Civil War Dbq

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 as the first Republican president, and pledged keep slavery from expanding in the territories (Text, 402). After Lincoln was elected, South Carolina succeeded from the Union and soon other slave states in the deep South joined. The seceded states together formed a new nation called the Confederate States of America (Text, 404). The incoming Lincoln administration and most of the Northern people refused to recognize the legitimacy of secession. Many northerners believed that the south could not

The members of the Confederacy argued that Lincoln’s victory out the future of slavery at risk and therefore secession was necessary (Text, 415). When Lincoln was inaugurated, he hoped to avoid war and reach a compromise with the states that seceded. Nonetheless, the Civil War began on April 12, 1861 (Text, 416). Later in the war, Congress approved a militia act which allowed African Americans to serve in the war (Text, 422). In the North, there were different views of the war portrayed through letters from African Americans and whites. Frederick Spooner viewed the war as an easy win for the Union and believed that they should strike now. On the other hand, Frederick Douglass urged African Americans to enroll in the war in order to preserve their liberty and defend their “manhood” (Douglass, 2). Both Spooner and Douglass believed that the war was being fought

In his letter, Spooner states, “They have prospered dealing in human flesh, let them now take the results of it. They have had what they consider the blessings of slavery – let them now receive the curses of it” (Spooner, 443). This proves that Spooner believed that the South’s reliance on slavery was the cause of the war. He believed that the war was being fought for “noble and just principles” (Spooner, 442). Spooner was not an abolitionist like Douglass, but he still believed that slavery was wrong. In his enlistment article Douglass frequently states that the war is being fought over the issue of slavery. He states, “A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery, outrage and wrong; our manhood has been denied, our citizenship blotted out, our souls seared and burned, our spirits cowed and crushed, and the hopes of our future race involved in doubt and darkness. But now relations to the white races are changed” (Douglass, 1). This means that Douglass believes that war the war is finally being fought for the right cause and that now is their time to stand up and take action. Douglass saw the Civil War as the inevitable consequence of the man’s inhumanity towards