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Did The Divergent Political Perspectives From The "North" and "South" Lead To The American Civil War?
Did The Divergent Political Perspectives From The "North" and "South" Lead To The American Civil War?
Abstract
Contents Page
Introduction
Body
5-14
Conclusion
15
16-19
Appendices
20-21
Hugh Brogan, The penguin history of the USA, (England: Penguin Group, 1999), page 315
The secession crisis, 1860-1861
http://dig.lib.niu.edu/civilwar/narrative1.html
3
The Plantation in the South
http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/civwar/plantation.html
4
Causes of the Civil War
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm
5
King Cotton in the Civil War
http://www.civilwarhome.com/kingcotton.htm
6
Political causes of the Civil War: why did the North and the South divided over States Rights,
http://us-civil-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/political_causes_of_the_civil_war 18/03/10 14:17
2
A third reason that evidences how the divergent political perspectives from the
north and south lead to the Civil War is their divergent position over slavery and the
legal methods to deal with it. While the North uses the law against slavery, the south did
it in favour of it.
The Dred Scott Case in 185718 is a case study to analyze the legal methods used.
Dred Scott was a slaver who had lived in a free state, and therefore had been a freedman
in the North. Before moving back to the slave state of Missouri, he had appealed to the
US Supreme Court in hopes of being granted his freedom19. In 1857, the Chief of
Justice Roger Taney said that [African Americans] had for more than a century before
been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the
white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no
rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and
lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold, and treated as an
ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever a profit could be made by it20.
This is primary evidence that shows how, although having a Constitution that stated all
men were created equal, how the South used justice in favour of slavery.
The abolitionists were furious with the decision taken. Abraham Lincoln reacted
with disgust to the ruling and was spurred into political action, publicly speaking out
against it21. It was used as another argument against the south. Once again, we can see
how divergent political perspectives had an important role in leading to the Civil War
since their incompatibility made them impossible to coexist22, therefore sooner or later
one had to impose and prevail over the other one, and this is what happened in the
American Civil War.
18
The second case study of the effects of the Westward expansion is the
Compromise of 1850, where the congressman Henry Clay created a five-point program
28
10
Hugh Brogan, The penguin history of the USA, (England: Penguin Group, 1999), page 302
Hugh Brogan, The penguin history of the USA, (England: Penguin Group, 1999), page 302
42
The History Place Abraham Lincoln: Kansas Nebraska Act
http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm
43
Our Documents Kansas-Nebraska
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=28
41
11
The fifth reason that shows that divergent political perspectives from the north
and south lead to the civil war is the citizens rights as each section had different
political supporters. While in 1783 the USA achieved independence as a united nation,
by 1860 the union was at breaking point44. From the very beginning things were totally
different in the north and the south of USA. It is easy to see that the different points of
views over the states rights were the main conflict they had, as it is directly linked to
the possession of slaves45. The south enabled slave owning, which meant that they
developed a fictional strong economy based on slave work, which was only profitable
for some families, while the north developed much more uniformly and included the
vast majority of the society.
The clearest evidence is the Lincoln-Douglas debate. The differences in northern
and southern economies and societies are also reflected in the differences that appear in
the political aspects. The union was not able to work and prosper with to powerful
contradictory views46. This is the case of the Democratic Party and the Republican
Party. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are evidence of the impossibility of the union to
work as a whole. Lincoln conveyed the previous idea in his speech entitled A House
Devided, where A house divided against itself cannot stand. I [Lincoln ] relieve this
government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.47.
After the Kansas Nebraska disaster, both north and south realised that any
further compromise was impossible, so they became more intransigent. In 1858
elections took place and the debates on slavery between Lincoln and Douglas were
incessant.
Douglas believed that the declaration of independence did not apply to black
men48; slavery should be able to spread if people in a state wanted to. And as criticise to
44
12
49
13
53
Hugh Brogan, The penguin history of the USA, (England: Penguin Group, 1999), page 309
Hugh Brogan, The penguin history of the USA, (England: Penguin Group, 1999), page 311
55
The secession of The Southern States:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/southernseccession.htm
56
The secession of The Southern States:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/southernseccession.htm
54
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