American Civil War . Is slavery , the real reason of the American Civil War ?

Answer 1

Yes - and yes. SLAVERY WAS THE PRIMARY ISSUE THAT LED TO THE CIVIL WAR. "State's rights" in the South were only important insofar as it involved the right to own slaves. Revisionist historians like to use "state's rights" as a way to defend the actions of secessionists, but outside of slavery secessionists cared very little about state's rights. If you go to the books, the newspapers, the magazines, and the speeches OF THE TIME, like I have for the last 30 years, and ignore all the dirivitive crap written 100-150 years after the war, you'll find that slavery was THE issue, in the North and in the South. What right did the South fight to protect? Slavery. What were the leaders of the North trying to stop slavery. The rest were minor differences. Go to the sources, and you'll see.

No slavery - no war, period.

You have to first understand that it wasn't a series of misunderstandings that got out of hand. The secession of the Confederate states was a plan that was many years in the making. The secessionist leaders began their plans in the early 1850's, and while they certainly hopes they could pull it off without war, they prepared for that every step of the way.

You had two very opposite groups involved in this conflict. The slave states were run largely by a group of secessionists, although they weren't publicly admitting that in the 1850's. They desperately wanted to maintian their hold on the power they currently enjoyed at that time - they had enough votes in congress to demand compromise after compromise and to control most legislation. They used that power to repeal the Missouri Compromise and allow the reintroduction of slavery into areas it had previously been prohibited. They are occasionally portrayed as the downtrodden oppressed, under the thumb of the terrible North, but nothing could be further from the truth. They wer strong, and they wanted to keep that power, lest their ability to promote and maintain slavery be taken from them

Meanwhile the North was largely anti-slavery, that sentiment was growing almost daily, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was taken as a betrayal by most people of the North. While those who favored immediate abolition were not the majority, those who demanded the stop to the expansion of slavery were.

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Acts so enraged and worried the North that adversaries gathered together to form a new political party, the Republican Party, in 1854. To those who say that slavery wasn't the main issue, keep in mind that the platform of the Republican Party (formed by Whigs, free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, Free Democrats, and other parties that dissolved their past affiliations in order to form the Republican Party) was primarily to stop the spread of slavery immediately and to eliminate it from the coutry as quickly as possible - it's why the Party was formed, and the evidence that slavery was the issue in the North as well as the South is plain in the fact that the Republican Party won the Presidency and majority control of government just 6 years after it was formed!

This signaled a ticking clock to the secessionists, because they saw the anti-slavery senitment gaining strenth and the Republican Party gaining power throughout the 1850's. They new that in 1860 their hold on power would be gone, and they had to act. They knew as far back as 1857 that they would be taking these steps a few years later. On March 4, 1857 Jefferson Davis took the oath of the Senate, vowing to uphold the Union and the Constitution with his very life, meanwhile he and other secessionist leader continues their plans of rebellion.

During the late 1850's President Buchanan and the other secessionist leaders and slavery sympathizers worked their plan. Arms were sold to secessionists, forts in the South were emptied of arms and troops, the Army and Navy were spread thin and wide so they could not respond in an emergency. The propoganda campain to keep the southern people in fear of the North and unsettled continued.

Lincoln's election in 1860 was used by the secessionists to rally support of the people, and called "the last straw." The funny thing is that Lincoln, of all the possible Republicans, was the last person they had to fear, because Lincoln had already said many times over that he would not mess with slavery where it existed. But who the candidate was didn't matter - it was time for the secessionists to act before it was too late, so they portrayed Lincoln as a radical abolitionist and an enemy of the South. Truth is, it could have been anybody. The Confederacy was planned a loong time before anyone ever heard of Abraham Lincoln in the South.

When the North refused to accept secession, the Confederacy fired.

So, was it possible to end slavery without War? I'm not saying there weren't ways, but first you have to know that there were people plotting treason and betraying their oaths for years prior to 1860, and that they were not going to stop short of their goals. The only thing that would have prevented war would be the acceptance of slavery by the United States and/or the surrender of the United States of all the states and territories it held that called itself the Confederacy. Since that would not have ended slavery, then the answer is that there was no alternative but to have some kind of conflict, some kind of war.

