How Did The Media Contribute To The Civil War

The American Civil War entered the country as a pivotal turning point in the nation’s history. The conflict had marked a brutal struggle between the Northern states, known as the Union, and the Southern states, known as the Confederacy. Social, economic, and political factors contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. The media also played a big role in the portrayal and how at the heart of this conflict, slavery served as the primary catalyst. The moral and ideological opposition to slavery lived in the Northern states and created tension between the North and South. With the rise of abolitionist movements, it sparked conversations with publications such as The Liberator, founded by William Garrison in 1831. Garrison’s stance against slavery

His statement created a foundation for further anti-slavery literature, such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet B. Stowe. These authors both took a stand and depicted the horrors that African Americans would endure as slaves. At this moment Garrison’s newspaper, which appealed to the moral compass and emotions of others, had gathered much attraction in the North, creating tensions between the North and South that would lead to the Civil War. The political landscape of this era was heavily involved in debates over the expansion of slavery into new states creating compromises such as The Missouri Compromise, The Compromise of 1850, and The Kansas-Nebraska Act, all being temporary solutions to balance slavery in non-slaveholding states and to not address the actual issues behind slavery. This would strengthen The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which would require the return of escaped slaves back to their owners. This act would further tensions between the North and South as it imposed the institution of slavery back to the North where they had it abolished. One of the significant events to come out of this act is the Dred Scott case of

This document highlights the way Southern leaders effectively seceded, with the reason being the threat posed by Northern abolitionists and their call to arms to effectively end slavery, it presents the Southern states as a necessary defense against Northern aggression and interference. Another event to critically analyze is the day in which Alexander H. Stephens, now the Vice President of the Confederate States of America, died. Delivered the infamous “Cornerstone Speech” on March 21, 1861. Stephens would go on to say that the foundations are laid and that the cornerstone rests, in which he says “upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition”. Inferring that African Americans are and will always be slaves. Stephens’s speech provides a clear justification for secession, based on the defense of slavery. His argument was that the Confederacy was made to uphold slavery. Stephens referred to slavery as “the great truth” and “cornerstone” of the