Civil War: Rivalry Between The Northern And Southern States

Civil War The American Civil War is one of the most significant events that occurred in the United States of America. The Civil War, also appropriately known as the War between the States, was fought from 1861-1865. This war involved the rivalry between the states of the Northern and Southern territories. The War was declared when the Southern states declared their secession and formed the Confederacy, a new government, of the south. There has been many disputes over which societal events led up to this war and many scholars have tried to narrow down which might be the lead cause of the Civil War. The argument over slavery, the election of Abraham Lincoln, The Abolitionist Movement, and the Missouri Compromise are all leading factors that …show more content…
Comparably, the election of Abraham Lincoln fueled many citizens of the Southern States. The American Party, also known as the Know- Nothings, opposed slavery. The Republican Party viewed slavery as immoral and unethical which made the Southern states feel threatened with the new nomination of Abraham Lincoln for presidency. President Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery yet stated that he would not intervene with where it already existed. Slaves saw hope with the election of Abraham Lincoln and saw opportunities of being freed and starting new lives. He was ultimately against the proliferation of slavery and was a proud supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment which ended slavery throughout the United States; moreover, he additionally suggested the extension of the right for African Americans to vote amongst many other deserved rights (National Park). The United States began to see a change in society after the Emancipation Proclamation was established by President Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation was, “an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, to all segments of the Executive branch of the United States that proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion, applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time” (U.S National …show more content…
The Missouri Compromise was another important event that was passed in 1820s between anti-slavery and pro-slavery activists. Similar to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which established a Northwest territory and abolished slavery within those boundaries, the Missouri Compromise regulated slavery in the western territories. The Missouri Compromise was primarily an attempt to conserve the power in Congress between anti- slave pro-slave states. It was passed stating that Maine was a free state and Missouri was a slave state; furthermore, the law also forbid slavery in Louisiana territory. The Missouri Compromise, however, was short lived as it was pronounced unconstitutional after the Dred Scott Case. The Supreme Court believed that the Congress did not have the right to forbid slavery in those specific territories. The Dred Scott case was about an African American slave who wanted to have citizenship in the United States and whose case ended up in the Supreme Court. In 1857, he ended up being denied citizenship to the United States, “stating that no person with African American blood could become a U.S citizen” (Burgan, Michael). This signified a fundamental change in the mentalities of certain individuals. This amplified the belief that Americans should have jurisdiction over African Americans, especially now that they were not granted citizenship. (Burgan,