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Veteran Affairs

2011-11-17 13:00:57

Causes of the Civil War

A: The Fugitive Slave Act caused an upheaval in the North for the runaway slave. The novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe was responsible for a Southern feeling of resentment. By the same token, it converted more of the North to the antislavery side. Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduced the fateful Kansas-Nebraska Act, in 1854. One special provision of the act is as follows: Popular Sovereignty for voters of the state would decide to be either slave or free. The other special provision ended the Missouri Compromise for all time. The Kansas-Nebraska Act raised the arguments for and against slavery to a new high. The extremists, the fire-eaters, who invited violence by their words, were not only on the South but also the North. Many Northerners, who previously were friendly to the South, now feared “slave power”. John Brown, a Northern trouble-maker found his counterpoint in the South. Settlers from both the North and South came to Kansas. Kansas was thrown open for settlement under conditions that guaranteed bloodshed. When votes were taken neither would win. The loser would cry that the vote was rigged, boycott the election and proceed to construct a new election. Then there were two legislatures one slave and one free. The writing of state or territorial constitutions was another area of disagreement between the slaves and the free. “The crime against Kansas” as it became known was a rallying cry from the North. John Brown was remembered by both the North and South. Nothing could be said on either side of the Mason-Dixon line. Both political parties slit and reformed again. Abraham Lincoln was elected not by the people but by the Electoral College. For this was before the direct election by the people. With his election the states started to succeed. First was South Carolina, their legislature stayed in session until after the election. At that time on December 20, 1861, the state legislature called for a state convention. The vote was to secede from the union, the vote was unanimous. Leaders in congress worked to iron out the Crittenden Compromise but even though it was an attempt to keep the states together it failed when President Lincoln refused to accept it. The leaders, Lincoln for the North and Jefferson Davis for the South, were well thought of. Lincoln was too conservative and Davis cold and unenthusiastic. They faced each other across the gulf. It made no difference; some states had a governor for secession and a legislature and vice versa. Constitutional parties also made their own way. Some Southerners were for breaking apart the union, for they owed large sums to Northern industries. The Northern industries did not want to do anything that would jeopardize the money they owed. But it was too late for compromise. Soon there was war west of the Mississippi. For Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas the time had come. This area had a head start in the civil war of the 1850’s. Missouri might have been a Union state. The governor was for the South, the legislature was for the North and the constitutional convention at first vote for the union. But some went home others came in. Who was the legitimate legislature or Constitutional Convention was anybody’s guess. Missouri and Kansas furnished men for both sides. Missouri furnished irregular troops. Kansas did a little better in that their troops were in uniform, but their uniforms were also being worn by Missouri irregulars or border ruffians as they were called. Those who suffered the most were the small farmers as their farms and crops were destroyed. It was even worse when the young men of the family were pressed into military service by either side. The provision to pay a substitute to take their place in the military did little good for a farmer who lived from day to day or rather from crisis to crisis.