The Civil War was a turning point in American history. It was a time when the most powerful country in the world hung in balance. The Civil War was an all-out battle between the 23 Northern (Union) states and the 11 Southern (Confederate) states. Many actions took place to cause the Civil War. From the abolitionist Movement that started in 1750 and ended in 1865 and the slave Fredrick Douglass that cried the tortures of slavery. The election of the 16th President of the United States officially kicked off the Civil War. This is how the Civil War began.
Widespread protests against slavery have been voiced as early as the 1750s. Quack Walker, a Massachusetts slave sued for his freedom by using the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, that stated “All men are born free and equal”. His success led to the abolishment of slavery in Massachusetts. In 1831, a radical anti-slavery activist and journalist, William Lloyd Garrison established an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator. Two years later Garrison co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Society that demanded the immediate emancipation of all slaves and a change in America’s spiritual values. In 1856, an anti-slavery activist, John Brown led the Kansas Free Soil Militia into “Bleeding Kansas” (was given this nickname due to the mass violence that occurred between anti-slavery and pro-slavery activists in Kansas due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act) to get revenge for the havoc that was caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. During the attack, five unarmed anti-abolitionists were hacked to death with swords in what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. Brown later led a raid on the federal army depot at Harpers Ferry, Virginia to initiate a rebellion. The raid failed, and several people and a free slave were killed by Brown’s man. Federal troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee cornered and executed Brown. This pro-abolitionist movement was credited with bringing the Civil War closer than ever before.
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Fedrick Douglass was also credited with bringing the Civil War closer. Fredrick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland and was made to work at a plantation. He was later sent to Baltimore as a servant. When he was 12 his master’s wife started to teach him how to read, which was forbidden by law and by his master. When he was apprehended by his master and punished, he continued to learn how to read and write with the help of local white children. Douglass would buy newspapers and books when he could afford them, and this introduced him to the politics and philosophical debates of the period. When he was 15, he returned to the plantation in Maryland. He refused to work under the appalling conditions of the plantation. He was taken to a “slave-breaker”, Edward Covey, and was whipped multiple times. In 1838, Douglass managed to escape by impersonating a sailor. He took the opportunity to join William Lloyd Garrison’s Anti-Slavery Society, and he wrote his own exposé, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. His book became a best-seller, and this led him to create the newspaper The North Star. Fredrick Douglass led the fight for equal African-American and women’s rights. His work pushed for a Civil War for the abolishment of slavery.
Lastly, and most of all, the election of the 16th President Abraham Lincoln led to the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was chosen by the Republicans with the hope of creating a policy that bans the spreading of slavery, while the Democrats chose Stephen A. Douglas a pro-slavery spokesman as their candidate for the presidency. Lincoln was propelled as the forefront runner for the Republican Party due to his visible and vocal political energy that spoke almost solely on the condemnation of slavery in the later 1850s. Lincoln declined to hold rallies and give speeches but he managed to defeat his rivals, including Vice President John C. Breckinridge and Southern Democratic Party’s breakaway candidate Tom Bell. He defeated his closest rival Breckinridge with 180 electoral votes when only 152 were needed, and Breckinridge only had 72 votes. The hearts of the North belonged to Lincoln but his Southern opponents detested him and he didn’t win any of the 11 states. When Lincoln took the White House, this pushed the most radical Southern states to separate from the Union, commencing the Civil War.
The Civil War had an unprecedented death toll at the time with over 600,000 deaths. The Civil War was a brutal battle that ended with blood on American soil, however, it gave hope to many Americans that after something so horrible there can actually be peace. As said in Lincoln’s second inauguration speech in which he called for “malice towards none” and “charity to all”. We know what happened during the Civil War and what happened after it, and now we know how it was caused. This was how a Civil War was made.
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