The Causes/origins of the Civil WarUntil the 1840s, the tensions between North and South remained relatively contained. The issue that started the tensions between the North and South, was the issue of the expanding of slavery. In the North, was the increasingly powerful abolitionist movement, and in the South, came a newly militant defense of slavery, and from the West, came a series of controversies that would ultimately tear the fragile union apart. Another tension was when David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, introduced an amendment to the appropriation bill prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. This amendment passed in the house, but not in the senate.
This debate would be called up repeatedly for years. The Southern militants contended that all Americans had equal rights in the new territories, including the right to move their slaves into them. There were many proposals and many debates about where slavery should be allowed and where it shouldnt be allowed. This drew tensions to a hair.
One believed that statehood could become the solution to the issue of slavery in the territories. As long as the new lands remained territories, the federal government was responsible for deciding the fate of slavery within them. When they became states, the state government should then be allowed to decide whether or not to have slavery allowed. This didnt work, and now tempers were now rising to dangerous levels. This crisis continued until the Compromise of 1850 and 1852.
This didnt last for long. By the end of 1860, the Union snapped. About half of the Southern states withdrew from the Union and the Civil war began.Words/ Pages : 287 / 24
