Essay about The American Civil War was Avoidable - 1142 Words

The American Civil War was Avoidable The explosion of the American Civil War was caused by a vast number of conflicting principles and prejudices, fueled by sectional differences, and set afire by a very unfortunate set of political events. Undoubtedly, the central theme of almost all of the events that led up to the Civil War was one way or another, related to the dispute of slavery. Throughout the nineteenth century, slavery-related tensions brewed to such an extent, that politicians often took accustom to avoiding the hot topic altogether, because they were too scared of either starting a big political feud, or losing votes from one side of the issue or the other. More specifically, three events that were most instrumental in†¦show more content†¦If the parties involved wanted to avoid a war, the smartest move would have been to shoot down the bill initially. Douglas and the South should have approached the issue more subtly. Douglas could have introduced a compromise with the North, in exchange with th e intentions of applying popular sovereignty in the areas. Even though it reinforces true democracy, introducing popular sovereignty contradicts the provisions of the Missouri Compromise which would only create more political drama. A bill that was intended to repeal an important slavery-related compromise would do nothing but destroy all stability between the political parties. The Missouri Compromise left much ambiguity regarding specific cases, so the rulings of the courts played a major role in the political grey areas; thus, slavery was a very sensitive issue in the Supreme courts as well as in Congress. Dred Scott, a slave, had been purchased by a citizen of Missouri. Scott and his master had spent time in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was prohibited. After his master ¡Ã‚ ¯s death in 1846, Dred Scott sued for his freedom, claiming that his journey to free soil and the fact that his master had died while he was in free soil had made him free. The Supreme Court, like the country itself, was veryShow MoreRelated The American civil war: causes and conflicts Essay1621 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Civil War, which began in 1861 to 1865, has gone down in history as the one of the most significant events to have ever occurred in the United States of America, thus far. At that time, questions had arose wondering how the United States ever got so close to hitting rock bottom, especially being that it was a conflict within the country itself. 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