The Pivotal Role of Slavery in Fueling the U.S. Civil War (1780-1860)

Abstract

Cause of Civil War in the United States of America (1780-1860) Introduction Slavery played a significant role in fostering the American civil war. Ever since time immemorial, clear differences emerged between the South and the northern states attributed to slavery issue. The opinion of slave ownership between the North and the South state differed immensely. These differences led to many debates on the constitutionality of slave succession and ownership. Unfortunately, the conflicts grew in size and violence, leading to a brutal war whose effects is still felt to date. Though there are many events and turning points that fostered the civil war, this essay aims at analyzing tension between Mexicans and immigrants in 1829, the influx of immigration in the mid-1840s and the panic of 1857 as the most significant events that fostered the civil war. Role slavery played in driving a wedge between the North and the South. Slavery serves as a potential backbone of the American economy. The African Americans serve as the pioneer population that defined slavery role within the United States, which resulted in the rapid growth of this great nation’s economy. However, the slavery role enhanced the sectional conflicts between the Northerners and the Southerners, causing sound differences between the two states. In its simplest form, slavery is defined as legally owning other person/persons and forcing the owned characters to work or obey the slave owner. It is an act of categorizing possessed persons as properties or assets of the owner with no rights beyond their owner wish. Just as a person legally owns lands and other assets and has ownership over them, so did the slave owners had the privilege over their slaves. The North seemed to have identified the immoralities coined around the slavery definition, which lead this state to advocate for the termination of slavery within the United States. Northerners expressed their hostility to the idea of slavery on moral grounds, while the Southerners continued to accept slavery as a potential fact of their lives. The North majored in industrial activities as the main economic activity within this state. The demand for labor in the industrial sector within this state was not as demanding as the agricultural plantations within the South. However, the North used slaves as their servants in their industries and employed wage-labor to compensate their contributions in these industries. Such initiatives define the North move to eliminate slavery and replace it with waged servant-hood for the good of all workers within its industrial sector. Contrary to the Northern urge to terminate slavery within the United States, the Southerners' desires for unpaid workers to enhance cotton picking at their disposal strengthened this state's desires and need for more slaves. Agricultural activities within the South, most especially the cotton, demanded intense labor, which the slaves provided at no cost. The South believed that African American were inferior to the whites and felt privileged to work for the White with or without pay. For this reason, the South advocated for slavery legalization to enjoy the availability of cheap labor in their plantation, which lead to enormous profits for these white merchants and the American economy in a great manner. Such differences defined sectional lines on slavery between the North and the South, defining a considerable gap between the two states. Three Major Events that led to civil war The tension between Mexican and American immigrants: In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery through the Texas stakeholders had evaded this law. To this effect, as a way of Mexican government expression of second thought towards the American settling, they passed a law prohibiting any new immigration, which contrary to their expectation paved the way for huge immigrations within Texas. From 1830 to 1833, a population of illegal American immigrants and their slaves, almost doubling the population of Mexican Texas, migrated into Texas. Such misfortunes lead Mexico to repeal its laws in...