A Summary Of The Civil War Essay

, Research Paper

The 1800’s were a tumultuous time for the United States of America. At that time

the south was typically slave and the northerners were traditionally for freedom. The

slave states of the south and the abolitionist in the north were quarreling and the

government recognizing that made efforts to stop or delay the civil war. In 1819 Missouri

wanted to enter the Union a slave state. At this time the 22 states of the Union were

divided evenly 11 slave and 11 free. Northern states were afraid that if Missouri entered

as a slave state it would give the south a majority in the senate. Southerners argued that

since the north had a majority in the House of Representatives that it was only fair that

they had a majority in the senate. Then in December 1819 three northern counties of

Massachusetts broke away and asked to be admitted to enter the Union as a free

state(Maine). This made the Missouri Compromise possible. The Missouri compromise

said that Missouri would be a slave state and Maine would be admitted

as a free state, it also said that any state in the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri’s

southern border would be a free state. This action delayed a deadly confrontation

between the North and the South, at least for awhile.

Then in 1828 congress raised the tariff on imported goods. In the south they didn’t

have very much industry so they had to import most of their good, so the tariffs were

unpopular their. One state that protested this action by congress. Since the North had

more industry, the South felt that congress was protecting the North by raising these

tariffs. South Carolina was the strongest protester of these tariffs. South Carolina

supported John C. Calhoun who said that a state could nullify or veto a national law

within it’s own boundaries. In 1832 South Carolina’s state legislature declared the tariff

acts of 1828 and 1832 null or void. They went even further by saying that if the

government tried to make them pay the tariff they would break away from the union.

Then President Andrew Jackson, who had said that the union must be preserved,

stated that he strongly opposed this nullification. Jackson also let it be know that he

would send 50,000 troops into South Carolina. This action scared South Carolina, and

when they asked other states for help they got no promises of military aid. Finally seeing

that his state was in bad shape John C. Calhoun asked Henry Clay to help him come up

with compromise. They came up with a law that would lower tariff annually over a 10

year period until they were satisfactory.

After the Missouri Compromise and the nullification crisis were dealt with things

were relatively quiet for awhile. Then in 1850 California requested admission to the union

as a free state. California was the first state applying for state hood in the Mexican

Cession. Southerners feared if California was a free state the rest of the territory would be

too. Northerners felt they had to stop the spread of slavery to end it altogether.

Then came another attempt to resolve the conflicts between the North and the

South. In January of 1850 Senator Henry Clay proposed a plan. His plan was divided

into six parts. The first part was that California would be admitted to the Union as a non-

slave state. The second part was that Utah and New Mexico could decide if they wanted

to be slave states of free states when they applied for statehood. The third and Fourth

parts were tied into each other, the third part was that Land in dispute between New

Mexico and Texas would go to New Mexico and for giving up this land Texas would

receive 10 million dollars. The fifth part was that buying and selling of slaves but not

slavery wouldn’t be allowed in the District of Columbia. The sixth and final part was that

congress would enforce a law stating that runaway slaves must be returned to their

owners. The bill was passed section by section until it became law. This again delayed

the inevitable.

Slavery: Slavery was one of the issues that the northerners and the southerners

fought about. In the south the main way of life was agriculture, the main cash crop was

cotton. Cotton was a labor consuming crop, it would cost a man a fortune to pay people

to work for him. Slaves were the answer to this problem.

Slave owners didn’t see the slaves as people he saw him as property. Slaves were

treated bad. Even the owners who saw themselves as fair still treated their slaves as dogs.

They were regularly beaten, they worked from dawn till dark for free.

This unfair treatment was a reason why many slaves wanted to escape, or runaway

from their masters to free states where they would be free. One way they escaped was the

underground railroad. It was called the underground railroad because it was secret and

the slaves were hidden at secret “stations” along the way, the people who guided the

escaping slaves were called c

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