To what extent do you agree with Abraham Lincoln that slavery was 'somehow the cause of the Civil War'

History Coursework

One eighth of the whole population was coloured slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localised in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that interest was somehow the cause of the war.’

Abraham Lincoln, March 1865 (inaugural address)

To what extent do you agree with Abraham Lincoln that slavery ‘was somehow the cause’ of the American Civil War?

America was a country divided when the American Civil War officially begun in 1861. After many arguments over compromises on slavery and the election of Republican, Abraham Lincoln the South felt driven to secede from the Union. There were many different views ove rthe casue of the Civil War, however most of them point towards one single cause, slavery . There had been many attempts to abolish slavery over the years. All these attempts to compromise on slavery failed and then when the Republican Party won the election in 1860 this was the short term trigger which caused the South to fear that abolition of slavery was imminent. Thus at the beginning the Civil War Slavery was the main reason why the South decided to leave as they wanted to keep their slaves. However there are other views which point towards other causes such as State Rights, Nationalism and a clash of interests. However the common issue which underlines nearly all these factors is slavery, making it therefore the most important cause.

State Rights is said to be one of the reasons other than slavery why the American Civil War began because the South seceded as they saw it as their right to leave. Jefferson Davis the confederate president said that ‘The Confederates fought for the defence of an inherent right… to withdraw from a Union which they had, as sovereign communities, voluntarily entered… The existence of African servitudes was in no wise the cause of the conflict but only an incident.’ This source certainly suggests that it was state rights and not slavery that was she cause of the Civil War. However we also must ask how reliable this is. As this was written by the Confederate president he was the person who must have known the main reason why the South had seceded. However it was written after the war so Davis could have changed the reason from slavery to state rights because he may not have wanted to admit that slavery wa sthe cause . One reason why it might not have been state rights was that a war about slavery was not necessary. In the 1940s revisionist view the historians argue that they would have eventually reached a compromise. If the North and South reached a compromise over slavery then there would have been no need for a war. The historians also mention that it was extremists on both side that caused the war such as fire eaters and rabble rousing abolitionists. These revisionists suggest that slavery would have ended within a generation or two which therefore suggests that a war over slavery was unnecessary. A war over slavery was also unnecessary because it was unlikely that Lincoln would have abolished slavery where it already existed. In fact, Lincoln privately thought that slavery would last one hundred more years and he didn’t plan to abolish it immediately. Lincoln would also not have been able to abolish slavery immediately because the Republicans did not have the majority of Congress in 1860. Moderate Southerners such as Sam Houston, the Governor of Texas thought that the best way for the South to keep their slaves was to not secede and to remain within the Union. He said that ’Our people are going to war to perpetuate slavery and the first gun fired in the Civil War will be the knell of slavery. This suggests that a war was more likely to end slavery than anything else. Overall state rights can be seen as the reason why the American Civil war broke out because of the progressive view of Jefferson Davis and the fact that a war over slavery was unnecessary.

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Nationalism may have been a cause highlighting the differences between the North and the South causing the Civil war. In 1861, Lincoln said in his Inauguration speech that This confirms that is in neither Lincoln’s nor the North’s interest to abolish slavery. Instead Lincoln and the North pledged that they would defend the Union . Most Northerners had fought so that they could save the Union whereas the Confederate states fought for the right to self determination which meant that they could be able to decide its own government. So in this way nationalism became a central issue to causing the Civil War. Most South even still saw themselves as loyal Americans and before 1860 the fire eaters who had been arguing for secession were the minority. They saw themselves in this way as most South still saw themselves as loyal Americans even though they had left the Union. However, as nationalism was probably more important to the North this meant that they saw Lincoln as their candidate as he represented their views. After the election the Confederacy was created, and many of the South felt driven to join . Emancipation of slaves was not one of the war aims until 1862 . In Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greely he wrote ‘If I could save the Union without freeing all the slaves I would do it’. Lincoln desperately wanted to save the Union Overall, in this way nationalism could be seen as a cause of the Civil War.

