The American Civil War was the culmination of a serious attempt by the Southern states of the Union to secede; the reasons for this decision were numerous, covering political, social and economic interests. Proponents of secession argued that the states had joined the Union voluntarily; therefore, they argued that states had the right to leave the Union. Before the 1860 presidential election, many Southerners had warned that if Lincoln won, the southern states would secede from the Union.
One of the most contentious subjects in post-colonial America in the 1800s was slavery. It was well known that the South relied heavily on slave labor to maintain its cotton-based economy; at the same time, the social conditions and squalor slaves were forced to live in were unbearable, and slave accounts were gaining more and more notoriety (Ball, 1837). The North had committed several “unjustified” measures to gain power over the South for several decades, well before Lincoln was elected as president. This led to the submission of additional slaves in the South to the great disappointment of the North, despite the fact that it has been properly carried out.
Abolitionists in the North sought to end the practice of slavery, stating that it degraded the human rights of African-Americans, which placed the Southern economy in direct jeopardy - one of the factors that would lead to civil war and secession later in the century. The North's continued aggressive stance on slavery caused the South to secede from the Union. In 1861, Texas officially seceded from the Union, a move that would eventually lead to the creation of the Confederacy and the beginning of the Civil War.
Woerks Cited
“Time Did Not Reconcile Me To My Chains”: Charles Ball’s Journey to South Carolina, 1837
