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Why the South Succeeded From The North In The Civil War
This compromise said that the territory east of California given to the United States by Mexico was divided into the territories of New Mexico and Utah, and they were opened to settlement by both slaveholders and antislavery settlers. The results reflected great hostility between the slave and free states. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. It was introduced by Stephen Douglas, and it stated that the two states vote for themselves on the issue of slavery. A conflict developed in Kansas between pro-slavery settlers from Missouri and antislavery newcomers who began to move into the territory from the northeastern states. This was known as “Bleeding Kansas.” The abolitionists played a major role in shaping the views of many Northerners. These people were fully against slavery and its expansion and most of the time took matters into their own hands to get their point across.
The last main conflict that led to succession was during the presidential election of 1860. Nominated was Abraham Lincoln. Now with Lincoln being elected the South really felt that expansion was being threatened, and because expansion was vital to the survival of slavery they also felt their way of life was being threatened. Lincoln said that succession was illegal and said that he intended to maintain federal possessions in the South. Southerners hoped the threat of succession would force acceptance of Southern demands, but it didn’t. South Carolina was the first to adopt an ordinance of succession and after that many other states followed. This achievement outraged the North, which caused the led to the Civil War.
The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict between the North and South. Other problems existed that led to succession but none were as big as the slavery issue. The only way to avoid the war was to abolish slavery totally although the South depended on slaves a great deal. Really there were no ways of avoiding succession because the North and South had opposite views of slavery.