Political Controversy: Slavery Was The Primary Cause Of The American Civil War

Political controversy, regarding slavery, was the primary cause of the American Civil War. North America, in the build-up to the Civil War, was riddled with contrasting opinions of slavery. The American populous was divided on the issue. Large southern portions of the Union saw slavery as a vital factor in sustaining their agricultural economy, while other northern union states believed slavery breeched the very Constitution that the young country stood on. Eventually, political upheaval would expose the explicit schism within the Union, and cause the bloodiest war America had ever experienced. The focus of this essay will: describe the economic situations of the North and the South, before the Civil War, as well as, each side’s view toward

If slavery was the fuel of the American Civil war, then political affairs was the match that lit it. Congress decided that a transcontinental railroad was an absolute necessity for the growth of America. The task would require westward expansion, which pleased most Americans, as this followed the idea of Manifest Destiny—the concept that Americans were divinely obligated to expand the Union. Generally, the issue of slavery, regardless of social pressures of abolitionists and economical threats, was left untouched, and Gag rules were implemented in Congress to keep it that way. Westward expansion and the Manifest Destiny provided reasons for the argument to rise, and Congress provided the platform. When Missouri elected to join the Union, it threatened to tip the even scale of slave states and free states. An argument ensued as to what form of state Missouri would become. Henry Clay resolved the issue with the Missouri Compromise. The compromise stated that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, and the northern district of Massachusetts would enter the Union, as a free state to balance the admission of Missouri. Additionally, to prevent a similar situation from occurring, the Missouri Compromise drew a line from the southwest corner of Missouri to the nation’s westward boarder. Territories north of the line would enter into the Union as free states and territories south, would enter the Union as slave states. Granted, the government had solved the short term crisis, but they had exposed the growing division within the Union, by literally drawing a line between the North and the South. Political divides would again bring the issue of slavery to the forefront, and weaken Congress’s ability to ignore the topic, with the Wilmot Proviso—a law, proposed by Whig congressmen David Wilmot, which stated that any land won from Mexico would ban slavery.