The Importance Of Abolitionism In The Civil War

The Civil War is a war that took place after the South seceded from the United States of America and formed the Confederate States of America. In this war, the North side of the nation fought the South side of the nation. The North fought to preserve the Union and did not think secession was legal. They feared the disunion of all states in the United States of America. The North went to war after the Confederacy bombed Fort Sumter. The Confederacy placed Robert E. Lee in charge of the Confederate forces. The United States general Ulysses S. Grant was in charge of Union Forces when the United States won the war. The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865 with about 625,000 casualties. The war ended when Ulysses S. Grant defeated Robert E. Lee at Appomattox

They wanted immediate emancipation of all slaves and believed in a higher law (Stewart, J. B., 1991 & History Net, 2010). They were in the North mostly being led by Lloyd Garrison (Stewart, J. B., 1991, Civil War Trust, n.d.c). Abolitionists helped with the underground railroad. Many abolitionist speakers such as Frederick Douglass became well known and anti-slavery literature was sold widely (Stewart, J. B., 1991). Some abolitionists induced violence, like John Brown (Kelly, M., 2017). They provoked many hostile responses. There were many mobs that occurred and even abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy died. Abolitionists’ actions consequently promoted a gag rule that banned anti-slavery petitions in the House of Representatives. Abolitionists made the South believe the North was against them due to the abolitionists’ actions and beliefs (Stewart, J. B., 1991). To the South, the abolitionists were stealing the Southerner’s private property. Abolitionists would take slaves away from them and would not get punished. They wanted to end slavery for good, which would result in the end of the Southern economy. It almost was a Northern attack. The North was trying to end the South based off the South’s point of view. The Northerners did not even care about the South. They only cared about what they wanted. This further drove the two sides apart as Southerners grew more and more angry at the

The Kansas Territory was opened up to be voted as free or slave state due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Anti-slavery and pro-slavery came to vote. The free city of Lawrence was looted by pro-slavery men (History.com, 1991). The anti-slavery people would not stand this. John Brown and a group of men responded and killed some pro-slavery men (Dunne, J., Regan, P. (Eds.), 2011). Real fighting and violence broke out between the North and the South. There were small armies traveling about and skirmishes being fought everywhere. Federal troops even had to come in to moderate the situation. The arrival of Federal troops showed the enormity of the situation. Bleeding Kansas was ruining the United States of America. The hatred between the two sides only escalated, but the bleeding of Bleeding Kansas took a downturn. Kansas eventually became a free state, but with many costs. There was still violence even after the decision (History.com., 1991). People did not want to yield to their opponents in any