Different views concerning slavery triggered division amongst the states consequently, leading to secession from the Union in 1860. Abraham Lincoln’s election as President brought conflicts especially among his opponents in the Democratic Party who held different views on how to deal with Slavery. Lincoln’s stand on abolishment of slavery pushed the south away especially, considering the fact that, agriculture was their main source of income and also because slaves played a major role in providing labor which would affect them considerably. States that seceded met in Alabama forming their new found nation and making Jefferson Davis their President, a move that would not go well with Lincoln’s administration. It was evident that Lincoln would ensure the fight for freedom from slavery was successful, despite making numerous attempts to negotiate with the then Southern leader Jefferson (Harris, J. W. 2008, p.100). However, the stalemate would collapse when the Confederacy attempted to take charge of the military in the south, a move that would trigger President Lincoln to declare war on the rebellion.
Despite numerous attempts by historians to downplay this event as the biggest cause of the civil war, all other factors derive their causes from slavery. The Southern political figures ensured protection of slavery and their push for states sovereignty was as a result of Abraham Lincoln election as president, a vocal supporter of freedom from slavery.
Conclusively, an uprising from the south sprung to avoid loss of free labor which led to hostilities between them and the North. The North being industrialists could not compete with the idea that there was free labor and also drew sympathies towards martyrs who were executed from the Bleeding Kansas and Harper’s ferry (Roark et al, 2012, p.17). This would spark a revolution termed as a civil war that would lead to African Americans getting some equal privileges as whites, when the Civil rights Act was passed in 1866.
References
Harris, J. W. (2008). The Making of the American South: a Short History, 1500-1877. John
Wiley & Sons.
Roark, J. L., Johnson, M. P., Cohen, P. C., Stage, S., & Hartmann, S. M. (2012). The American
Promise, Volume I: To 1877: A History of the United States (Vol. 1). Macmillan.
