Examples Of The Existential Threats That Led To The Civil War

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The North wanted to end slavery in all of America. The South focused on agriculture and needed their slaves to make a living. After a few events between the North and the South in the 1850s, the Union began to break apart. Some of the existential threats that led to the Civil War are Lincoln being elected as president, federal versus state rights, the South threatening to secede, and the increase of sectionalism. One of the existential threats seen by the South that led to the Civil War was Lincoln being elected as president. To start off, the Southerners thought Lincoln would end slavery completely. Our history textbook expresses that the “People in the South believed their economy and way of life would be destroyed without slave labor.” …show more content…

The South thought the states should have the power to decide if they should have slavery or not. Taney declared that, “The powers over person and property of which we speak are not only not granted to Congress but are in express terms denied and they are forbidden to exercise them… it could not authorize a territorial government to exercise them.” The South wanted a strong state government so not being able to choose if they wanted slavery or not meant anywhere could end up a free state and the Southerners couldn’t live without slavery. Some northerners believed slaves that have traveled to free states are free. In the Dred Scott Case, the Court ruling was that the government can’t “deprive a citizen of the United States of his liberty or property, without due process law.”(Taney) This caused an uproar since the North, who wanted to end slavery, felt the the government was favoring the …show more content…

One of the events that increased sectionalism was when the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted. The Fugitive Slave Act gives commissioners “authority to take and remove such fugitives from service or labor ... to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled.”(Section 4) The North was upset since the law favored the South and people that tried to help slaves in the future would be fined and jailed and commissioners were paid more to help slaveholders. Another event that increased the sectionalism was when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was initiated which allowed areas to use by popular sovereignty to decide if it is a free or slave territory and caused “Bleeding Kansas.”. “All across the North,” Northerners reacted by, “...attending protest meetings and sent anti-Nebraska petitions to Congress.”(U.S. History, pg 447) The government had only recognized the pro-slavery government which threatened the existence of the Northerner’s anti-slavery