Chapter Summary: The Cause Of The Civil War

In the novel, the author concentrates on the South and their reasons for rebelling against the Union. One reason that is argued in this paper is that the South rebelled because they believed that the Union was infringing on their rights as a state and was contradicting the constitution. Through this argument, the Confederacy orchestrated a plan to appeal to the lower class and spur the nation toward war. Another argument made in the paper is that Abraham Lincoln didn 't pursue the eradication of slavery, but wanted to stop the progression of slavery in the South to eventually weed out the institution of slavery. These arguments are made through the reading of the novel. In the novel, the author evaluates the South and the meaning behind …show more content…
With an antislavery mindset, many opposed Lincoln especially the South. Lincoln came into his presidential term with the conflict over slavery already put into motion. This created a greater urgency to establish a common ground on the issue. He had to juggle the North and appease the South so he didn 't plunge the whole nation into war. He understood this concept so his idea was simply to appease the South. A civil war on the home front would create utter disarray. He was antislavery, but hoped for a peaceful elimination in the states. Internationally, slavery was outlawed and hoped the states would follow suite. The South couldn 't afford to loose business from Britain and he assumed they would find an alternative source of labor. This issue was too hot and profitable for the South, so they were ready to defend the institution of slavery. Lincoln could have released the Emancipation Proclamation years earlier, but he knew this would cause outright rebellion. For this reason, he held off and continued to hope for a peaceful solution. This hopeful solution never happened and the Civil war began. Lincoln’s platform for antislavery was a process that was meant to take time. Lincoln accounted for a resistance against his stance, but knew civil war could potentially end the United States. This is why Lincoln planned to slowly and systematically eradicate slavery in order to keep the fragile country