US History

WHY WAS THE CIVIL WAR INEVITABLE

INTRODUCTION

Throughout American history , nothing has matched the controversy that characterized the American Civil War that lasted from 1861 to 1865 . The Civil war was the resultant showdown between the United States of America , then the Union and the Confederate States of America . The Confederate was made up of the governments of eleven southern states who disassociated themselves from the Union around 1860 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln following his successful contention of the United States Presidency . The Confederacy produced their own constitution , which was

similar to the United States Constitution . However , the Confederate constitution emphasized the importance of the protection of the institution of slavery and advocated for reinforced thought on the rights of individual states , which is poplar sovereignty . The Confederate elected Jefferson Davis as the president of the new government . The Union remained defiant to recognize the supremacy of the Confederation , as did European nations although the Europeans maintained commercial relations with the Confederate . It is widely believed that Lincoln and his administration objected the legality of the secession as they saw it as a potential threat to the concept of the majority rule They also saw the potential of acknowledging the secession in resulting in many highly segmented nations who would be doomed to squabble for resources . With the passage of time , the tension between the two warring factions increased , with the potentially explosive catalyst continuing to gather momentum

As has been the case with war since time immemorial , the Civil war was as a result of a complex myriad of issues . America was not any different because conflict is inevitable . However , there is a thin line between understanding the inevitability of conflict and averting conflict all together in the first place . America failed to handle its conflict when it arose and as a consequence , the bloodiest most dividing war arose America has prided itself in being a land of freedom and equality for all men , yet slavery was rampant on its soil . Slavery was integral to the Southern economy that was based on agriculture . This will highlight these issues and demonstrate that in deed , the civil war was inevitable

SLAVERY

This was the most pertinent contributing factor to the Civil war and debates such as the 1787 Constitutional Convention , the Compromise of 1820 , the anti slavery Gag rule and the Compromise of 1850 . Prominent men took the easier route concerning the issue of slavery and swept it under the carpet . By the time of the Illinois senatorial contest of 1858 , it emerged that slavery could no longer be left untouched

Slavery in America began in 1619 a group of 20 Africans were sold to some Virginia English settlers . These Africans were intended to be indentures servants , meaning that they would be free after a certain time frame . However , this earlier agreement soon deteriorated to slavery , with more Africans and their descendants being condemned to a life of slavery . The Colony of Massachusetts Bay became the first to legalize slavery...