Was Slavery the Major Issue That Started the Civil War - Essay Example

Pratt C.J. Pratt Period History Term Paper Outline February 21 2008 Slavery Was Slavery the major issue that d the Civil War The Constitutional Convention of 1787 lead to the first Constitution of the United States. The Victory was there when all parties signed it. George Washington leaded the Convention and Thomas Jefferson was abroad in France endorsing the Convention. Several plans where introduced, Virginia Plan, Plan of Charles Pickney, New Jersey Plan, Hamilton's Plan and the Connecticut Compromise. Yet many things needed to cleared among them Slavery. The 3 Southern States North and South Carolina and Georgia demanded that the Slave trade stayed allowed. There where also many questions about whether slaves should be in tittle for rights or not. Big issue was if they should count as part of the people in tittle for representation in the Congress or not. However the Delegates from the States who had many slaves working for them, argued and and won that a slave would remain property. Reason for this argument was the Levy Tax, a tax from from the Government over the entire population of a State. The Southern States had more then 40% slaves in their States and simply dit not want to pay a tax over owning their property. A comprise however was found over the trade. It would not change until 1808, a committee was formed for this. From the 55 delegates not everyone signed them. 39 in total signed, some left before signing it. One should understand that not everybody could be pleased. Pratt 2 The Bill of Rights was drawn later after signing on the demand of George Manson. After the Convention itself and with all the adoptions 52 Delegates eventually signed the Constitution. To regulate the commerce between the States Madison offered different ideas about how to change and regulate it. The Government needed more power to use taxes and could not set any Commercial policy at all. There was a sort of League of Friendship, however the Economy was a real disaster due to many arguments between the different States. Power should be given to the Congress to change the tie into benefit for all. Throughout the Confederation it should be done this way. The Plan succeeded and articles where made to regulate the commercial issues for the Convention. After the Convention the beginning was set for a new country and the new Constitution. However was this enough for the Northern and Southern States to prevent differences A new age began and also new ideas came in how the States should work together. And a wars came, with England, Mexico and the Civil War. Why dit it happen Let me take you into a short summary of the history. Rockwell JR and H. Llewellyn, Genesis of the Civil War (2000) quote: "And yet, if you listen to the media on the subject, you might think that the entire issue of the Civil War comes down to race and slavery. If you favor Confederate symbols, it means you are a white person unsympathetic to the plight of blacks in America. If you favor abolishing Confederate History Month and taking down the flag, you are an enlightened thinker willing to bury the past so we can look forward to a bright future under progressive leadership. The debate rarely goes beyond these simplistic slogans." Pratt 3 Jeffersonian Republicans and Hamiltons policies had wide angels of how the Country should be based and run. Both Founding Fathers based their idea on two different ideas. Jefferson wanted to build the nation on agriculture where Hamilton wanted to build a strong Government. He opposed to involvement to the French Revolution and staying to friendly to the British. The significant factors where most concerned about the States Rights, strict reading of the Constitution, important for Jefferson together in backing the French Revolution where Hamilton wanted a more elastic Constitution with a strong Government with no interfearing in the French Revolution. Miracosta College Proffesor Arturo Arevalos writes on Wiki Answers.com about this: " The first of these alignments was connected more or less directly with the contest over framing and adoption of the Federal Constitution. Authorities generally agree that the main support for the Constitution came from merchants, manufacturers, government bondholders and other people of substantial property interests. The opposition came mainly from inland farmers, debtors and less prosperous families of the country. " Arturo Arevalos also writes on Wiki Answers.com: " Those radicals who opposed the Constitution did so because they believed it served the interests of the wealthy. They became known as Anti-Federalists and later Jeffersonian Republicans. Conservative supporters of the Constitution believed it served their interests and sought to reap the rewards under the banner of the Federalist Party. For a decade the Federalists ruled for the benefit of merchants, manufacturers and holders of public securities until the rural masses led by some planters organized the Republican Party as a vehicle for recapturing government from the moneyed aristocracy. Success came in the revolution of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson, champion of agrarian democracy, was elected President." Through this Conflict of the parties in Congress a new change came. After the election of the Third President the two parties system was formed, Republicans and Federalist later called the Pratt 4 Democrats. That was the final outcome of the conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton in where the basic in how to form power and economic status was grounded. The tariffs seem to be given also a lot of problems. The South actually paid a lot of Tax for the Northern Industries. Rockwell