Uncle Tom's Cabin Conflict

Improved Essays
In the 1800s, the United States faced its biggest problem in all of American history: the Civil War. In April of 1861, the war that would either mend or tear the union apart began. Tension between the north and south broke loose, spiraling into chaos. The pro-slavery south was competing with the anti-slavery north over territory and the fate of the institution of slavery. President Abraham Lincoln called on the Civil War not as a war on race, but a war on unity. So, leading to the war, slave-states occupied the south and free-states occupied the north. The new western land was determined by the Missouri-compromise: any new state created above the Missouri compromise line was considered a free state, below was pro-slavery. Many challenges came …show more content…
In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the defiance of slave to his slave owner shows the relationship between the north and south leading up to the Civil war. Tom is a slave who helped another slave, Lucy, with her cotton picking because she was sick. Two other slaves tell the evil slave-owner, Legree, that Tom has been helping Lucy. Legree orders Tom to whip Lucy, but he refuses. Legree gets furious and orders the other slaves to beat him until he is dead as he is called a beast. This quick scene shows a similar tension between the north and south. The south had not owned the north, however the after the Dred Scott case, any state could technically be a slave state. The south was defined by is pro-slavery principals; southerners could come up to the northern regions to claim a slave. So in correlation, the south had inhibited all of the United States. Slavery and territorial issues are the two leading reasons for the start of the Civil War, while the ownership of parts of a human are seen to correlate between the mindset and motives of the northerners and the …show more content…
Although the south did have much land and their ridiculous institution of slavery, their greed catalyzed the nation to fight one another based on who is a citizen and who is a object. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the south is represented by the evil slave owner, Legree. Legree argues with the slave and beats him until he is dead. Tom represents the north, spiritually. Tom states how a soul can not be bought, to which the northerners believed that slaves are people and not objects. However the south argued that they own the labor and physicality of the slaves; therefore controlling the whole slave. Through the Fugitive Slave Law and the verdict of the Dred Scott v. Sandford, the south had been able to control the north with implanting slavery in the northern regions. These bias issues in the government let the northerns prepare for war. The south would regard to the verdict of the Dred Scott case, “They (the blacks) had no rights to which the white man was bound to respect.” (Roger B. Taney). The north would argue the exact opposite. The Civil War tore the nation apart while mending it’s people

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Slavery was an issue in slave states from South and Free states North in 1800s. South states were the agricultural area so they needed slaves and support it, but not the North state. Several disputes exists, Congress performed compromises to settle these disputes. But these compromises could not hold for longer. (1820 - 1861: HOLDING THE UNION TOGETHER)…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Constitution was created to replace the Articles of Confederation, since the Articles of Confederation granted too little power to the federal government, which caused Shay’s rebellion. Within the Constitution, there are laws that both limit and give power to the federal government and other laws that protected citizen’s natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness or property. The Constitution that was once the cause of national unity caused the Union to split into two separate sides: the abolitionist North, and the slave-holding South. The reasoning of this is mainly due to the Constitution’s ability to adapt to changes according the circumstances.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Patrick Bauer 11/9/15 HIST-105-519 Harriet Jacobs Essay In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, Jacobs’ tells of the many trails and hard experiences that the average slave goes through from day to day. From malicious punishments to extreme acts of hatred we see the treatment that African-Americans were subject to as they spent their lives in servitude to the slaveholders. These actions of the southern slaveholders are personified in this book by the first person account of Jacobs’ as the slave-girl Linda who she uses to help us better understand and imagine the hardships that she and other slaves had to fight through.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The issue of slavery in the United States became paramount in the late nineteenth century. There were two clear sides in this debate, those pro-slavery and those anti-slavery. This division was quite geographical, pitting the South against the North. Regional differences between the North and the South led to fierce conflict, particularly over the issue of slavery. The Northern states were free states, against the idea of slavery.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Since the founding of the U.S. a struggle for economic power has existed. John C. Calhoun voiced the opinion of countless southern farmers, on the tariff of abominations. “the proposed tariff was in fact little more than “an immense tax on one portion of the community to put money into the pockets of another.” The Northern and Southern states evolved into two very different territories, because of their vastly different economies. The diverse needs of the different economies caused economic policies controversial, because each policy could only support one economy.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Especially toward the 1850s, anti-slavery sentiment arose in northern states as tensions between northern and southern states that supported slavery increased. This political settlement between North and South lasted only four years. Southern appeals for enforcement of the Fugitive Slave act so that slaves who moved to the North had to be returned to their masters. On the other hand, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin impassioned debates over “bleeding Kansas.” Extremist and underground railroad which helped slaves to run to a free country appeared as the confrontation against slavery by north and south became fierce.