Cause Of The Civil War

Secondly, they used the plight of the so-called “new immigrants”, and compared their living conditions to that of the slaves. The new immigrants were often forced to take jobs that paid mere pennies on the hour, die to the amount of competition they created amongst themselves. With such low wages, they were forced to live in substandard housing, and often times were forced to survive on meager portions, thus leading to hunger becoming an epidemic of it’s own right. In comparison, slaves were given plenty of food, and living conditions that, if not luxurious, were more than adequate to meet their needs.

While slavery was an issue in itself, it also added fuel to another fire of sorts: state’s rights. While slavery was the underlying cause of all the conflicts that lead up to the secession, and thus the civil war, states rights was the upfront factor that led to the civil war. Slavery had always been a sore spot in America. On one hand, the government was pushed by abolitionists to abolish slavery; on the other hand, the government knew that by abolishing slavery outright they would face a splitting of the union, which as something they were sworn to protect. One lawmaker in particular, Henry Clay, was instrumental in creating a compromise between both sides. He authored several key compromises that, while not solving the problem, were all temporary solutions. The most well known of these compromises, the Missouri Compromise, established three primary things:

1. Missouri was to be admitted as a slaveholding state
2. Maine was to be admitted as a free state
3. In the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of the latitude 36 30′, slavery was prohibited. (Newman 146)

This was to have the desired impact of preserving the union, whilst maintaining a delicate balance between the slaveholding south, and the free north, for the time being. However, as more states outside of the Louisiana Territory joined the union, the Missouri Compromise no longer was adequate to do the job of maintaining the delicate balance. This balance finally tipped when, in the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the election without capturing a single southern state. It was at this point that the southern states began to have proof that they no longer had any say in the running of America, and so they decided the only way to gain the right to have say in the running out their country, they choose to secede, and form their own country.

Slavery was the main underlying factor in every single conflict that led to the civil war. Slavery has always been an issue that is hotly contested, and has lead to too many conflicts then can be recalled in this one paper. However, it is possible for those of us driven by our morals to rest easy at night, for due to conflicts such as the American civil war, slavery has been abolished in all but the most remote corners of the world.