Paul Deferse
U.S. History
12/1/22
The two main causes of the Civil War
By the mid-nineteenth century, the United States had quickly expanded
westward. And as America grew, so did social division and the disunity between both
the North and South, which were exacerbated by divergent perspectives on Westward
Expansion. Not only were the disputes regarding westward expansion tedious, but the
escalating social debate was also becoming disturbingly common. And in 1860, the Civil
War broke out, ultimately as a result of Abolitionist pressures in westward expansion
causing the South to reevaluate their possibilities of retaining slavery due to a power
imbalance. Ultimately, this causes them to fearfully split from the union.
For many Americans in the nineteenth century, the spread of slavery into western
areas was very controversial. Since 1787, when the Constitution was drafted, the North
and South had grown further apart economically, ideologically, and socially. Particularly,
the North feared that the South would impose its servitude on the entire Union. When
the spread of slavery into western regions entered congressional deliberations, these
worries were realized. “And if Congress itself cannot due this...it could not authorize a
territorial government to exercise them.... the right of property in a slave is distinctly and
expressly affirmed in the Constitution.”1 In an effort to prevent a civil war, the federal
1
Document 7: Excerpt from Dred Scott v. Sanford, Supreme Court decision, 1857
government temporarily settled the issue through agreements. However, as the
compromises appeared to grow more unilateral, sectional divisions between the North
and South grew more obvious. In contrast to the South, which relied on slavery to
maintain its culture and cultivate cotton on plantations2, the North flourished during the
Industrial Revolution. James Henry Hammond gave a speech in 1858 where he would
say “No, you dare not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares to make war upon
it. Cotton is king….”3 This shows that the South needed cotton to flourish and with their
war on slavery the South would lose their biggest form of profit. Due to an inflow of
immigrants, the industrial hubs of the United States north became significant
metropolitan areas. With this ready and inexpensive labor force, the North had no need
for slavery. Although some northerners viewed slavery as morally repugnant, the
majority did not believe in complete racial equality. Non-slaveholding white settlers did
not wish to compete with slaveholders in the new areas, the danger of slavery's
expansion westward exacerbated racial divisions.
As early as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, politicians were compelled to
address the problem of slavery and its westward growth. Previously, the States had a
tenuous balance in the Senate, with equal representation from both slave and free
states. As Missouri prepared to enter the Union as a slave state, this fragile equilibrium
posed a threat of collapse. Henry Clay of Kentucky crafted the Missouri Compromise,
which brought Missouri into the Union as a Slave State and Maine, as a
counterbalance, into the Union as a Free State. The legislation made Missouri a slave
state and Maine a non-slave state at the same time. This was so that they wouldn’t
2
3
Document 9: Cotton Exports as Percentage of All U.S.Exports, 1800-1860.
Document 8: “Cotton is King,” a speech given by James Henry Hammond on March 4, 1858.
upset the balance between slave and free states in the United States.4 This
Compromise resolved the immediate issue of slavery in the Louisiana Purchase by
brushing the real issue of slavery under the rug to appease both northern and southern
officials. In the coming years, officials from both the northern and southern states will be
less willing to compromise.
Four years later, in 1854, new statehood controversies compelled Congress to
revisit the question of slavery. Both Kansas and Nebraska were huge territories that
petitioned to become states. However, southerners opposed their admission since the
Missouri Compromise required these two territories to enter the Union as Free states.
Congress enacted the Kansas-Nebraska Act to appease southern states who were
already threatening secession.5 This new act overturned the Missouri Compromise;
now, the citizens of Kansas and Nebraska would decide the fate of their respective
states by a vote. Tensions between the two sides erupted when Missourians slipped into
Kansas in order to vote for the territory to become a slave state.6 Pro-slavery
sympathizers and abolitionists went to war in Kansas, garnering it the moniker "bleeding
Kansas." Soon, the bloodshed in the west would extend to the east. The battle in
Kansas anticipated the major conflict that would occur six years later. Slavery and
westward expansion were not resolved by the concessions reached in the early
nineteenth century. They instead repressed the issue and served as temporary slaves.
As compromises appeared to favor the Slave States more frequently than the Free
4
Document 1: Compromise of 1850
5
Document 16: Dates of Secession and Percentages ofSlaveholders
Document 6: 1856 Kansas cartoon. “Forcing Slavery down the throat of a free soiler”
6
States, sectional animosities between the North and the South grew increasingly
pronounced. Eventually, discussions failed, and a brutal Civil War broke out.
The abolition of slavery and the expansion westward were the main reasons for
the Civil War. The South relying on Slavery to succeed scared them once they realized
that the North’s advances to abolish it would work. This caused an imbalance in power
where the North had more than the now that slavery would be abolished. T It caused a
split between the North and the South and also gave the South no rational choice but to
secede from the Union.
Works Cited
Document 7: Excerpt from Dred Scott v. Sanford, Supreme Court decision, 1857
Document 9: Cotton Exports as Percentage of All U.S.Exports, 1800-1860.
Document 8: “Cotton is King,” a speech given by James Henry Hammond on March 4,
1858.
Document 1: Compromise of 1850
Document 16: Dates of Secession and Percentages of Slaveholders
Document 6: 1856 Kansas cartoon. “Forcing Slavery down the throat of a free soiler”