Southern Revolution Dbq

Southern Revolution
During the time that President Abraham Lincoln entered the office of President of the United States, the Southern States were leaving the Union and forming the Confederate States of America. Tensions had been rising for years now, but with the President Lincoln’s election, the tensions reached a fever pitch in the South. Rising slave populations made the white southerners fearful of a slave revolution, while the financial loss that emancipation without sufficient financial compensation added to the many pressures. Then with the supposed support of the previous president, James Buchanan, the southern states acted quickly. The South’s choice of leaving the Union was an offensive act rather than a defensive one.

In 1860 the

The North had been pressuring the South for years at this point, but it had not yet done anything significant enough for their actions to be considered offensive. The governments of the southern states had begun to assemble an army. In South Carolina “the state legislature prepared to arm a defense force of 10,000 men” (Dew, 25). The thought of secession was one not focused upon the defence of the confederate state, rather the focus was upon the revolutionary aspect of it. In the document, the “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union,” they compare their leaving the union to the thirteen colonies leaving the control of the British Crown. Each of the ‘Declarations of causes of Seceding States’ documents mirrored the Declaration of independence in their writing and structure. Clearly, they were written in this manner to help validate their revolution by associating themselves with one of our most revered documents. By their association though, their intentions make themselves

Clearly, the Northern abolitionist had been working to free the slaves that the white southerners owned. To protect their ability to control the rising population of slaves as well. The Republicans of the North wanted to destroy an institution that was integral to not only their economy, but their culture. It seemed to be a clear violation of the state’s right to govern itself. The worry of the federal government restricting the state rights pushed the South into a corner it would seem. Yet, this is not the case. The northern abolitionists were certainly trying to end slavery across the United States, but it was not a matter of the state’s right being violated, but the rights of the people trapped in slavery. With people many living in horrendous conditions under the rule of cruel and sadistic masters, with the rest of the people being deprived of their right as Americans and of humans to equality. The states had no right to keep a race of people oppressed and unrepresented. Additionally, the slave revolution was inevitable as the population would simply overpower the white population. Without something radical such as deportation or massacre, the call for freedom by the black population would be realized at some point in the future. So, while many supporters of the revolution desired for their cause to be seen as a defence of the right to slavery, it was really an attack on