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Abraham Lincoln's A House Divided

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There are many factors that led up to the American Civil War. One of the main causes was the conflict that arose from the North and South’s opposing views of slavery. In Abraham Lincoln’s “A House Divided” speech he said, “In my opinion, [slavery] will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand’” (A House Divided 511). This quote was a prediction and antecedent to what would later be known in history as the American Civil War. The people of the North viewed the idea of slavery as morally wrong and stood for the abolition of slavery and the unity of America. They believed that the drafters of the American Constitution wrote the document after carefully considering any topic that could potentially tear …show more content…

This is all Republicans ask—all Republicans desire—in relation to slavery” (Address at Cooper Institute 551).
Not all who were against the South were against slavery. Some people only wanted the United States to be just that: united. Though Abraham Lincoln is known as a hero in the books, some believe that even he cared more for the preservation of the union than the emancipation of the slaves. In his Address at Cooper Institute, President Lincoln suggested that the Republicans consider (and possibly deliver) the requests of the pro-slavery side.
“It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate view of our duty, we possibly can” (Address at Cooper

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During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

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Abraham Lincoln would lead the Republican Party even though he did not win the south over in the election. He promised that he would save the Union no matter what the cost. This disconnect in policy would later lay the basis for the Civil War, which started in 1861. He never envisioned a proclamation or ending slavery but he was ultimately committed to saving the Union from the succeeding south. Lincoln gave into the antislavery Republicans toward the end of the war and finally decided to make slavery the true basis of the war.

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Lincoln talks about the union in Document G and said the following: “But you say that sooner than yield your legal right to the slave—especially at the bidding of those who are not themselves interested, you would see the Union dissolved.” If the South successfully separated from the North the Confederacy would no longer be under the control of the Union and Lincoln’s access to freeing the slaves would minimal. This “new nation” that Lincoln was trying to create and put into effect had a strong foundation based upon Constitutional rights which declare that all men are created equal. Yes, maybe Lincoln at this point wanted to keep the Union together, which can most definitely be perceived as racist too but slavery on the back burner for the time being, but in the end, he encouraged and defended the rights of all humans.

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In document 5 it says “Free Speech, Free Homes, Free Territory”. This is saying that everyone should be free therefore slavery should be abolished. This scared the south because with him as president they believed that he would try to abolish slavery now that he had the power to. Since the South didn’t want to lose slavery they left the union.

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In this election, Lincoln and Douglas had some series of debates over slavery. Although Lincoln never exactly stated that he wanted to abolish slavery, much of the South believed he was an Abolitionist. At his speech in 1858 in Springfield Illinois, Lincoln wanted the nation to be one thing or another, meaning all free or all slave, because it couldn’t keep going on how it was, else it would fall apart. In his speech, Lincoln said, “...but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other” (Doc G).

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Even with his clever plan Lincoln still faced some problems with Radical Republicans who felt that the South should be roughly disciplined and reconstructed. Eventually Lincoln and the Radical Republicans began to work together until they eventually agreed to the creation of a new amendment, the 13th amendment, which stated "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. " The 13 amendment was

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President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is

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The South’s ever-increasing anger toward the North and its abolitionist movement only increased with Lincoln’s election. In his address, he acknowledges the South, saying, “Apprehension seems to exist among the people of

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In fact he said that if he could save the Union without freeing any slaves he would do it. Lincoln did believe that all men (including black men) should have the right to improve their condition in society and to get paid for their labor. However, he did not believe that black men could

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Lincoln was on the side of the fence leaning towards lenient punishment against the defeated confederate side. He was under the impression that a more lenient punishment would lead to a quicker recovery of the Union as a whole, which was believed to be his main goal. There were radical members of the Republican party, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles

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It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by

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After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the

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There were many causes that led up to the Civil War. The Civil War was a war against the United States (in 1861) and the newly formed Confederate States of America. This war started for three main reasons one being slavery but besides that here are three more. First, there was a book released in 1852 called, Uncle Tom´s Cabin.

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1159 Words | 5 Pages

There were three main causes of the civil war including slavery, sectionalism and secession. Slavery was a huge part of it and it led to the Missouri Compromise where any states below the border would be slave states and the anything north of that was free states. (Mrs. Wise) "The south feared the declaration of freedom for the slaves by government leaders in the North." Next, sectionalism. Sectionalism-

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Another major factor that led to the Civil war was the social status and views at the time. The North and South had very different social views. In the North, while a good amount of the people owned slaves, many of them began to see it as wrong and inhumane. They also began to believe that they no longer needed slaves to do work for them and that the slaves should have freedom, as well as their own rights. But even with the North beginning to want to change things, slaves were still not treated like human beings most of the time.

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