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Was the Civil War predictable? Did any events indefinitely cause the South to desire a split from the North? The North and the South had a growing tension between them for many reasons, and the northern abolitionists encouraged a Civil War through their actions of protest. Although many Americans were affected minimally by the changes of the nation, abolitionists inevitably foresaw a Civil War because the growing tensions between the North and the South became apparent in political and social changes, slavery issues, and the growing occurrence of rebellions. Political and social changes occurred in many ways, including The Second Great Awakening, Lincoln’s presidential election to office, the way the North and the South dealt with one another,…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1800’s, the United States was divided and vulnerable, as a result of opposing beliefs and philosophies in the north and the south, particularly surrounding slavery. The nation was divided into Yankees, who occupied the northern states and opposed slavery, and Confederates, consisting of those in the southern states who exploited the slave trade. The American Civil War was a detrimental consequence of this conflict and opposition of views, which had both short term and enduring effects on American society and lifestyle. Prior to the Civil War in 1861, American was a nation divided by philosophies; the north and the south. The South strongly believed in States’ Rights, where power is held by individual states.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There were many controversial issues over slavery conflicting between the northern and southern states of America during the 1800’s. There was practically a geographical line dividing the two halves of the country. During the early and mid 19th century, the northern and southern states of America had major events occur such as the Missouri Compromise, the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the Compromise of 1850 that caused growing tensions in the states that lead to the splitting of the country and the start of the Civil War. In 1819 there were an equal number of slave states and free states in America, but there were a growing number of settlers moving west of the Mississippi River.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction Crucial to understanding the differences between the northern and southern United States on the brink of the Civil War is the institution of slavery. From the moment following the American Revolution, slavery became a normal part of southern society, and southern politicians were always on the defense of what they considered habitual. However, this defense did not start off in an aggressive fashion. It was not until the conflict surrounding the Missouri Compromise that southerners suddenly turned the tides, becoming more aggressive in their defense of what most considered a part of southern life. Because southerners realized their southern way of life, i.e., slavery, could be attacked on the floors of Congress, many southern…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction The American Civil war occurred during the years 1861 – 1865, and as stated in the article titled “The Civil War”, it “was the cauldron that created modern America. The war preserved the Union, ending the possibility of the American nation dividing into two or more separate countries, in the process altering the nations politics and government, creating a strong presidency and an increasingly important federal infrastructure” (Finkelman sec. 1) However, the American Civil War did not come without coast, as wars never do, an estimated 620,000 men lost their lives in the line of duty. One of the many, yet major causes of this war, came about through slavery; and the standpoint that the northern states took, wanting to abolish slavery,…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As The United states began a time of expansion into the west in the late 1830’s, debates over whether or not slavery would be permitted in those territories vacated by the native Americans caused great disagreements in Government and Society. While slavery is the most obvious reason for succession, Westward expansion and the rights of the new states were responsible for much of the violent conflicts that lead to the Civil War. States struggled to find common ground, but the differences between North and South and new Immigration made A series of compromises were created but by 1860 compromise had failed. Southerners feared an increase in free states would create an imbalance of power and create an advantage to the abolition of slavery.…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction During the 1800s the North and South came to a crossroads; their outlooks on slavery were rather diverse. The South did not wish to lose its moneymaking, comfortable, and rapacious slavery industry, especially plantation slavery. However, on the other hand, the North was rising up with a sense of conviction toward the nature of slavery. The South pursued the expansion of slavery and the North sought its abolishment. Slavery was the most disputed subject in that time.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The north believed in a free labor system where everyone had a chance to be successful if they worked hard in their industrialized manufacturing economy. The south believed in slave labor, where planters could get rich from free forced labor in their agricultural dominated economy. The north believed that slavery was a flawed system that created an aristocratic planter class, not allowing for self made success. The south believed that their economy and success relied on slavery, and that without it, the whole economy would collapse. The north believed that secession was unconstitutional, while the south believed that it was constitutional.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s modern society, it is hard to grasp the concept of the institution of slavery; however, it was a harsh reality for millions of African Americans during early United States history. Although slavery was an enormous and profitable system for the white Americans, growing zeal for the abolition of slavery increased leading up to the Civil War. Family values, white job protection, and Christian morals were the most influential underlying forces in the growing opposition and resentment toward slavery from 1776 to 1852. Family values were a key component in Southern culture, and in the years leading up to the Civil War, an increasing number of individuals realized the damagingly tight grip that the institution of slavery had on families. The second great awakening not only created a change in gender roles for women,…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays