An Account for the Outbreak of the American Civil War

Abraham Lincoln debated with Douglas “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. (Davenport, 2003, 140). Lincoln did not want the Union to split. He warned the Southern states that once they had joined the Union they were not permitted to leave. The pleas fell on deaf ears and Abraham Lincoln reluctantly led the Northern states the Union against the Confederacy in Civil War.

To conclude one can argue that the slavery issue was the most decisive issue that split the Union in two. Henry Clay an excellent compromiser was called upon again and again to solve the matter of slavery. One of the major problems was that the problem was not being addressed directly. President after President was trying to solve the issue, until the north lost control of the south finally to end the issue of slavery once and for all in bloodshed. Many commentators are having known to admit that Jefferson did not foresee the problem of the slavery issue.

President Jackson was adamant on removing Native Indians from American Soil. Therefore, the problem was not addressed yet again. As America was enlarging most Americans were concentrating on moving west, making money and living the American Dream. Eventually, America would grow and grow. Unfortunately the problem of slavery was rife again. Many historians now argue that Abraham Lincoln had no choice but to go to war as the fragility of the Union had been tested and had resulted in seven states going their own way.

The Ethno Cultural Thesis School argued that social factors such as race, gender ethnicity, and culture should be looked into. It also argues that the Republican Party was initially a coalition of free soil and nativist forces. Its rise to popularity was spear headed by the anti-immigrant views, in particular due to the Catholic immigration into America in the 1840s as it did to anti slavery feelings in the North. This saw the promotion of the exclusion of everyone but white Protestants from America. In its view, free ideology only became more significant than nativism within Republican politics in the 1850s because of what were regarded as the excesses of the Southern “slaveocracy’ or “slave power” in pursuing expansion.

Finally there are no right or wrong schools and ones own judgement is open to interpretation. Howard Zinn also argues that “neglected groups in American society …had always been missing from orthodox histories.” (Zinn, 2003, 686). Also one may argue that if the slaves had escaped to the North they may have been suspect to harsher conditions. Also there were many slaves that were happy as the plantation owners were benevolent masters that cared for their slaves.

To conclude one can argue that there are more schools of thought emerging as new generations of historians probe American history. Also like mentioned above one can argue that one of the major problem was that there was a huge number of blundering generation of politicians who never really directly addressed the problems of slavery. Ultimately these led to huge tensions between the Union and ultimately civil war. Also there are arguments that civil war was the only option left as the ideologies of both North and South had accumulated to huge tension and war was the only viable way for the Union to sort out their differences. For America to be strong all states would need to be united. The problem had exceeded all expectations and it was left to Abraham Lincoln to quash the question of slavery for once and for all.