Soldiers fight for many reasons—notably to stay alive and support their comrades in arms. In 1853, a free black man, upon entering the State of Maryland, was sold into slavery and died trying to escape.

He won the election by carrying most Northern states and the western states of California and Oregon, while failing to receive a single electoral vote in the Deep South, where in ten states he was not on the ballot. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Article I provided that the slave trade would end 20 years after the Constitution was ratified, which was in 1808. By the early 1700’s, in British North America, slavery generally meant African slavery. Industrialization increased the amount of textiles produced and therefore, the demand for more slave labor. . The North and South were very different in nature, and wanted different things from their government. Today, most professional historians agree with Stephens that slavery and the status of African Americans were at the heart of the crisis that plunged the nation into a Civil War from 1861 to 1865. As is usually the case with compromises, neither side was pleased, but both accepted it, hoping the law would finally settle the slavery issue. John Brown and his followers started their bloody fight against slavery, killing Pro-Slavery sympathizers in Kansas. Slavery: Cause and Catalyst of the Civil War. Over time, most took for granted that their prosperity, even their way of life, was inseparable from African slavery. The clause gave the South a role in the national government far greater than representation based on its free population alone would have allowed.

The Court also found the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, ruling that the federal government did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. Missouri’s Border Ruffians intimidated free-soilers and raided abolitionist towns. Organizations like the Anti-Slavery Society, spearheaded by both men and women, staged lectures and provided shelter, money, transportation, and services for slaves to escape along the Underground Railroad.

I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.”.

Immigrants and women provided an abundant source of inexpensive labor to fuel the factories. Southern plantations using slave labor pro-duced the great export crops—tobacco, rice, forest products, and indigo—that made the American colonies prosperous. With tensions at a fever pitch, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, describing the atrocities of slave life. The book sold 300,000 copies in its first year and became the second best-selling book of the 19th century, following the Bible. By 1862, Lincoln was considering emancipating slaves under Confederate control as a military strategy to win the war. However, in some places, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the Underground Railroad was deliberate and organized. It is a subject that has been debated since the war first began in 1861. . The South, on the other hand, remained a region of small towns and large plantations. In Alabama, Secessionist William Lowndes Yancey argued angrily that the South would never find happiness until it left the Union and became an independent nation. .Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. .

Abraham Lincoln was the party candidate. Our logo, banner, and trademark are registered and fully copyright protected (not subject to Creative Commons). The role of slavery in bringing on the Civil War has been hotly debated for decades. Some built their own communities with telling names such as Promiseland and Fredonia. The novel’s popularity roused intense new resentment in the South. Entrepreneurs looking to develop these new industries demanded protection from cheap manufactured goods imported from Europe. In March 1861, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederates States of America, was quoted in the Savannah Republican: “The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution. Unable to find cheap labor from other sources, white settlers increasingly turned to slaves imported from Africa. Some fought on moral grounds.