Even though some may say that State Rights and Nationalism were more important than Slavery, the South did not leave because of tariffs or faming subsidies but because of slavery thus causing the Civil War. Davis said in his memoirs that ‘The existence of African servitudes was in no wise the cause of the conflict, but only an incident’ Alexander Stephens said at the time that slavery was the ‘cornerstone’ of the Confederacy and that ‘the Confederate states chose to secede to try to preserve their ‘peculiar institution’ . the peculiar institution he was referring to was slavery. The main state right that the South were fighting for was the right to keep their slaves. The South believed that it was their right to be able to keep their slaves and so they created the Confederacy in order to do this. Western Expansion exacerbated the issue of slavery because how could they decide which new state should join the North or the South or . This issue caused a lot of problems and arguments between the North and the South and so they tried to reach many compromises like the 1850 Compromise and Missouri Compromise which failed The rise of militant abolitionism in the North coincided with Western Expansion, for example, the American Anti- Slavery Society began in 1833.

Even though some may say that the Civil war began because of the differences between the North and the South, the main difference was in fact slavery . Cotton became a great importance in the Southern economy when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. This was a revolution to Southern agriculture. Cotton farming was a very lucrative business and the Southern farmers earned a lot of money from it. However the production of cotton required slaves and so the South became committed to keeping theirs. 95% of Black Americans lived in the South. The South defending their slaves was about defending the traditional way of life and Southern values. They believes that their agrarian way was superior to the North and The importance of slavery to the South made them determined to keep their slaves. Slavery was definitely the main difference between the North and South because they had a lot of other things in common. Furthermore, as the main difference between the North and the South was slavery and some people think that it was differences which caused the Civil War, this must mean that slavery was behind the cause of the Civil War.

The Election of Lincol wa sone of the causes of the Civil War and and Lincoln wone because eof slavery . Slavery led to the rise of the Republicans as they were opposed to slavery. The Republican party pledged that they would end the expansion of slavery The Democrats became divided because of Slavery as they disagreed over the Lecompton Constitution. Stephen Douglas was the most popular of the Democrats however as he opposed the Lecompton constitution, which was by the pro slavery group this angered many of the Southern Democrats. This shows that slavery caused a divide within the Democrats and so it made them more unlikely to be able to defeat the Republicans .It was a Northern party which were defined by their views on slavery and the reason why the Northerners voted for them. The events of Bleeding Kansas between 1854-6 helped the Republican Party. Bleeding Kansas also worsened the issue as there was a pro- slavery posse which carried out the Lawrence raid and burned down buildings, however Northern journalists exaggerated the event greatly. The Lawrence raid was the catalyst for John Brown to commit other forms of violence, he and several of his sons murdered five pro- slavery settlers. These events helped the Republicans because it made them fear that there was a conspiracy and that Slave Power was at work. Also Lincoln’s views on slavery were well known even though he did not openly campaign. His views were heard because of his debates with Stephen Douglas in Illinois from August to October 1858. A large number people attended these debates and the speeches were reported in the newspapers therefore people would have heard his views on topics such as race, slavery and slavery expansionsNortherners would have heard his views on slavery and then voted for him. Therefore even though some may say that Lincoln did win not because of opposition to slavery, slavery did cause the campaign to be very divisive and his views on slavery were inevitable heard by everyone, influencing their vote thus the Republicans won, leading to the South leaving and the Civil War beginning

Slavery was the cause of the Civil War because even though the election of Abraham Lincoln was not an immediate threat towards slavery, Democrat and Southern propaganda suggested that it was. The propaganda exaggerated Licoln’s threat towards slavery in the same way as the Northern coverage of Bleeding Kansas exaggerated the events there as well. As Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President there would inevitably been fears that Lincoln would end slavery. No one knew what Lincoln was going to do and so there was a fear of the unknown. In the long term it was the Republican Party which could end slavery. There was an atmosphere of hysteria at the time worsening especially after Fort Sumter along with the fire eaters. The Confederacy has taken over most of the arsenals and forts that were in the South. There were exceptions however, Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter which were on islands. There were less than a hundred troops in Sumter led by Robet Anderson. A ship with supplies and reinforcements had been sent by Buchanan in January 186, however as it approached South Carolina batteries opened fire. This meant that the Ship and to retreat swiftly, Anderson did not return fire and so a war was avoided. Secessionists from other states feared that South Carolina’s actions could start a conflict and the South wasn’t ready and o they warned the state to clam down. Then a truce was agreed Soth Carolina would not try to seize the fort and Buchanan would sned no futhe raid to Sumter. For both sides Fort Sumter became a symbol of national sovereignty by March 1861Along with the fire eaters In the long term it was actually the rise of the Republican party which threatened slavery

