Cause Of Disunion In American History

Our American History: The Causes of Disunion, and Was it an Inevitability?

History 1311
Professor
Coach
The University of Texas at Arlington

Our American History: The Causes of Disunion, and Was it an Inevitability?

I. The multiple causes of disunion in the 1850’s stemmed from decades of differing views between Americans in the North and South. From the time of the American Revolution through the Secession of the seven states which made up the Confederate States of America, each part of the country held differing views on government, economics, territorial expansion, and slavery. One other factor was a tipping point: the Presidential election of a lawyer from Illinois. It was
After the American Revolution, our first true government was under the Articles of Confederation, created at the Constitutional Convention set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. An extremely weak federal government was formed with the thirteen former colonies (now states). When problems began to surface, the leaders at that time came together during the Constitutional Convention and secretly created the Constitution of the United States. However, proponents for states’ rights such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were not present at this meeting. Many felt that the new constitution took away the states’ rights to act independently. This resulted in the concept of nullification, where the states would have the right to determine that particular federal acts were unconstitutional. The federal government denied the states this right, and when it was felt they were being taken for granted, there began the movement toward
This invention reduced the time necessary to separate the seeds from the cotton and was one major reason cotton became so profitable. Simultaneously, southern plantations were motivated to move toward cotton crops only, related to the profitability of the fiber. This in turn, led to an increased demand for cheap, plentiful labor. At this point, the economy of the south became dependent on slaves and cotton. During this same time period, the North was more industrialized than their southern agrarian neighbors. The textile industry in the north produced finished items with the raw cotton they had purchased. At this point, the two cultures were seen as very different, and it put into motion a disparity in economic attitudes: the plantation “system” with slaves and slave owners vs. the more elite city life.
Expansion and Slavery Both the North and South had tried to resolve the issue of slavery on numerous occasions, but were unable to agree completely. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had established the 36˚ 30 ' parallel as the border between the slave states and the free states. Eventually, this compromise became too restrictive for the