Civil War Dbq Essay

A single cause for the Civil War cannot be fixated on a single issue, rather it is vital to understand that multiple variations in the North and South’s politics, society, and economy all culminated to a point where war was deemed necessary. In addition, these variations existed long before the years leading up to the Civil War - the geographical constraints presented to the colonists created the different identities of the North and South. Years later, the conjunction of these differences and the attempt to unify contrasting regions lead to the Civil War. In essence, the differences in culture, race, and gender between the North and South ultimately created the Confederate States of America who waged war against the United States.
A society

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 established the legalities of determining whether a territory should be a slave or free state, but in the decade prior to the Civil War, multiple events like the Dred Scott Decision and the annexation of California essentially nullified the compromise. This issue highlighted the difference in the South’s perception of government, and what the government should be able to govern. More explicitly, the South believed it was a state’s right to declare their status as a slave state, but the North thought otherwise. Overall, the south believed it was a violation of their rights for the government to intervene in their decision to expand or maintain slavery. Their argument held its validity as the 10th amendment of the Constitution states that, “the powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution... are reserved to the States… or to the people”. Despite this, the federal government, which was centralized in the North, still attempted to intervene, and as expected, this angered the South. In fact, in South Carolina’s Declaration of Secession, it was mentioned that the Constitution ordered the Federal Government to recognize that each state was equal and that they should have “separate control over its own institutions.” This highlights the South’s stricter and literal view of the Constitution while the North had a looser interpretation. Their concerns were

In fact, women play a small role in the events leading to the Civil War and the result of the Civil War itself. There existed differences in a woman’s life when living in the North versus the South; such as, the opportunity to work in a factory. The South maintained its conservative culture which revolved around the dominance of the white man, and women had little role in society. Overall, opportunities presented itself in the North for women to integrate into society and be something besides being a staple to man. Regarding women in the civil war, their most substantial role consisted of being a spy; Harriet Tubman was the most famous Union spy. Although, female spies also existed in the Confederacy. Moreover, women had no say in any of the issues regarding the Civil War, and thus, they had no contribution to the war. Earlier in the century, women had an indirect role with the government through a concept referred to as Republican Motherhood, but in the mid-1800s, this concept was lost. In a broader sense, women throughout the whole United States was that they were largely disregarded; however, the South’s culture encouraged the mistreatment of women. Despite the constant oppression women faced in the North, they were still presented with ample opportunities to contribute to society. In conclusion, Southern leaders