How far were southerners to blame for the civil war? Essay

During and for years after the war, northwesterlyerners damned grayers and southerlyerners leveld Northerners for turn outing the war. With hindsight today, it is easy to disk out blame and easiest to point the hitch at the mho. After every(prenominal) it was the Southern democracys that seceded from the union, and it was obvious to many Southerners at the time, and to closely Northerners that the result of such coitus interruptus would be war. It was the Confederates that fired the first shots of the war at Fort Sumter in April 1861, and in doing so they provoked a conflict that would circulate one in four colour adult male southerners dead, the Souths economy devastated and break ones backry, the peculiar institution they fought to defend, reverseed. that because hard workerry is seen today to be such a morally and ethically aggrieve and evil thing, peoples views mass be blurred, leading them to side mechanically with the North. There were of course many events that furthered the Statess provincialism and eventually guide to the civil war, most of which blame cigaret be divided equally. It is therefore needful to be objective and take each into account, concluding perhaps that the South was non entirely to blame for the civil war, scarce as Germany was not entirely to blame for the first world war.The Missouri contest was the first of events that caused division between North and South. In 1819 the territory of Missouri employ to become a state in the union, it was embedtled mainly by Southerners and decennium percent of its population were black hard workers. Its system therefore would make Missouri a slave state. This would cause imbalance in the Senate whereby the South would break a majority, so congressman Tallmadge from modernistic York proposed that Missouri should hardly be allowed to join the union if it would abolish thrall.This issue was debated across the uncouth the South saw Tallmadges proposal as an attack on their political power. In the House of Representatives the North already had a large majority and if any vernal states were to be muster out, any of the Souths wishes could be ignored in twain(prenominal) houses.In 1820 a agree was make whereby Missouri was do a slave state, and Maine was made a free state, thusly keeping the balance in the Senate. similarly there were to be no slaves in a higher place the line of 36 30 latitude. This divergence to an boundary rout out be diabolical on the North, as it was Tallmadges account that sparked off tension and Southern conclusion to defend bondage. The North could have been commodious with their majority in the House of Representatives and safe allowed Missouri to be a slave state, knowing that soon other states would grow possibly wanting to be free.The 1828 override Crisis was a cause of further sectionalism that was not directly around sla precise it was instead focused on state rightlys versus federal rights. Con gress proposed to raise aftermath duties making foreign goods more expensive. This would comfort industry in the North as consumers would misdirect American made goods, provided it would hurt the South as they relied severely on cotton trade with huge Britain.The South saw this as other attack from the North, so Senator Calhoun from South Carolina state that if a state felt the national Government was abusing its power, that state could supplant or ignore any beatnik or act it disagreed with. He withal utter that any state had the right to secede. In 1832 South Carolina ignored the tonic import duties and President Jackson imperil to send in troops. Eventually they O.K. down and excepted a lower set of duties. This escapade and Calhouns statement about secession threatened the very population of the union. Blame for this can fall on both the North for selfishly face after their interests without regard for the South, and on the South for supporting Calhouns idea o f secession which threatened to tear apart the country at such an early stage. abutting came the scrap over California and New Mexico. In 1846 USA won a war against Mexico and gained the lands of California and New Mexico. instance Wilmot from Pennsylvania proposed that slavery should be verboten in all land interpreted from Mexico. The South opposed Wilmots proviso, as according to the Missouri compromise, California should be part free and part slave. up to now the climate of California and New Mexico was contrary for cotton growth and it was unlikely that slavery would expand that far west anyway, so there was no need for Wilmot to pronounce what he did. By opening his mouth, Wilmot capable an old wound, making the South firmer in their defense of slavery. Calhoun reiterated his views on secession in his doctrine and tension grew with the Californian grand rush. Thousands rushed to California and its settlers formed a constitution that banned slavery. Before it could be a state Congress had to sanction the constitution. The Southern states opposed it and the break up of the union was on the horizon in one case again.As usual a compromise was reached. In 1850 California became a free state but a tonic harsh Fugitive Slave uprightness was introduced, meaning if a slave fly to a free state, men could search the slave down across the borders and pick out him back. The bitterness and tension here can be blamed on both the North and South. The North because Wilmot and his supporters were willing to blatantly go against the 1820 compromise, and the South as they would not simply accept the wishes of the Californian people.The dispute over Kansas and Nebraska is perhaps the outmatch example where both Northerners and Southerners were to blame for what happened. In 1854 Senator Douglas from Illinois proposed a bill to form cardinal new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, in order to buy land to build a continental railroad. Congress passed the Kansas-Neb raska act but it was left for the inhabitants of the territories to decide for or against slavery. Nebraska was unfit for slavery but Kansas wasnt. So, despite the circumstance that Kansas was above 36 30 latitude, slave owners from Missouri moved in, in an prove to make Kansas a slave state. in addition so did emancipationists from the North. Both groups set up governments and sought approval from Congress. Violence followed in a war lasting several(prenominal) years which was nicknamed Bleeding Kansas Eventually abolitionist settlers outnumbered the slavers and in 1861 Kansas became a free state. In this case both sections were as lousy as each other with their childlike quarrels and shifts.So who really was to blame for the polite war? From the above-mentioned factors, which are and a few of many, you could conclude that both Northerners and Southerners were equally responsible. However the most outstanding factor as mentioned in the tooth root is the fact that the So uthern States seceded. They did not have to, but they did.In 1861 there was no immediate threat to slavery, Lincoln verbalise when he was elected that he would not interfere with slavery in states where it was already established. He thought it would take a hundred years or more before slavery would fade away, and considering the Republicans did not have a majority in Congress in 1860, there was teeny-weeny Lincoln could do to threaten slavery. disdain this, Southern politicians, representing the wishes of their constituents, acted irrationally and established an strong-minded Southern nation, believing they were protecting themselves from the fretfulness of the North. Most Southerners knew that in doing so they would start a war and some complete at the time the full extent of their mistake. They knew they would start a war and they cognize they would lose. The North was far more industrialise and stronger in numbers of men and it was very likely that they would win. Jonathan Worth from North Carolina said in spring 1861 I cogitate the South is committing suicide, but my spate is attract with the South and being unable to be intimate the ship, I intend to face the circuit breaker manfully and go down with my companionsIf all Southerners had realized their foolishness a lot of bloodshed could have been avoided. However a mass delusion seemed to effect the South, they believed they had to fight to survive. Southerners picked the fight they fired first and were made to lie in the grave they remove for themselves.