JR and H. Llewellyn, Genesis of the Civil War (2000) say this about the tariffs: " In effect, the South was being looted to pay for the North's early version of industrial policy. The battle over the tariff began in 1828, with the "tariff of abomination." Thirty year later, with the South paying 87 percent of federal tariff revenue while having their livelihoods threatened by protectionist legislation, it became impossible for the two regions to be governed under the same regime. The South as a region was being reduced to a slave status, with the federal government as its Master." Other issue was the Navigation Acts where laws made by the British to protect and restricted the use of Foreign shipping in trade with England. It was nothing less and nothing more a control from England to protect their trade with their colonies. Rules of protection which made it almost to trade with others like in the South happened with the French. It is also a treat between the two parts of the new country, between the Northern and Southern States. The Southern States wanted to trade with the French, however the Acts made it difficult. The independence of the United States as signed in Paris on September 3 1783 started optimistic for the sovereign states however so far we also know how much problems it would give in the future between the Northern and Southern States. The Bill of Rights of 1791 gave rules for protection the individual person in their first 10 amendments. One of the demands for all parties to sign the Constitution as we learned here. In 1790 a new Capital was chosen for the Congress and Government, Washington a new named city took or the lead from Philadelphia. The President would reside from then on in the White Pratt 5 House. In the same period the difference between the Northern and Southern States became more and more problematic. We already saw that Jefferson and Hamilton could not come to the same conclusions in the strength of the Government, Economics and foreign policies. Jefferson wanted for the different States strong State rights. These rights where needed to protect them. History World cites on their website: " Party strife begins to emerge during Washington's first term, and it has its roots within his own small cabinet - in a severe difference of opinion between the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and the secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson. The issue between them is disagreement over the amount of power which should be wielded by the federal government. Controversy centers in particular on the Bank of the United States, created by Hamilton in 1791." Jefferson got elected later as President and proofed with this is right towards Hamilton. History World states on this: " The easy transfer of presidential power between the political parties on Jefferson's election proves conclusively that the American republic has pioneered a successful working democracy, very different from the violent upheavals of French politics or the corruption of the unreformed British model. This democracy is still based on a restricted franchise, and the leading politicians are all from a small leisured and landed class (the most distinguished among them, Washington and Jefferson, being southern slave owners). But more than anywhere else in the world at this time, the new American system points the way towards a fully democratic future." The importancy is the system that was now prevailed for later politics and its specific problems which led to more differences, the War of 1812 with England and eventually the Civil War. The reasons for the War of 1812 are also described on History World: " The main issue between the contestants is the damage inflicted on American trade by the British orders in council (it is these which are lifted by the British government in June Pratt 6 1812). But there is also a subsidiary reason for war. The region south of the Great Lakes has long been a flash point for trouble, between the interests of the indigenous Indian tribes and rival European colonists. Warfare here has in the past involved Indians, British colonists and French colonists. Now the participants are Indians, the United States and British America (or Canada). The mounting tension between the United States and Britain in the Atlantic coincides with the last great uprising of Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley, led by the inspirational figure of Tecumseh. His struggle against the encroachment of American settlers becomes, from 1812, a part of the wider war - which includes naval conflict in several regions." Could the young Nation win And hold together In winning the war more people came to the United States to build a new life. Land was needed for the new immigrants, so new land was won over the Indians and Mexicans. From 1846 till 1848 the War against the Mexicans was task to see if the army was up to it. During the War with England and the American Revolution the army was not fit to fight the Indians and many people had lost their lives. The army had been reformed. By the end of that War President Polk dit not only get Texas the way he wanted it but also gained more. History worlds states: " The resulting treaty, signed in Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, gives Polk all that he has hoped for. In return for a payment of $15 million, Mexico cedes to the USA the territory now forming the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California. With suitable forethought, during the course of the war, US forces have already occupied the only developed parts of this vast region, New Mexico and California. " Then the West needed to be won also for the new settlers and that would give again a lot of