Civil War between 1848 to 1861 - Essay Example

The American civil war erupted in 1861, following the election of Abraham Lincoln; a republican who opposed slavery. There are major events, which took place between 1848 and 1861 leading to the war. One of the major events is the end of the Mexican war in 1848, which meant that America was to surrender the western territories. As a result, new territories became states and the congress passed the “Compromise of 1850” that made California free to decide whether it would allow slavery or not (Boritt, 1996 p9) Another factor that triggered the civil war was the passing of the fugitive slave act in 1850 to strengthen the compromises act.

Under this act, a federal official who failed to arresta runaway slave was liable to fine. Many abolitionists criticized this act and they increased their efforts to fight against slavery.A book entitled Uncle Tom’s cabin, authored by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 is triggered the civil war. The book portrayed the evils of slavery and it changed the perception of northerners on the issue of slavery(McPherson, 1988 p11). The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854 was one of the issues that led to the civil war.

This act gave Kansas and Nebraska the mandate to decide to continue with slavery or end it. As a result, there was violence in Kansas as the people who were opposed to slavery and the ones supporting it fought to control the state. This violence influenced the civil war to come. The Lecompton Constitution created in 1857 also caused the civil war. The constitution allowed Kansas to be free from slavery as most of the voters from the stated rejected it(Ray, 1990 p7). John Brown, an abolitionist together with seventeen others who included five black Americans, raided the Harper Ferry on October 1859.

Their plan was to seize weapons and start an uprising against slavery. Unfortunately, they were