whether slavery would be allowed within their new state’s borders by popular sovereignty. This angered the North and the Whig party was split. Northern Whigs opposed the bill and Southern Whigs voted for it. Violations of the Fugitive Slave Law had increased. Conflicts started between anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers, “Bleeding Kansas”. Each side was ready to fight for what they wanted and this led to many other events that started the Civil War.
2. I think that the event in the last 16 months (1860-1861) that had the greatest impact on starting the war was the Southern secession after Lincoln’s win in the election of 1860. Lincoln was not included on many southern ballots because of his anti-slavery views as a republican. So, once he won South Carolina seceded from the Union and six other states followed. This had the greatest impact because the South felt so strongly about their views that they left the Union and decided to strike back. An example is the Battle of Fort Sumter which set the Civil War in motion. This event did make the war inevitable because at this point everyone had started fighting for what they wanted and there was no stopping either side or trying to bring the Union together. The tension was already there and neither side was going to make a compromise.
1. I think that the attack of Fort Sumter impacted the start of the Civil war the greatest. I feel this because it was the event that finally catapulted the country into a warzone. Things had been tense between the North and South, especially after Lincoln’s election. When Abraham Lincoln was elected seven states from the Deep South immediately seceded from the Union. These states included South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The Southerners, as a result, overran the military bases in the South and made those who did not want to be a part of the Confederacy leave. Fort Sumter was the last of these bases to be taken over. The fight lasted for a couple days and eventually Fort Sumter surrendered. There were no casualties in this battle and the soldiers who fought for Sumter were sent to the North unharmed. This event started the Civil War because fighting had finally broken out between Confederates and the Union.
2. The greatest event in the last 16 months that had the greatest impact on starting the war was the election of Abraham Lincoln. This is because it sent the Deep South into an uproar and the first seven states previously mention seceded. When the states seceded from the Union, this showed that their desire to completely leave the Union was now becoming a reality. At this point in time, Lincoln’s intent was to keep the Union together. Because of the seceding this became nearly impossible for Lincoln to do peacefully. I think that this made the Civil War inevitable because the events that followed it warranted the war. First the secession, then the attacks on the military bases in the South. Lincoln couldn’t stand and watch his beloved country fall to pieces after all the effort that had been put into creating it.
I think the one event that impacted the start of the Civil War from 1846-1861 more than any of the six trigger events did was the publishing of the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin in1852. This book divided the north and the south even more than it already had because if the secrets it brought to attention. The conflict of thoughts created by the book began an intense argument between the north and the south. In the north, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a fiction novel that depicted true events, exposing slavery to its true form. Southerners, on the opposite end, resented the book and labeled it as false information. Because there was no compromise in the question for solving the drastic differences in opinions, the divides between the two sides became deeper. Ideas became more separate and it became more obvious which states and people favored slavery or anti-slavery. To me, this specific act was more drastic than the others because it had the most lasting impact; the book was able to live on forever after the war, especially during the wartime period. It could constantly be used to stimulate stronger feelings because it was very obtainable for most of the population. If we narrow the time span to only a year before the war (1860-1861), the actions that made the war inevitable in my mind was the secession of southern states. When each of the states that the union officially decided to leave, there was no turning back. This fully separated the northern and southern states, completely breaking apart America into the Union and the Confederacy. This, in my opinion, had the greatest impact in making the war inevitable because all decisions were final, like the act if war. Once a war is started, the war has to be fought; the same replies to the separation of America, meaning that once an state separated from the Union, a war had t be fought to unite or separate the states for good.
I think there was one thing in this time period of 1846-1861 that impacted the start of the war more than any other event or thing, and that was the entirety of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, including John Brown’s raid afterwards. This event probably had the most impact because it showed that 36’30 line would not be held, therefore breaking the Missouri Compromise and the laws it enacted. It was a blatant act against the North by the South, which signaled to the North that the South would not stop spreading slavery, even if it were against the law. Afterwards, as well, Southerners illegally crossed into Kentucky and voted as border ruffians, and ended up illegitimately creating a slave territory that would have been free, had the voting not been tampered with. That fact that this illegitimate voting result was accepted only added insult to injury for the whole situation. Later on, after John Brown retaliated after the Lawrence destruction, the sectionalism between the North and the South was only cemented and put into effect, showing to both sides—by both sides—that they were more than willing to fight and retaliate for what they believed in.
The most important event in the last 16 months before the war that had the greatest impact on starting the Civil War was the 1860 election in which Lincoln was elected president. This was a pivotal moment that pushed the South into seceding. Of course, the election of Lincoln alone probably wouldn’t have had the same effect, but the fact that it occurred after a chain of events that showed increasing tension over the issue of slavery only pushed the South further away from keeping the Union. They viewed the past 16 months as something that could potentially spiral out of control for them, but once Lincoln was elected, the South knew that slavery as they knew it was about to take a turn in the direction of extinction. This election did make the Civil War inevitable, but then again I feel that the Civil War would have occurred eventually. Lincoln’s election only brought it forward in time.
If there was one specific thing that had the greatest impact on starting the civil war it was John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in October of 1859. John Brown, a violent abolitionist and 12 others tried to raid the governmental arsenal of Harpers Ferry and free hundreds of slaves in the process. As expected, Brown and his men stood no chance of victory against the American military. However, Brown had a chance to flee into the hills of Virginia but he refused, as he believed this raid was his destiny and fate. On October 18th, the American Government captured Brown and decided to execute him. John Brown’s execution was just as important as his raid as he himself wrote on a piece of paper right before the execution “I , John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood.” This statement finally got the message across to Americans that the issue of slavery could no longer be negotiated with words but instead must be resolved through war. These events were a monumental step in showing people that war was the only way to settle the debate of slavery this also helped pit the south and north against each other. The South saw John Brown and his sons as violent maniacs while the North saw them as bringers of justice.
2. The event in the last 16 months before the Civil War that had the greatest impact in starting the war would have to be the secession of South Carolina from the union. On February 8th 1861, following the election of Lincoln to the Presidency, South Carolina had finally had enough with the Union and officially separated from them. This point was instrumental in the start of the civil war, as to South Carolina; the Union became an official enemy. Only six days after the secession, South Carolinian troops attacked Fort Summer leading to more southern states to secede and join the Confederacy leading to the civil war itself. This event was important as it inspired other States to secede from the union, giving enough power to the Confederacy to declare war on the Union.