The Progressive Interpretation suggest that it was not slavery, but a clash of interests between the agrarian South and the industrial North which caused the Civil War in 1860. Progressive historians from the 1920s and 1930s such as Charles Beard put forward the argument that important events that occur in history were always due to clashes between interest groups and classes. They believe that the war was not a conflict between slavery and freedom but between industrial capitalism and plantation agriculture. This means that it was the economy such as tariffs and trade which started the problem. This could be seen as the case as not many people did belong to anti- slavery societies. Slavery was not the only issue and it was certainly not the only issue why Lincoln won votes. Other people had other reasons such as interest in economic policies and they may have agreed with his position on nativism, these were more complex reasons that just slavery. Further evidence of this point is the fact that 60% voted for candidates who were not prepare to allow slavery to expand. Furthermore this shows that as there were clash of interests regarding the economy and people did not vote for Lincoln just because of the issue of slavery this shows that slavery was not the only issue that divided the North and South and thus could not be the only reason why the Civil war broke out.

Even though revisionists argue that the war was unnecessary as a compromise would have actually been reached there is a doubt to whether they have been able to reach a compromise after Lincoln’s election. The Crittenden compromise wanted to extend the line of the Missouri compromise to the Pacific which gave some hope to the South that slavery could expand. The proposals also recommended a constitutional amendment which guaranteed that silvery would not be interfered with where it already existed. Also Congress would neither be allowed to abolish slavery in Washington nor interfere with the inter- state slave trade. However the Republicans rejected the proposals as their strength in Congress had increased distinctively and the South delegates had withdrawn. David Potter said that ’Given the momentum of secession and the fundamental set of Republicanism, it is probably safe to say that compromise was impossible from the start.’ This observation suggests that it was going to be very unlikely that they would reach a compromise. There was also a Peace Convention which met together in Washington as an attempt to fid measures that would bring back the states that had seceded to the Union. 133 delegates attended on the other hand the confederate states however did not send any delegates. Three weeks of deliberation took places and it supported proposals like the ones that Crittenden had, however the Congress ignored them. So again this suggests that it was unlikely that they were going to reach a compromise after the election. The numerous attempts to compromise on slavery between 1860 and 1861 failed because it is impossible to reach a compromise with slavery. These includes the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the Wilmot Proviso 1846, the 1850 Compromise, the Kansas Nebraska Act and Popular Sovereignty. All these previous attempts had failed because how far can you compromise on slavery? Therefore, even though some would say that a war was unnecessary as a compromise could have been reached, this was unlikely as they needed to compromise on slavery which was a very difficult thing to do.

Overall, even though more modern views such as those of the Progressionism and the Revisionists suggests that other factors were the cause of the Civil War apart from slavery, slavery is at the root of many other causes. The South were fighting for the right to have slaves and nationalism as they were fighting for self determination. There was the issue of a clash of interests between the Industrial North and the agrarian South, however it is not very likely that the South would simply leave because of tariffs. Slavery became a very divisive issue in the 1860 election. It was the reason behind the Democrats splitting and the reason why the Republican Party won. Many in the North wanted to vote for the Republicans because of their position on slavery which led to Lincoln winning the elections. However his win was also the short term reason for the South seceding from the Union which was worsened by the atmosphere of hysteria after Fort Sumter. The South deseparately wanted to keep their slaves and feared that once Lincoln was president he would abolish slavery. Even though their actions could have been seen as irrational at the time they wanted to fight for one thing and one thing only, the right to have slaves.

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The American Civil War and its origins 1848-65 Hodder Murray 2006

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The American Civil War and its origins 1848-65 Hodder Murray 2006