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Dbq Civil War Essay

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Just more than a decade after the Mexican-American War the United States became embroiled in The Civil War. The Civil war began in 1861 and cost the United States over 600,000 soldiers. Tensions had been increasing rapidly between the North and the South due to numerous factors. Legislation such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Compromise of 1850 were meant to avert conflict and provide solutions their respective problems. These solutions only delayed the war and caused more debate. Although, social and economic issues such as, the social disparity between the regions, did contribute to the Civil War, the political issues of; shifts in power, slavery, and states’ rights were the main causes of the Civil War. With each new state the question of will it be free or slave was always debated. The addition of a free state will …show more content…

To maintain equal power in the House acts such as the Missouri Compromise were put in place to admit a free and slave state in pairs. Even with acts to maintain equal power when new territory was acquired both the North and South rushed to claim it. The issue became so apparent that popular sovereignty had to be used in large amounts of territory in order for the decision to be fair (Doc. J). Even with compromises and popular sovereignty the power in the government was split between the North and the South. The split in power meant the government was divided against itself; this compromised the integrity of the union and contributed to the Civil War (Doc. M). The issue of slavery was highly contested as people’s wealth depended on the practice. As anti-slavery sentiment grew in the North, conflicts over the issue became abundant. Most of the South had a 30% to 50% slave

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