Slavery and Civil War

This disunion between the north and the south is what facilitated the war, and the reason behind it was the southern institution of slavery. The northern and southern states disagreed on slavery from two different viewpoints; morality and economics1. States from the north were against slavery because they saw it as an immoral act that showed backwardness while the south viewed slavery as an opportunity and relied on it for production. The tension that resulted from disagreement was the buildup for the outbreak of the catastrophic war which came to become the deadliest war in American history. Several approaches can be used to address how slavery played a key role in the American Civil War, and one of them is by taking a look at what contemporary observers had to say about the issue.

As a result, the issue of slavery became a contentious point which brought about a lot of tension between the northern and southern states. For instance, there was a bloody slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner3. The disunity between the north and the south intensified since they had different views about the issue. The whites from south felt that the slave revolts were being facilitated by the Northern abolitionists. At the same time, the Northern became alarmed by the Southern efforts to silence the abolitionists since they felt it was an attack on their freedom of speech. A fraction of the supporters of slavery broke into war with the other group of anti-slavery which turned the Kansas Territory into a bloody battleground.

The American constitution that had been written in 1787 had acknowledged the interest the people who benefited from slavery. Also, the constitution had provided a slave law that ensured that Congress could not act to end slavery until after 18077. This law disappointed many northerners while it was supported by the southern states. Northern states were angered that the southern states were misusing slaves to get greater representation in the national government. The southern states did not support him, and many left the union which increased the separation between the North and the South. Lincoln wanted to maintain the Union through peaceful means. However, his efforts were not received well by the south. The seven states that had seceded the union formed the Confederate States of America10, and they were joined by other states.

Lincoln decided to resupply the army at Fort Sumter in Charleston after it had been threatened by the Confederate forces to which the Confederate reacted by firing the first shot which marked the start of the bloodiest war in American soil11. The result was the secession of seven Deep Southern states from the Federal Union since they were concerned over the future of slavery. Since differences over slavery could not be solved by peaceful means, the Civil War broke out in 1961. Work cited Anderson, Kristen. "Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras by Kristen Epps. " Civil War History 64. Clarke. "Studying Underage Enlistment in the American Civil War. " The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 11.