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What Caused The Antebellum Age Of 1820 To 1860 Dbq

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In the years of 1820s through the 1860s, a growing sectional conflict centered around slavery signaled the coming of a war between the north and the south, which almost tore down the union. According to some revisionist historians, Civil War, one of the greatest tragedies in the American history, was absolutely avoidable and resulted merely from “fanaticism and misunderstanding,” along with the failure of the political leaders to compromise; however, this is not the case. Looking back into history, the war was arguably made inevitable by the the cause of slavery. A series of factors in the antebellum age led to the outbreak of Civil War; these factors included social differences, economic issues, as well as political tensions generated by …show more content…

Their effort was so evident in the Gag Rule of 1836, which ruled that any discussion about the abolition of slavery, or even slavery itself, be “without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon”[Doc. C]. The rule had avoided the unsolved problem; this attitude of the political leaders let the potential conflict intensify throughout the years. Although the crisis seemed to quiet down for a while, in 1854, the issue of slavery was brought again to the center stage by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Proposed by Stephen Douglas, the act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and embraced the idea of popular-sovereignty. By this action, the possibility of slavery extending into states north of the Missouri Compromise Line, especially Kansas, was once again opened. Not long after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in 1856, the violence in the senate again showed the tension when South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks beat Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner to death with his cane [Doc. E]. The violence in the governing class quickly stimulated both sides, further incited the extremists on both sides. The antebellum crisis reached a climax after the presidential election of 1860, which elected as president a man who was not even on the southern ballot—Abraham Lincoln [Doc. H]. The new president of the United States did not gain a single vote from the south, which of course made southerners furious; they were so depressed by the “president of the north” that the secession of the southern states was declared in the same year, led by South Carolina. By the time the secession became a fact, the political tensions between the north and the south were exerting even more pressure on the governing class of both sides, and apparently, the fragile nation is on the edge of an outbreak of

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The Civil War is one of the bloodiest wars in American history, but what started it? What did it lead to? In the book, “Two Miserable Presidents”, by Steve Sheinkin, the author explains events that led up to the civil war and how they were finally resolved through the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Throughout the book, we learn about the causes of the Civil War through anecdotes and we learn “everything your schoolbooks didn’t tell you about the Civil War.” He gives a humorous 13 step guide in ripping a country in two and names each section of the book a with a captivating yet true title.

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This premise is undeniably true. As support for his thesis, Holt looks at the final formation of the two party system, the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act to show how politicians used the issue of slavery to gain political

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In the years prior to the Civil War, northerners and southerners experienced violence and madness in their everyday lives. The Civil War resulted from social, political, moral, and religious differences between the north and the south. As the country continued to expand West, Congress consistently revisited the question of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 proposed by Senator Douglas set the stage for violent territorial disputes over slavery. In 1856, Preston Brooks’, a member of the House of Representative, viciously attacked Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts Senator, for his speech “The Crime Against Kansas,” in which he directly attacked Southern beliefs and actions as savage and inferior to Northern behavior.

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If it were to be ratified, it would legalize slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, even though the states were above the Missouri Compromise Line. Houston was intelligent to see that this would lead to war with the North, saying that the South would “go down ... in a sea of blood and smoking ruin.” (Doc C 1). The vote results were 71 to 3, ratifying the act and sparking more tensions which would later lead to war with the North. The Civil War.

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And the South thought that was a failed compromise. In Document 8: Lithograph by Harry T. Peters, shows two men in the front on the ground while one (Preston Brooks) is beating the man on the ground (Sumner) with his cane. This happened because Senator Charles Sumner delivered a long speech called “The Crime Against Kansas” which included him attacking pro-slavery men and insulting the South Carolina and one of its Senators. Two days after the speech, Brooks broke into the Senate chambers and beat Sumner with a cane. Brooks didn’t like the speech that Sumner gave because Brooks is a pro-slavery man who was offended by Sumner’s speech so he decided to take a stand and defend himself.

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During the nineteenth century, a number of historical events led up to the American Civil War. As mentioned in Ken Burns “Civil War” Part 1, some of those events included the death of Elijah P. Lovely (1837), the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher was published (1852), the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Representative Preston Brooks’ attack on Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the House (1856), the Dred Scott Decision (1857), John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry (1859), Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States (1860), and the attack on Fort Sumter (1861). These events contributed to what is known as one of the worst and most tragic events in American history. The American Civil War was a war between the North and the South. Both regions had differences in social, economic and political views on the future of the country, but the main cause of those differences was slavery.

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With all that in mind, the Compromise of 1850 eased the tensions between the North and the South, but only for a short while. Four years after the compromise, Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois, introduced a bill that dealt would allow residents in Kansas and Nebraska to decide on the state of slavery in their states. This new law would also nullify the Missouri Compromise Line that had been in effect for decades because Kansas and Nebraska were on different sides of it. The removal of the Missouri Compromise Line was a major issue for the Democratic Party. Democrats from the North preferred the idea of popular sovereignty, while those from the South preferred outright slavery.

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McClure mentions that we were most likely taught the civil war was caused by extremist in both North and South and that their fights became a war without reason (A. K. McClure – “The Lesson of Our Civil War”). One of my many questions was why this war happened and there had to be a compromise that could have stopped it. My understanding of this war that is was pushed because of anger and fighting. McClure informs the readers there is a side that was not taught about the Civil War and that is that most involved in the war never wanted it to come to a war. McClure goes on to say that this war was not because of slavery; however, it did have a great deal to do with it.

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