How could the civil war have been prevented?

Question

GOOD reasons please.
allowed secession is not a good reason.

Answer 1

Sabley,

There seems to be a lacking of American history knowlege in this forum, so let me try to help you out. The Civil War was not started because of slavery, in fact, it was Abraham Lincoln who said that if he could end the war even without ending slavery, he would. It was rather a grave difference in opinion between northern and southern states on this, along with a host of other issues that led to war.

The war could have been prevented, in my opinion, by exhaustive diplomacy amongst all states involved.

Answer 2

If allowing secession is not a good reason, then proposing Constitutional amendments which stregthened 'state's rights' could have been an alternative.
Not allowing States to secede arguably goes against the words of the Declaration of Independence and general philosophy of Constitutional Republics.

Despite the results of the Civil War, overt rascism continued well into the 20th century, rascism is still an issue, and has been the basis for most gun control laws. But what has happened to the Federal Government and the sovereignty of States since then?

Answer 3

The annals of history do not show any war that started for reasons of morality alone;slavery was cerainly not a reason for war since many northern powerful interests were interlinked with slavery (see Lincoln's legilslation at the time;economics was the main difference since the south was
not only agrarian in nature but there was a lot of weight in cash crops(cotton) therefore easy wealth,and many northern interests wanted to lay hands on that wealth.Exhaustive diplomacy and better control of the backbenchers on either side could have brought about better results.
Disemination of realistic information could have made the south to understand that in an age of industrialization the south could not sustain a war where the north would be getting stronger and stronger;for roughly the same reasons the north should exercise diligence to aleviate southern grievances since in an industrial age few opportunities and choices were open to the south to survive in the mid-term as independent and soon the north would have a much heavier clout for exercising influence.

Answer 4

Allowing the states to seceed is the most obvious answer but we can also say that had the northern states also wanted to isolate themselves from those in the south so the civil war wasn't only about secession. A large amount of the northern wealth came from the sale of slaves to those in the south who would buy them. Masachusettes, for example, captured local indians and sold them into slaverery in the West Indies and Philadelphia, Rhode Island and even New York city all made money from the slave trade and Northerners were bringing in some 40,000 each year for the slave trade. The south on the other hand made their profit in cotton and other field crops so that the large part of the wealth of this country was in the south. The war could have been prevented had the north ceased buying slave for resale to the few southern planters who still owned slaves.- only one in 15 white southerners owned slaves and many treated their slaves more as a family member than a slave as seen by the fact that so many slaves adopted the religion of their owners. The war could have been prevented had the north respected the rights of the south to determine their own destiny, as guaranteed by our constitution. or had our national governments respected the rights of states to find their own destiny. It is interesting to note that if you do a search of states suceeding, you will find states even now looking at the possibility of leaving the union because of the desire of northern states trying to impose their will upon others.

Answer 5

Henry Calhoun of South Carolina was probably the strongest advocate for secession in the prewar Senate. There had long been a rub between the agrarian south and the industrial north. Previous to the War Between the States. or the War of Northern Agression(depending on your home state) 10 percent of the population of Connecticutt were slaves. Rhode Island boasted 15 percent. When John Brown and his abolitionist friends holed up in Harper's Ferry, it was Robert E Lee of the U.S. Army sent to get him out. Slavery was the excuse. States rights and an aversion to Federal law caused the first shot fired on Fort Sumter. The clash was inevitable.

Answer 6

The only way the War could have been prevented, due to the major differences in beliefs and lifestyles between the North and the South is the way you have stated is not a good reason.

Answer 7

By not allowing the biggest stain on this country's history. . . . slavery. Anyone who says that this could have been worked out peacefully doesn't have ancestors who would have suffered "only" for a generation or two longer. . . . what's the good of states rights, if 20% of the people are merely property?

Answer 8

OK, people, go back and READ REAL history !

The Civil War was not about slavery, NEVER was!

Thank you Bruermaster.

Abraham Lincoln did not care about slavery. He even enacted law that prevented blacks from being Judges and other "powers", and did not believe in inter-marriage.

yeah, shock!

Answer 9

The states could have humbled themselves and peacefully worked for the good of the Republic, no matter how long it took.

Answer 10

i think that the cival war could have been prevented if we didn't have slavery in the first place