The American Civil War Essays (1577 words) -

The American Civil War The American Civil War The Civil War was a brutal war between the North and South of America over the issue of slavery, which was spurred on by the secession of the southern states from the Union of a America. At the time slavery was one of the main issues in America that caused a disagreement between the north and south and these disagreements about humanity and slaves added to the tension that would finally lead to the out break of war. Slavery was almost totally abolished in the northern states after 1787 when the Constitution was drafted at the Philadelphia Convention and slavery was looked upon as the peculiar institution of the southern states, by the north. The southern states looked upon slavery as a way of life and were in no way prepared to give up what they felt was there property and a very important part of their cotton and farming production. Another implication that caused great tension between the north and south over the issue of slavery was that even though their were anti-slavery supporters in the south; some of the abolitionists of the north would write notices and say that all southerners were evil and cruel slave owners, who would treat their slaves badly. This angered the southerners who felt that the northerners were just being hypocrites and didnt know what they were talking about, which turned pro anti-slavery southerners into stronger supporters of the south. It was thought by some anti-slavery groups in America that slavery would die out because America had in 1808 stopped the participation in the international slave trade, which meant no supplies of new slaves would be coming in. But this theory proved wrong because slavery in the south began to expand due to the great demand of raw cotton from cotton mills of the Industrial revolution from overseas places like Britain. Also the cotton-based expansion of slavery came due to the invention of the cotton gin, by Eli Whitney in 1793, which cleaned the cotton plant and refined it on a mass scale. The south started more tension over slavery when they decided they had to expand their territory westwards and gain more states because other wise they would be out voted in congress and slavery would be abolished completely, also they needed new land to replace all the over used farming land in the other southern states. The Abolitionists were another factor that came into the tension point of slavery. People such as William Lloyd Garrison who published the newspaper, The Liberator, which attacked southern slave owners. Making them and the slave traders out to be criminals. He and followers of his such as Wendell Phillips used these accusations against the southerners based on the fact that they said that slavery was a sin in the Christian religion and was in general, immoral. Another abolitionist that fought hard for the abolishment of slavery was Fredrick Douglass, an ex-slave who escaped from slavery and urged other black people to do so. Douglass became the station-master and conductor of the Underground Railroad in Rochester, New York which helped fugitive slaves escape to the north since the southerners had congress pass the Fugitive Slaves Act in 1850. This act meant that all American citizens had to help recapture fugitive slaves and that all Negroes were assumed slaves unless they could prov e they were free. Douglass also established the abolitionist newspaper North Star, which he edited until 1860. Books such as Harriet Beecher Stowes novel, Uncle Toms Cabin, which was published 1852 helped to strengthen the anti-slavery feeling in the North. Finally as one historian described the figure, that was the single most important factor on bringing on the war, was the most extreme abolitionist, John Brown. Brown believed that he was an agent of God and dedicated his life to the abolishment of slavery and believed the way to achieve it was by using force. He was a member of the radicals, who tried to abolish slavery by defying the law and not a member of the gradualists who tried to abolish slavery through legal means. Brown and his sons went to Kansas to fight against the pro-slavery terrorists there and finally his