Name: __________________________________________________
Date: ______________________________________
Argumentative Essay #1 – Fall 2013 Rappoccio
Topic: Slavery and Secession
Theme: Pre-War Politics and Secession
Background: In April 1861, less than a month after his inauguration, President Abraham Lincoln
attempted to send provisions to Fort Sumter in South Carolina, part of the newly formed Confederate States
of America. Southern troops under the command of General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on the fort,
forcing its surrender on April 14. The American Civil War had begun.
Numerous explanations have been offered for the cause of this “war between the states.” Many
contemporaries and some historians saw the conflict as the product of a conspiracy housed either in the
North or South, depending upon one’s regional perspective. For many in the northern states, the chief
culprits were the planters and their political allies who were willing to defend southern institutions at all
costs. South of the Mason-Dixon line, blame was laid at the feet of the fanatical abolitionists, like John
Brown and the free-soil architects of the Republican Party. Some viewed secession and war as the
consequence of a constitutional struggle between states-rights advocates and the defenders of the federal
government, whereas others focused upon the economic rivalries or the cultural differences between North
and South. Embedded in each of these interpretations, however, is the powerful influence of the institution
of slavery.
In the 85 years between the start of the American Revolution and the coming of the Civil War,
Americans made the necessary political compromises on the slavery issue in order not to split the nation
apart. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 forbade slavery from spreading into those designated territories
under its control, and the new Constitution written in the same year held out the possibility that the
Atlantic slave trade would be prohibited after 1808.
There was some hope in the early nineteenth century that slavery might die from natural causes.
The Revolutionary generation was well aware of the contradiction between the values of an egalitarian
society and the practices of a slaveholding aristocracy. Philosophically, slavery was viewed as a necessary
evil, not a positive good. The northern states were well on their way to abolishing slavery by 1800, and the
erosion of the tobacco lands in Virginia and Maryland contributed to the lessening importance of a slave
labor system.
Unfortunately, two factors- territorial expansion and the market economy – made slavery the key to
the South’s wealth in the 35 years before the Civil War. First, new slave states were created out of a
population expanding into lands ceded to the United States as a result of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Second, slaves were sold from the upper to the lower regions of the South
because the invention of the cotton gin made it possible to harvest large quantities of cotton, ship it to the
textile mills in New England and the British Isles, and turn it into cloth and finished clothing as part of the
new, specialized market economy.
The slavery issue came to the forefront in 1819 when some northern congressmen proposed that
slavery be banned from the states being carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. A heated debate ensued, but
the Missouri Compromise drew a line that preserved the balance between free and slave states and that
(with the exception of Missouri) prohibited slavery north of the 3630’ latitude.
The annexation of Texas in 1845 and the acquisition of New Mexico, Utah, and California, as a result
of the Mexican-American War, reopened the slavery question. Attempts at compromises in 1850 and 1854
only accelerated the conflict. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise,
allowed citizens in the new territories to decide whether they wanted slavery on the basis of the doctrine of
popular sovereignty. As the second party system of Whigs and Democrats fell apart, the Republican Party,
who held to confine slavery to existing slave states, mounted a successful challenge against the Democrats
and in 1860 elected Abraham Lincoln as president.
Inquiry Question: Was Slavery the Key Issue in the Sectional Conflict leading to the Civil War?
Part I
Directions: Review and read each of the following documents numbered 1 and 2. Annotate each document
to assist in the writing tasks in Parts II and III. Remember to read and look at the documents carefully so
that you can refer to specific facts and evidence in the text to support your answer. Pay attention to
whether each document is a primary or secondary source. Also notice how the documents compare and
contrast with each other.
Document 1
Source: Charles B. Dew, from Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the
Civil War (University of Virginia Press, 2001)
Slavery, States’ Rights and Secession Commissioners
1. What key claim does the author make?
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2. What evidence from the document supports this claim?
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Document 2
Source: Marc Egnal, from “Rethinking the Secession of the Lower South: The Clash of Two Groups,” Civil
War History 50 (September 2004): 261-90
1. What key claim does the author make?
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2. What evidence from the document supports this claim?
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Part II
Directions: Use the chart below to plan how you will compare and contrast different views on the topic in
the primary and secondary sources presented (in this handout and throughout the unit). You will be
assessed on the completion of the chart.
 Source Type and Publication Year: Identify whether the document is a primary or secondary
source, and the year in which the document was written.
 Claim: What claim is the author making in the document?
 Corroboration: Indicate which other documents affirm or refute the identified claim. (If
applicable)
Document
Apostles of Disunion:
Southern Secession
Commissioners and the
Causes of the Civil War
“Rethinking the Secession
of the Lower South: The
Clash of Two Groups”
Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott v Sanford
John Brown’s Last Speech
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln’s Letter to Mary
Speed
“A House Divided” Speech
Fragment on Slavery
Speech at Chicago
Lincoln’s Letter to Joshua
Speed
Source Type
and Publication
Year
Claim
Corroboration
Affirm
Refute
Part III
Inquiry Question: Was Slavery the Key Issue in the Sectional Conflict leading to the Civil War?
Directions: Using the information from the documents, you will now write an argument answering the
inquiry question with regards to the time period of early America. Please type your essay in 2-3 pages,
Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced.
Be sure to:

Introduce your topic, creating an argument in response to the inquiry question.

Develop your argument with textual evidence while attending to the strengths and limitations of
that evidence.
o
Accurately identify all primary and secondary sources using evidence, including the date
and source of the information.
o
Make connections between the documents by comparing information and noting
discrepancies in the documents.
o
Use evidence from the documents to support both claim(s) and counterclaim(s).

Provide an accurate summary of relevant historical information, including outside information on
the topic not found in the documents.

Provide a concluding statement supporting your arguments.

Maintain a formal style and objective tone in your writing.