The Road to the Civil War
The sectional crisis began in the early 1850s. Lincoln’s House Divided speech (Document A) and Mississippi’s declaration of secession letter (Document B) are a cause and effect sequence of the antislavery movement. The wide range of opinions on slavery was a large problem in the states. Sectional controversy grew as opinionated abolitionist pushed their way through.
Abraham Lincoln had a strong hearted desire to end slavery, although, prior to the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 Lincoln was laid back and spoke to the public very balanced. The Kansas-Nebraska Act contradicted the Missouri Compromise’s ban on slavery. It stated that slavery would be voted on individually by each territory. The passing of this act fired
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In their succession letter, Mississippi wrote their reasons for being so irritated with Lincoln and the antislavery movement itself. Mississippi said, “It refuses the admission of new slave States into the Union, and seeks to extinguish it by confining it within its present limits, denying the power of expansion.” They felt like Lincoln not allowing the expansion of slavery would also not allow them to expand their agriculture culture. With the idea that agriculture was the common way of life, the South had trouble understanding any other way of living. They, also, thought that the movement “advocates negro equality..”. Lincoln spoke on negro equality in many of his debates and speeches. He said that he was not supporting the blacks politically. Although, Lincoln understood “All men are created equal”, he did not believe that blacks and whites political rights would ever be equal. In a debate with Stephen Douglas in 1858, Douglas also accused Lincoln of supporting “negro equality”. Lincoln laid his views on the line when he responded back with the idea that he did not believe blacks should have certain rights, but they do have the right to “enjoy their fruits of labor” (Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation). He was pulling for blacks in some ways, but most definitely not advocating negro