Cause And Effect Essay: Causes Of The Civil War

Causes of the Civil War In the mid 1800s, tensions were brewing between the Northern states and the Southern states due in part by the unjust treatment of slaves, which led to a full on Civil War in 1861, just as Abraham Lincoln was being sworn in as president. Stemming from slavery, there were many key events, with large significance behind them, that caused incessant bickering between the northern abolitionists and the pro-slavery southerners that resulted in a divided union. Tensions started to build drastically after the Fugitive Slave Act was introduced by Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850. In addition, the outcome of the Dred Scott v. Sandford case angered many people causing the northerners to desire to ban slavery everywhere …show more content…
Sandford Case, and the unnecessary secession of 7 of their (10) states caused many northerners to be strong abolitionists. While the two main goals of the northerners were to protect the union and prevent further expansion of slavery in the new territories, the south wasn’t afraid to go to war if that meant protecting slavery. The south undoubtedly instigated the Civil War for many reasons with the biggest being that they fired first on Fort Sumter. Also, slavery, dating all the way back to the 1500s when slaves first started being brought from West Africa to the United States on the Middle Passage, has continued to be a problem over the years. In effort to limit these issues, international importation of slaves was banned in 1808 with a federal law, but people in the south went against that law and continued to smuggle in large amounts of slaves for their own benefit. Although, they failed to realize that places like British Canada, where slavery had been banned in the mid 1800s, were actually benefiting more from them because that is where all of the slaves went to find