We have seven continents, out of which two are parts of America. Did it never strike to you why the division? Why not just America? Well, there lies an intense political and socially-concerned conflict that led to this groundbreaking disunion.
Slavery and Tariffs.
Yes, you guessed it right, you will be reading about the key events that led to the formation of Confederates and ignited a four-year-long war that ended with President Abraham Lincoln’s victory of passing the law for abolishing slavery.
North and South have always been at loggerheads over the high tariffs and discordant economic policies. Slavery in America started in the early 16th century, with the slumlords forcefully bringing slaves in the quantity of 30-50 slaves from Africa. They were made to work on tea, rice plantation on a lower wage, compared to their European counterpart. The northern coast was industrialized, and they severely opposed slavery, and they prefer hiring wage laborer for their economic, agricultural needs. Although, few businessmen drew substantial benefit from south side’s income and hence indirectly favored slavery. The south side of America, being agrarian was heavily dependent on the slaves for their source of income, and therefore the culture of slavery was prominent there. The ensuing economic crisis due to exhaustion of suitable land to grow tobacco, growing exigency of cotton further deep-seated servitude.
- Rhode Island became the first of thirteen colonies to introduce the anti-slavery law which was the first altercation of the North and South, in June 1774.
- 1807 saw Great Britain abolishing slave import and export. The United States followed suit with Northern region working on ending the ingress, but since the southern region had a booming cotton plantation industry, due to the continuous demand for slaves, the establishment grew stronger.
- The Missouri- Kansas conflict or Bleeding Kansas that went on from 1854-1856 was an aftermath of the implementation of the Kansas Nebraska Act. The Act gave freedom to the settlers to decide whether to go free or be a slave-holder on the ground of Popular Sovereignty. This further ignited the tension between the region to the extent of civil war threats.
- The Raid on Harper’s Ferry in October 1859, by John Brown, was galvanized by the helplessness of the center government to abolish slavery. This uprising was soon vanquished by the future Confederate General and John Brown was sentenced to death and hanged. This was the ultimate cry of the division of a country on humanitarian grounds.
- Soon enough in 1860, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of America with zero votes from the Southern region. Abraham Lincoln, in his previous debate speeches, had made it abundantly clear that his ambition and first provision to be implemented, if he won, is pass laws to abolish slavery. The first state to severe relation post- Lincoln’s victory was South Carolina. This soon led to the primary southern states draft their ordinance of secession.
- The spread of secession led to the formation of a Confederate party with Jefferson Davis, elected as the President. The Confederate comprised of Mississippi, Florida Alabama, Georgia, and Texas.
- President Lincoln tried to stop the division of Union by addressing the concerns in his first inaugural speech. Soon Union supporters were attacked by Fort Sumter by the Confederates troops.
- With Lincoln trying to control the situation by sending in more troops, more and more border states started to secede. This led to the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia which officially began the Civil War.
So this was the start of the fire that ended slavery for America. If you wish to gain further information on Civil War for the educational purpose or for your kids to have a comprehensive knowledge on the subject you can check out on line civil war lesson plans, which are available in simulation, as well.