To What Extent Was The Civil War Predictable?

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, …show more content…
As Henry David Thoreau describes, “The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war” (Civil Disobedience). Thoreau explains how one disregards the opposing opponent for the sake of refusing to cooperate with the other. The South refuses to agree with the North based off on the differences of their own opinions and their very differently unique ways of life. Their internal problems with one another escalates to another level of unacceptability. They could not put slavery aside to discuss other issues, and this led to slavery becoming the main cause of the Civil War. A war was inevitable, because the Union was like a rubberband being stretched to the limit and then snapping. The weight of slavery was pulling the Union apart, and then it finally snapped after no more amends to the relationship of the North and the South were made, until after the war, during …show more content…
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 brought Missouri into America as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Everything above the Louisiana Purchase Boundary line, with the exception of Missouri, banned slavery. This action resulted in maintaining an equal representation for both the North and the South in the Senate. Following this, the Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted as a free state, however popular sovereignty would be used in the land of the Mexican Cession. This caused controversy within the states. Not long afterwards, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 took place. This repealed the Missouri Compromise. Kansas and Nebraska were both to vote using popular sovereignty to decide on slavery. Both pro-slavery settlers and anti-slavery settlers rushed to the area to gain the upper hand of the states, resulting in absolute chaos. As a result states’ rights and Manifest Destiny played a role in the cause of the Civil War. (kincaid’s class