Civil War DBQ Essay

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In February of 1861, seven states from the deep south, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, decided to secede from the union. The succession was due to the growing fear that the institution of slavery would be stripped from them. Prior to the succession, from the 1790s to then, there had been constant conflict instigating that the north and south were progressing in two very different directions, and by the time of the Civil War there a significant wedge had been driven between the northern and southern states. There were four significant and critical incidents that wedged a gap between the north and south and led to the coming of the American Civil War, the invention of the cotton gin, Nat Turner’s …show more content…

Nat Turner planned an uprising where he successfully executed 50 white slaveholders with the help of roughly 50 other slaves. Turner received many benefits and privileges from his slaveholder due to his literacy, but was still extremely dissatisfied with, and wanted to overthrow, the institution of slavery. This revolt raised concerns for the south. It was not unusual for slaves to act out but for one to act out that was treated “fair” was unusual. It was critical to the coming of the Civil War because it was the beginning of revolts that really began to divide the north and south even …show more content…

So, in 1820, Henry Clay instigated the Missouri Compromise, the third critical event that led to the coming of the American Civil War. Missouri would be added as a slave state, but with that, a piece of Massachusetts, Maine, would be broken off and enter the union as a free state to ensure the balance. With this, a line was also drawn along the southern border of Missouri at the 36°30′ parallel and went across the remainder of the United States to the Pacific Ocean. This line divided the north and south literally as to where slavery was allowed and where it was not. This created greater diversity from the two sides and wedged the gap that was beginning to grow far wider. This also was a critical event to the coming of the Civil War as it separated the north and south even greater by physically dividing them into two

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