Was the Civil War inevitable Essay Example

the North and South regions.

As the patterns of living in the North and South grew apart, so did their political beliefs. The North saw the need for a centralized government to develop transportation systems, protect trade and finances, and regulate currency. They supported a loose interpretation of the US Constitution and desired to grant more power to the federal government. Conversely, the South wished to reserve unspecified powers for individual states. They opposed government-sponsored internal improvements like roads, railroads, and canals. The South relied less on the federal government compared to other regions, leading Southerners to see no reason to strengthen it. Additionally, Southern patriots feared that a strong central government might intervene in the matter of slavery. These issues set the stage for the inevitable conflict that lay ahead.

Between 1846 and 1848, questions about territorial expansion fueled sectional conflict. After the war ended, the United States had an equal number of free and slave states, but the new land acquired threatened to disrupt this balance. Any resolution regarding slavery was bound to create controversy. The Southern states were deeply upset by the notion that the federal government could prohibit slavery in the Western territories. They believed it would limit the number of slave states in the Union while free states continued to multiply. Many Southerners feared that as the government became increasingly dominated by free states, it would eventually jeopardize established slaveholdings. This led to strong opposition in the South against any attempts to impede the expansion of slavery. If the federal government did manage to exercise this power, many Southern political leaders threatened secession as a means of protecting states' rights. The idea

of extending the Missouri Compromise line of 36 30 further angered those in favor of abolishing slavery, as it would permit its practice in New Mexico and southern California. The third option, popular sovereignty, which allowed each territory to decide for itself, failed to please either group. This situation escalated and thrust the nation into crisis.The American Civil War became unavoidable as the social, economic, and political differences between the two regions grew over time. These differences, which can be traced back to colonial times, continuously pushed the two sections further apart. The intense efforts of each region to assert their views made it difficult to reach a compromise. Compromises were crucial in maintaining unity within the Union, but when compromises were not possible, tensions escalated.