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The Five Causes Of The American Civil War

992 Words4 Pages

John Mwangi
Mr. Deady
US History II
7 September 2014
5 Causes for the American Civil War The American Civil War, 4 years of bloodshed shed upon American soil. From the first shots fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox courthouse, it ended up becoming America's most deadliest war. It was a war between a country divided into half, each side fighting for their own cause. To the North, it was a war to free all men while in the South, it was a war to protect their way of life. However, there were many other causes that caused this life changing war to occur. From John Brown's raids, to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dredd Scott decision, Abraham Lincoln's election, and finally the failure …show more content…

Dredd Scott was a slave that wanted to become a U.S. citizen through the American legal system. His case ended up reaching the Supreme Court and it was denied. The court ruled that Scott was not a citizen, thus meaning he could not bring a suit to a federal court. In addition, they viewed him as a piece of property and explained how he did not have any rights. It was seen as an abomination before God to the abolitionists in the North because they believed that all men were created equal each with the same rights. In the South the ruling was seen as a great victory which defended their opinions. After the Dredd Scott case, the differing opinions between the North and South kept tensions between the two high and it seemed as if war was the only …show more content…

The politicians dealt with the issue of slavery with compromises such as the Compromise of 1820 and 1850. Then, when America received new land from Mexico, many of the new states wanted to become free states so Congress allowed them to practice popular sovereignty in which the people could decide whether they wanted to be free states or not. However these compromises did not solve the issue, instead they delayed it and this was further worsened by the gag rule in which Congress said they would speak nothing about slavery because they could never seem to agree about it. This led to civil conflict because the one side had more power than the other which started to ruin the relationship between the free and slave states. By avoiding the issue, the politicians unknowingly, delaying an inevitable

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