problems. The brave dit go, but all the new formed States wanted their own rights. First trail goes to California, Oregon and Utah between 1841 and 1850 the year that the Civil War starts. From 1846 till 1896 the Mormons start to travel into Salt Lake City. Pratt 7 With all the new States, new State Rights and differences between the people more problems came to surface. Slavery among all the other economical and tariffs problems was one of them. History world states: "Slavery has been a major area of disagreement between the northern and southern states ever since the first compromise is achieved on the issue at the constitutional convention of 1787. It becomes a particularly hot political issue in 1819 during congressional debates on the application of Missouri for statehood." And to explain the Missouri Comprise History World states: "The impasse is broken by another in the series of practical compromises on this contentious issue. It is agreed in 1820 that the district of Maine will be separated from Massachusetts to become an independent free state, the 23rd in the union. Missouri, with its slaves, follows in 1821 as the 24th. The balance is kept in the senate. The Missouri Compromise, as the measures of 1820 become known, includes one other clause passed separately by congress. This legislates in advance for the territory beyond Missouri, stating that no more slave states shall be admitted to the union north of latitude 36.30 (the continuation of the southern boundary of Missouri)." Key factor in this also is the Fugitive Slave Law, it allows Southern Plantation holders a claim to their slaves. With all the tensions so far it seemed that a split off of the Southern States is just a matter of time. With the election of Abraham Lincoln to be the next President it happened. A Convention submitted in South Carolina on December 20 1860 passes a solution to part The Southern States from the North. Jefferson Davis is set as the provisional President in a pact between all States where sovereignty of individual states is the leading basic. It guarantees protection for Slavery in new Territories. History World cites about the difference now: " Both north and south are ill prepared for a war which few want but which has come to seem inevitable. On paper the advantages all seem to be on the side of the north. Twenty-three northern states, with 22 million free citizens, confront eleven states Pratt 8 in which the total population of 12 million includes 4 million slaves - a group whom their owners would not willingly risk arming for military service, but whose labor will nevertheless contribute to the war effort." The War played a significant part in the history of the United States. Despite what many might think leaning just on the Civil War, Slavery was not the only thing that lead to this War. Before the election of Abraham Lincoln there where numerous reasons for the South to take action against the North. They paid most of the taxes and tariffs. Also the Economy played a huge roll. Without intervention of Thomas Jefferson the Nation would have been bankrupt. He also was the creator of the State Rights which still stands for most States. The North was able to create a strong Government and gained another prosperity then the plantations. The combination seemed very strong but almost failed due to Nationalism and Rights of the citizens to create the worst period ever. Works cited and used. Civilwar.com, the home of the Civil War http://www.civilwar.com/ Wiki Answers.com Miracosta College, Arturo Arevales, How did the conflict over Alexander Hamilton's policies lead to the emergence of the first American political parties March 4, 2008 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_conflict_over_Alexander_Hamilton's_policies_lead_to_the_emergence_of_the_first_American_political_parties History world, History of the United States of America , March 5, 2008 http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.aspgroupid=3496&HistoryID=ad11 Rockwell Jr. H, Llewellyn, ,Genesis of the Civil War, May 11, 2000. http://www.LewRockwell.com/rockwell/civilwar.html Some extra about the text that can be used: Was Slavery the major issue that started the Civil War George Washington led the Convention and Thomas Jefferson, while in France endorsed the convention as well. Yet, many things needed to be addressed, most important was the issue of Slavery. The three states North and South Carolina and Georgia demanded that slave trade be allowed. There were also several questions regarding whether slaves should be entitled to rights or not. The big issue was whether they should be entitled to representation from Congress. Only 39 of the 55 delegates signed the petition. Others left before signing, indicating their unhappiness over the decision. Power should be given to Congress to change the tie and benefit for all. He opposed involvement with the French Revolution and staying Friendly to the British. The independence of the United States as signed in Paris on September 3, 1783 stayed optimistic for the sovereign states however it also produced many problems in the future between the Northern and Southern States. In 1790 a new Capitol was chosen for the Congress and Government, Washington a new named city took over the lead from Philadelphia. Jefferson got elected later as President and proof of this right with Hamilton. The importance is the system that was now prevailed for later policies and it's specific problems which led to more differences, the War of 1812 with England and eventually th Civil War. Despite what many might think leaning just on the Civil War, Slavery was not the only thing that led to this War. The North was able to create a strong government and gained Read More