The War for Southern Independence - Essay Example

At What Point Was The Civil War Inevitable? Details: al Affiliation: At What Point Was The Civil War Inevitable? The Civil War; the War for Southern Independence; the War of Secession; the War of Rebellion; the war between the North and the South; even the named seems to be wavering in unanimity. Characterized as “irrepressible,” “criminally stupid,” and/or “unnecessary bloodletting,” the controversy that goes deep to the causes of the war tells as much (Kurtz, 1985, p.130).With deep roots in the prevailing political and economic environment of the time, more so on the arrogance of sectional extremists and blundering politicians, it follows therefore that the sticky tag given to the deadly combat between the North and the South, the Civil War, is grossly incorrect; for the fault lines were nowhere near class struggles but on failed, incompetent leadership that sought for answers from surface judgment. Perhaps other titles would give much better description of the war. This paper traces the origins of the war, culminating to the very last event that cemented the path to war. Right from the American Revolution to the adoption of the Constitution, no one ever doubts that Americans, whether in the South or the North, had a common interest of establishing a prosperous nation. Nonetheless, the means to achieving that very end proved contentious, with sectionalism creeping in to widen the rifts between a people that had known independence for barely a century. To be sure, the origins of the civil war had roots in the first miserable boat-load of African slaves into the American soil, for without slavery, the war wouldn’t have occurred. For a time, it appeared that slavery was on its way to extinction. However, the sticky slavery-based agriculture in the South proved to be a source of beef with the industrially advanced North in the 100 years or so of independence. So intense were the gridlocks that when the Tariff legislation was finally introduced in the Congress and passed to levels considered unacceptable to a majority of southerners in favor of the North produced goods with the aid of Northern politicians, the former’s furor rose to near conflict 30 years to its actual dates, with South Carolina going on record to defy the federal tariff legislation — sparking off the Nullification Crisis (Olson, 2006, p.160). Alongside with the congress sending purging signals to the institution of slavery, underground was a group of humanists agitating for the abolition of slavery; voices which only grew louder in the north as soon it became clear that the practice was but a moral mistake. But for some sort of gentleman’s agreement, bribery and threats inclusive, the voices remained even in the senate, with the admission of free and slave states into the union done concurrently. With the murderous slave revolts occurring everywhere from Haiti to Virginia, the decency that had hitherto prevailed for many years begun a downward trend growing even thinner, with provocative, scandalous name calling taking over (Rodriguez, 2007, p.161). The several introduction of the Wilmot Proviso (1846-1847) in the congress in attempts to ban slavery in the territories to be acquired in the Mexican War would more than step-up the simmering temperatures (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 517). Even though David Wilmot failed to achieve his target, the repeated attempts to pass the proviso into law was a but a cause célèbre and a strong pointer to the Southerners that the Northerners were out to destroy their source of economic strength, and so their political power. A sort of a compromise between political leaders in the congress, the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 polarized the already strained relationship even further, with abolitionists taking their fight to even greater heights, encouraging acts of civil disobedience that more than rendered the Act completely useless (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 301). The publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852 depicting slavery as a relentless nightmare of sorrow and cruelty, was yet another assault on slavery that went far to accomplish much more than the author’s had anticipated; it inflamed the determination to end the institution that the South was much attached to and not willing to let go (Dillon, 2004, p.227). “The little lady who started this Great War” in Abraham Lincolns words would later sum up the power unleashed by Harriet Stowe’s novel (Cheuse, 2007, p.209). From the confines of Congress buildings down to the American walking on the streets, Harriet Stowe succeeded in bringing to the public domain the untold injustices of slavery, prompting feuds, more insults, accompanied by outright blockades and even more asylum to the runway slaves from the south. The passage of Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 sponsored by Democrat Stephen A. Douglas would prove to be the turning point; for it not only rendered the Missouri Compromise that guaranteed some form of equality in the congress but spilt the political feuds into the streets (Rodriguez, 2007, p.356). Ready for admission into the union, Kansas soon became a battle ground with Northern abolitionists and the pro-slavery Southerners both sending anti-slave settlers and pro-slave settlers into the territory; abolitionist fanatic John Brown even attempted to arm a slave insurrection with a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (McNeese, 2003, p.30). In the congress, temperatures rose even further high with Charles Summer’s two day rant over Kansas violence, beginning on May19 1856; comments that earned him a beating from Preston Brooks, a fellow South Carolina Congressman (Rodriguez,2007, p.202). With Kansas erupting into bloody conflicts and South Carolina representative Preston Brooks viciously assaulting Massachusetts senator Charles Summer, the Dred Scott case ruling of 1857, that a slave was not a person and so had no citizenship rights that white men were bound to respect, took the tensions and hatred to another level high, further shaking the very foundation of the union (Ayers, et al., 2009, p.294). To the Northerners, the ruling only bolstered their resolve to fight the institution. As the crucial election of 1860 approached, the hitherto powerful Democrat Stephen A. Douglas with wide support from the southerners found himself battling in the waves of eloquent oratory skills of the North’s favorite Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln. Challenged to defend the concept of popular sovereignty under the Dred Scott decision [dubbed the Freeport Doctrine by most modern day historians], Douglas responded with a lukewarm, unconvincing support to the Dred Scott ruling, in effect, throwing the democratic party unity, his basic support, to be precise, into disarray (Dornbush, 2013, p.157). Sensing danger from the obvious victory in the offing, a group of “fire-eaters” began spreading propaganda linking Northern “abolition fanatics” with the intention of freeing slaves “by law” and/or “by force” if necessary, should Abraham Lincoln win the elections. Accordingly, South Carolina voted to secede four days after elections. Six weeks later, six other states — Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed in the footsteps of South Carolina (Dornbush, 2013, pp. 157-158), officially roping in the South’s interest to preserve their culture and way of life and the North’s determination, led by Lincoln, to preserve the union into a deadly conflict that forever shaped the course of the nation. References Ayers, Edward, Lewis Gould, David Oshinsky, and Jean Soderlund. (2009). American passages: A history of the United States. Boston: Wadsworth. Cheuse, Alan (2007). Seeing ourselves: Great stories of Americas past. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books. Dillon, E. M. (2004). The gender of freedom: Fictions of liberalism and the literary public sphere. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Dornbush, K. (2013). Kaplan AP U.S. history 2014. New York: Kaplan. Kurtz, Seymour (1985). Jewish America. New York: McGraw-Hill. McNeese, Tim (2003). America’s civil war. New York: St. Louis: Milliken. Olson, Ron. (2006). U. S. history, 1492-1865: From the discovery of America through the civil War. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press. Rodriguez, Junius P. (2007). Slavery in the United States: A social, political, and historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 2.Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO,Inc. Read More