Slavery was the issue, it was the reason. It was a calculated plan by those who chose to protect slavery by betraying their countrymen and turning traitor - to protect slavery, and not some mythical idea of "state's rights" because the only right they cared about was the right to enslave another race.

Answer 2

Although Slavery may have been an issue, it wasn't the only issue in the civil war. There were other issues too, such as the taxes and tariffs that were being imposed on the South. The North was basically getting rich of the South at their expense. Then there was the over expanding federal government that was trying to take all the power into it's own hands. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in the Southern States. It was issued because of threats from some of the Radical Republicans in Congress that were going to pull funding for the war. Which was probably why it wasn't issued earlier.

Answer 3

Many will argue that secession, not slavery, was the real reason for the Civil War; however, without slavery, it's unlikely that there would have been a secession attempt. Once Lincoln, who was seen as an anti-slavery candidate, was elected, states in the Deep South began seceding. It's pretty clear that people in those states saw him as a threat to the institution of slavery and chose to secede for that reason. And note that when Virginia seceded (after the attack onFort Sumter), the western counties, where there were very few slaves, chose not to leave the Union and ultimately became the new state of West Virginia.

Answer 4

as a civil war reenactor and studier of the the civil war i would say the main reason has deeper roots than slavery. the south had a certian pride, costum and honor that they protected and northern bussiness men didnt, if slavery was such an issue than u could never explain black confederate soilders and slave owners, Robert E Lee fighting for the confederacy because he disliked slavery and never owned a slave. plus Licoln had promise the south many time he wasnt going to free the slaves. lastly the fact that northern had owned slaves in the early 1800's.

to the guy below me, thats just the politicians you and i both know the war was fought by poor farmers who didnt have slaves and if it wasnt for southern pride they never would have fought. plus they were basically 2 different countries at the time like the colonies and england same heritage different lifestyles.

Answer 5

Yes. Certainly the issue of states' rights was part of it, but the two societies of North and South had grown too far apart to agree on a peaceful solution (though some would contend that the conflict was not irrespressible).

If one thinks that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War, then that person hasn't read the letters of Jefferson Davis and other prominent Confederates.

Answer 6

Yes and no. The underlying issue was about State's rights. Slavery was the catalyst for war because it was an emotional issue that people would fight for. So, slavery was a huge issue between the North and the South, but to say that the Civil War was fought over slavery is not completely accurate.

Answer 7

No, States Rights are the largest issue in this conflict, and while yes with the Emancipation Proclamation, the war does seem to turn towards slavery. The beginnings of the conflict are rooted in the rise of radical powers, the big three are, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. The two parties Democrats/Whigs are the states rights parties, and the Republicans are the Federalist party.

Answer 8

Slavery was the reason. States' rights was the justification. Southern politicians had threatened to secede in the 1830s because of high tariffs (taxes) on imported goods, but they didn't have the constituency to secede. When the northern states seemed determined to put a stop to slavery nationwide, the southern states seceded, claiming states' rights. The Confederate constitution specifically recognized the "right of property in ***** slaves."
Once the union was dissolved, war was the inevitable result, for the USA denied the right of the southern states to secede or to declare ownership of military bases within their boundaries.

Answer 9

People people seems to be alot of he said she said as to slavery being part of the reason the war was fought. Let me set you straight. It was! you see in 1820, the south made the mistake of enacting the Missouri Compromise. Their mistake was permitting vast amounts of land to states entering the union. Problem was, when these newly formed states decided to enter this union as "FREE STATES" the south suddenly found themselves in a corner and needed to protect their way of life. People always say, there are reasons of taxes (tariffs) and that is correct to a point, but this is what started the whole north and south thing culminating in inevitable war. the south wanted to expand slavery and got war...

Answer 10

The answer is no but kinda yes. The North and South were fighting over which new states would be slave states or not. Yes anger and distaste for each other grew because of slavery but the main reason was just a dispute of differences.