The Civil War: Its Causes
Many believed that the cause of the civil war was only slavery. However, this is not true. There were many causes of the Civil War:
1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act: The Kansas-Nebraska Act was when it was voted on that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska fate of pro- or anti-slavery would be depended on by the voting of the people- popular sovereignty.
2. Uncle Tom's Cabin: This book, written to portray to the North the horrors of slavery down in the South, was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, whom Lincoln later accused of starting the war.
3. Compromise of 1850: This was a five part plan written out by Henry Clay:
I. California's Admittance: The addition of California as a free state unbalanced the equality between slavery allowing states and states whom didn't allow the practice.
II. Organization of Land from Mexican Session: The land would need to be organized in order to the nation. But since California's population was swelling rapidly, it was entered into the Union, tipping the balance of free states and slave states.
III. Texas Territory: The nation wanted to regain all of its lost territory it gave to Mexico that originally belonged to Mexico, but was then given to Texas, and then re-lost back to Mexico.
IV. Fugivtive Slave Act: This law was made to please the South; runaway slaves hidden in the North were to be returned back to their "rightful owners" if a white man from the South claimed that they were his, even though they might not have been.
V. The Banning of Slave Trade in Washington D.C, the Nation's Capital: This pleased the North. D.C. was located in Southern Territory, and therefore allowed slavery. But the banning of slave trade showed that slavery was sliding off of the face of America. It wouldn't be until years later that the war began against slavery and states' rights.
1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act: The Kansas-Nebraska Act was when it was voted on that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska fate of pro- or anti-slavery would be depended on by the voting of the people- popular sovereignty.
2. Uncle Tom's Cabin: This book, written to portray to the North the horrors of slavery down in the South, was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, whom Lincoln later accused of starting the war.
3. Compromise of 1850: This was a five part plan written out by Henry Clay:
I. California's Admittance: The addition of California as a free state unbalanced the equality between slavery allowing states and states whom didn't allow the practice.
II. Organization of Land from Mexican Session: The land would need to be organized in order to the nation. But since California's population was swelling rapidly, it was entered into the Union, tipping the balance of free states and slave states.
III. Texas Territory: The nation wanted to regain all of its lost territory it gave to Mexico that originally belonged to Mexico, but was then given to Texas, and then re-lost back to Mexico.
IV. Fugivtive Slave Act: This law was made to please the South; runaway slaves hidden in the North were to be returned back to their "rightful owners" if a white man from the South claimed that they were his, even though they might not have been.
V. The Banning of Slave Trade in Washington D.C, the Nation's Capital: This pleased the North. D.C. was located in Southern Territory, and therefore allowed slavery. But the banning of slave trade showed that slavery was sliding off of the face of America. It wouldn't be until years later that the war began against slavery and states' rights.