The secession of the Southern Confederacy

Question

Essay – In your opinion, what was the key factor leading to the secession of the Southern Confederacy in 1861? Explain. (You may refer to the reading above and to John Niven’s essay on Secession which follows).

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Answer

The key factor that led to the secession of the Southern Confederacy in 1861 was the abolition of slavery. In 1860, proponents of the independence of Southern Confederacy started to perceive Abraham Lincoln, the newly elected president, as a threat to their vital interests. These interests were to do with the issue of slavery. They were opposed to Lincoln not only because he was a republican from the Northern state of Illinois, but also because he was committed to preventing further spread of slavery.

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                The issue of whether slavery should be perpetuated or abolished was the cause of tensions that dated back to the days of American Revolution in 1776. Analysts say that the main reason why this revolution was perceived as incomplete was the issue of whether slavery should be abolished or not. Slavery was the mainstay of Southern Confederacy agriculture-based economy. It was in the best interest of capitalists in Southern Confederation that the institution of slavery should be retained.

The Federal Union that had been crafted in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention stirred controversy when individual states were given powers by the U.S constitution to regulate slavery within their jurisdictions. The southern states would not have accepted to be a part of the proposed Union without being given this power. By this time, a gradual process of emancipation had begun in all states that are north of Maryland. The emancipation process made slavery a sectional institution that was confined to South states, where 90 percent of the American blacks lived. 

The continued revolution that was bringing about an end to slavery coincided with increased demand for raw cotton in textile factories since the cotton ginnery had recently been invented (Baiyln, 1992). For this reason, slavery started to spread westwards within the southern states. The abolitionist movement that had suddenly emerged in the North in the 1830s imposed a threat to southern states which had already started slipping into minority status since 1790s.

The issue of slavery precipitated t many other underlying issues, including the right for equal opportunities in the process of expansion towards the West and the introduction of protective tariffs that benefited the Northern manufacturing industries at the expense of the Southern agricultural economy. The Southern slaveholders responded to the imposition of protective tariffs by northern states by conspiring to expand slave states westwards. By so doing, they would prevent northern farmers from settling in these western territories in order to benefit economically and socially.

In 1846, Northern congressmen campaigned against the introduction of slavery in all the states that had been acquired after the Mexican War.  The Southern states managed to win. This issue became so divisive that it dominated American politics in the 1850s. In fact slavery was the cause of rising sectional tensions that were experienced throughout the 1850s.

In the midst of the tensions, the industrial north was growing at a faster rate than the agrarian south. A Northern majority was developing, which was opposed to slavery, a practice it perceived as a moral wrong (Stampp, 1968). Northerners were beginning to realize that slavery was a barbaric act, a relic from the Union’s past.The Northerners also perceived slavery to be a contradiction to the ideals that had been provided for by the Declaration of Independence and degradation of the aspirations by the Northern states to pursue free labor and development of Christian values.

The unsuccessful attempt by John Brown, a sympathizer of southerners who were supporting slavery, to raid a Harpers Ferry federal arsenal brought the sectional tension to a climax. The southerners believed that Northerners were planning to instigate violence in the slave states. The republicans propelled Illinois’ Abraham Lincoln into presidency.  Southern radicals were not ready to accept Republican rule under Lincoln. Therefore,they organized a secession campaign.

References

Baiyln, B. 1992. The Ideological Origin of the American Revolution(The Enlarged Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Stampp, K. 1968. And the War Came: The North and Secession Crises, 1860-1861. Chicago: University of Chicago.