Individuals That Contributed To The Civil War Essay -- essays papers

Individuals That Contributed To The Civil War The Civil War was brought about by many important people, some that wanted to preserve and some that wanted to eradicate the primary cause of the war, slavery. There were the political giants, such as Abraham Lincoln, and Stephen Douglas. There were seditious abolitionists such as John Brown, escaped slaves such as Dred Scott, and abolitionist writers like Harriet Beecher Stowe. These were the people who, ultimately, brought a beginning to the end of what Lincoln called â€Å"a moral, a social, and a political wrong†(Oates 66). Southern states, including the 11 states that formed the Confederacy, depended on slavery to support their economy. Southerners used slave labor to produce crops, especially cotton. Although slavery was illegal in the Northern states, only a small proportion of Northerners actively opposed it. The main debate between the North and the South on the eve of the war was whether slavery should be permitted in the Western territories recently acquired during the Mexican war, which included New Mexico, part of California, and Utah. â€Å"Opponents of slavery were concerned about its expansion, in part because they did not want to compete against slave labor†(Oates 15). In 1851, a literary event startled the country. Harriet Beecher Stowe, an American writer and abolitionist, wrote an antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, that was published serially in a newspaper and in book form in 1852. â€Å"It was a forceful indictment of slavery and one of the most powerful novels of its kind in American literature. The success of the book was unprecedented, selling 500,000 copies in the United States alone within five years, and it was translated into more than 20 foreign languages†(Oates 29). It was widely read in the States and abroad, and moved many to join the cause of abolition. The South indignantly denied this indictment of slavery. â€Å"Stowe’s book increased partisan feeling over slavery and intensified sectional differences. It did much to solidify militant antislavery attitude in the North, and therefore was an important factor in the start of the American Civil War†(Oates 31). In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and stated that each territory could be admitted as a state â€Å"with... ... Instead they joined the lower South with the secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. This secession by the South lead to the opening to the American Civil War. The war over slavery was brought about by many important people, who used many different ways to express their points of view. Some exhibited their dissatisfaction with slavery by debating, some by using violence, some by suing in court, and some by writing a story. These were all effective strikes against the South, and primary causes of the war. In conclusion, these people ultimately brought a beginning to the end of what Lincoln called, â€Å"a moral, a social, and a political wrong†(Oates 66). Bibliography Bradford, Ned. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Appleton-Century Inc., New York. 1956. Oates, Stephen B. The Whirlwind of War. Harper Collins Publishers, New York. 1998. Woodworth, Steven E. Davis and Lee at War. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 1995. â€Å"Emancipation Proclamation†. http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Lincoln/emancipate. html â€Å"Jefferson Davis to Congress of the Confederate States†. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pjdavis/620225.html