Download Impending Crisis

 Although not recognized initially as a war to
free the slaves, the ultimate Northern
victory in the Civil War brought not only an
end to chattel slavery in American but also a
renewed faith in the indestructibility of the
United States Constitution.
 The Northerners rallied to arms to preserve
the Union – not to free the slaves.
 Southerners joined together under the
umbrella of “states’ rights” to protect their
homes from the Yankee invaders – not to
perpetuate their “peculiar institution.”
 When it was over, slavery no longer existed,
the slaves were freed, and the nation soon
became a true democracy where the white
race and the black race would live together,
no longer as one superior race owning the
other.
 Historian Bruce Catton proclaimed the end
of the war as a beginning, a new beginning
in which all Americans, black and white, are
called to task to further the “ideal of human
democracy.”
 Considered the first modern war, the
American Civil War was a total war in which
civilians became victims and the economies
were drastically affected.
 The conflict also spawned a new era of
warfare, which made use of the exploding
technology resulting from the Industrial
Revolution.
 The events that spurred the nation towards
a seemingly inevitable bloody civil war,
combined with the South’s failed attempt at
independence, defined American history.
 The causes are still debated today, and the
“Lost Cause” myth continues to be revered
throughout the South.
 Kenneth M. Stampp wrote that attempting
to identify the causes of the Civil War is
“most exasperating,” and that historians
“will never know…what caused the Civil
War.”
 Many complex issues precipitating the
ultimate schism
 No one definite answer to any one causal fact
 Historians continue to examine the evidence
postulating scholarly interpretations as to
what they believe, in fact, caused the war.
 Stampp noted that although no one cause
can or will be found, it is important that
writing about and research into the subject
continue.
 New material and new interpretations add
immeasurably to the understanding of
America’s most crucial period.
 Stampp and other historians organized
causes into seven “broad categories”
which taken together present a plausible
progression of causes.
 The North’s fear of a “Slave Power” and the
South’s fear of the Republicans;
 States’ rights verses nationalism;
 Problems of economic sectionalism;
 Inept politicians and “fireeaters” on both sides;
 The right and wrong of slavery;
 Majority rule and minority rights; and finally,
 the differences in cultures.
 Each of the seven categories mentioned,
although appearing to stand alone as a
single cause, has certain elements
interwoven with the others.
 Most notably the issue of slavery is
permeated throughout.
 The North developed the concept of Southern
“Slave Power,” an aggressive, well-organized
conspirital group of influential Southerners
whose aim was the establishment and
perpetuation of slavery throughout the entire
nation.
 This Northern concept of “Southern
Nationalists” bent on secession was vehemently
denied by Southerners and later dispelled by
historians sympathetic to the South as have no
basis for truth.
 The South on the other hand, viewed the
“Radical Republicans” as the party
attempting to gain power and dedicated to
violating Southern rights.
 They were the aggressors bent on destroying
the Union.
 This presents “conflicting interpretations of
the Constitution.”
 South Carolina’s “Declaration of the Causes of
Secession” is an excellent example of this
concept.
 Editorials in leading newspaper, however,
dispel the idea of secession and voice their
support for the unity of the nation.
 South Carolina was alone in her condemnation
of the attempt to deny states rights, proving the
lack of unity among the Southern states.
 The agrarian South and the industrialized
North were extremely diverse
 National monetary policies were alleged to
favor one section over the other.
 This economic difference created a class
struggle between capitalistic and a feudal
society which tore apart the nation.
 The image of “fire-eating” Southern politicians and
radical abolitionists stirring up their respective
populations is a common scene depicting the
antebellum decades.
 These “blundering politicians and irresponsible
agitators” make up the fourth category.
 These extremists have been given credit by
“revisionists” as providing the catalyst for separation
with their fiery rhetoric.
 Even Northern newspaper like the New York Herald
acknowledged the effects of Northern agitators on
disunion.
 The most singular issue became the most
controversial.
 The attempts to label slavery either right or
wrong were leading factors in bringing
about secession.
 Slavery evolved from an institution
protected by the Constitution to an abstract
ideal with inherent problems which could
not be rationally resolved.
 There are many examples of speeches
condemning slavery by such notable figures as
Stephen A. Douglas, William H. Seward,
Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, as well
as those from slavery’s champions, Alexander
H. Stephens and Jefferson Davis.
 Stephens went as far as to declare the
cornerstone upon which the Confederate
government rests was the “great truth that the
Negro is not equal to the white man, that
slavery, subordination to the superior race, is
his natural and moral condition.”
 With beliefs as intense as these voiced by
the Confederate vice-president, the issue of
whether slavery was right or wrong could
never be answered short of force.
 These two have been argued on both sides.
 Newspapers either supported or denounced
the fundamental principles of a
constitutional government when respective
sections viewed their rights being threaten
by either the majority of by the minority.
 The cultural differences between the North
and the South were great and many
historians examining them have concluded
that these differences made each section
unique.
 As such, radicals kept the pot boiling with
fiery rhetoric condemning each other’s way
of life.