Antebellum United States and the Beginning of the Civil War - Essay Example

I. II. Introduction A. Intorduces the and presents the thesis III. Invasion of the Native American Lands A. Discusses the leaders and Invasions IV. Slavery Expansion Across the Nation A. Describes the expansion of slave trade V. War with Mexico A. Describes aspects of Americas’ war with Mexico VI. Compromises A. Explains the compromises VII. President Lincoln’s Debate with Stephen Douglas A. Discusses main points in the debate Antebellum United States and the Beginning of the Civil War Introduction As America began to enter economic hardships, many other problems were also arising. These problems deal with taking over Native American Land, expanding the American territory, developing the land, immigration, agriculture, slavery, war with Mexico, many failed compromises, and the separating of the United States. Throughout these problems there were many leaders who lead the nation through these rough times to make society what it is today. These and other important events in American history lead the Antebellum United States into Civil War. Invasion of the Native American Lands Although America had many leaders, many of them had different viewpoints about the economic situation. Federalists were awaiting a growth in the domestic industry, and the Republicans were expecting a large improvement in agriculture, and trade. However, they all agreed upon the upcoming westward traveling, and also the international trade. The main force that was used to expand the nation’s territories was the American Army. The Nation’s Army was responsible for removing Native American tribes from the newly claimed American territories. Many separations involving certain groups of the United States were also occurring during these times. Therefore, there were also many measures taken to prevent such actions, and to keep everyone united. This was a basic priority for all leading authorities in our government at this time. The Army was sent out in many cases of territorial disputes. There were many conflicts with Spain, Britain, and France where these countries were trying to use the native tribes against the American nation. Very few Americans lived in the Appalachians during this time since it was mostly still dominated by the native tribes who were also friends with the British who also had forts in that area. As Americans extended into the West territory there were many fierce battles with the aboriginal groups. Each of the individual states also began to ask the government to send extra help in dealing with the natives along all of the boarders. However, the army at that time was rather small, and the government did not have the authority to send enough troops to protect all of the new settlers from further attacks. The Army was constructing forts along the Valley of Ohio to protect some of the legal settlers, but still could not extend much further for other settlers yet. The army was also trying to prevent any further settlement of Whites onto Indian squats with some positive results. President George Washington, and Secretary of War Henry Knox choose a peaceful relationship, so when this was finally viewed as impossible, they quickly organized a military force to control these attacking native people, and their allies. In 1794 a major native group was defeated, and the Northwest was under American control. Thomas Jefferson also used many strategies to create a much bigger territory for white settlers. A leader named Dearborn bribed many of the Indian leaders to surrender their lands to American control. William Henry Harrison, from the Indiana Territory, was also ordered by Jefferson to negotiate with the Indians. Harrison was creating treaties with the Indians, but one Indian chief named Tecumsch formed an alliance with many other tribes to stop Harrison. At that time there Harrison went to war, and defeated Tecumsch, and the tribes at the battle of Tippecanoe. General Andrew Jackson also went to battle with the Creeks, and their Spanish allies in Georgia. Jackson forced them to surrender in the Treaty of Fort Jackson. However, the Seminoles also began to invade Georgia during this time. Jackson was then again sent into battle to secure the state of Georgia. Then going against the original orders Jackson even began invading the Seminoles, and Spanish in Florida. President Jackson shortly after created the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to remove all of the Indians from their lands to make room for all of the new White settlers. Many of the Indian tribes held their land for as long as they could, but the territory was soon conquered by the American forces. Slavery Expansion across the Nation At this time slavery was also becoming a larger market. Many people think that secession was because of the rights of individual states; however, many indication show that the hatred for slavery might indicate differently. For a long time before the Civil War the Southern people were asking for the North to support the fugitive slave laws, and also allow them to travel into the North with their slaves. For a while there were many laws in the North protecting the free black people getting taken back to the south as slaves, and this was making the people of the South very angry when they were trying to hunt down their escaped slaves. The individual states were granted the right to determine who was a slave and who was not in this type of case, but the South was still not happy about this arrangement. So, the Southern people were now automatically denying all of the Northern Blacks of their freedom. Whenever any of the free blacks would go to the South they were arrested, and laced back into slavery. To even increase the tension between the States the South would arrest white people from the North if they were found with any anti-slavery literature. By the time Lincoln took office many of the states had already seceded from the other states to live by their own laws. This was just the beginning of the conflict which eventually led to the Civil War. War with Mexico The way of force to make more American territories is the main cause for the war against Mexico. A position was given to President Polk was given a position to force Mexico to Surrender land to America. Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott used troops, and volunteers to defeat the Mexican forces. The far West, Southwest, and the Gulf of Mexico were brought into the nation for its rich land, and also the expansion of slavery. Compromises Many studies have shown that the politicians are the main sources of all compromise. Sometimes a simple complaint could be a very important warning sign for a serious war. Through mutual agreements, and negotiations some compromise can be made in certain situations. Unfortunately, in the 1850s the most of the solutions failed. Leaders were asking their people to ignore their lifelong principle to keep the Union together, and this was one of the main causes that many of the compromises failed completely. The people were just not willing to serve a government that did not respect their personal principals. These compromises were simply not willing to listen to other sides of the story; therefore were complete failures as soon as they were created. The Dred Scott ruling that permitted the slave owners to keep their property even in free states was also another big issue that many people disagreed upon. There were then many conflicts about how to find satisfaction with leading advocates of slavery which was the main reason for the electoral fraud, and crisis in Kansas. President Abraham Lincoln’s Debate with Stephen Douglas Even though there were many rules regarding African Americans, President Lincoln chose to Uunite the American Government and Union by using the Declaration of Independence. Senator Stephen A. Douglas on the other hand was exploiting bigotry by white people for “popular sovereignty” to solve the issue of slavery. Lincoln therefore made awareness of the natural rights of African Americans to prevent slavery from spreading, and preserve what he called the last best hope of earth (Cobbs, p. 255). Lincoln, and Douglas had completely different view about race. Douglas for one favored a white supremacy stand, and Lincoln was stating an equal humanity viewpoint. Stephen Douglas would never consider blacks as part of the community. President Lincoln himself described slavery as being very harmful to our nation. Although, Douglas continued to say that Lincoln should have emancipated slaves at the beginning of the war instead of waiting so long; however, Douglas also agrees with Lincoln’s decision to make the defense of the Union more important than the slavery issue. Douglas also wanted to avoid conflict with the North, and the South to better the American government, and he said that it would overcome odds, and give peace to the nation. All of the different views of Lincoln, and Douglas let the people see exactly what their Viewpoints were concerning the main issues of racism involving the black and Indian people. Stephen Douglas’s bill in Nebraska also made people in the North “undecided” about the spread of slavery. Fredrick Douglas, an escaped slave, also made many powerful statements in the Views of Lincoln for a while during the war, and after Lincolns help in developing equal rights for all humanity. Fredrick was at first very critical of Lincoln, but later expresses his appreciation of all the things Lincoln had accomplished in his lifetime. Stephen Douglas therefore spent much time fighting a losing battle. Work Cited Cobbs Hoffman, Elizabeth and Jon Gjerde. Major Problems in American History, Volume 1, 1877, Boston, MA, Houghton-Mifflin, 2012. Read More