American Civil War can be considered one of the most important and iconic armed conflicts in the history of the U.S. It belongs among the first conflicts that actively incorporated the industrial warfare advancements. Furthermore, it had a strong ideological background, centering around the contrast of slavery and equality (Hall; Clifton). The political unrest associated with it had already started in the beginning of the 19th century (Parish, Preface). It required a great political effort and compromises to stall the impending conflict until its final outbreak in the second half on the century. The effort put in stalling the conflict explains why the Civil War did not occur earlier. In the meantime, the accumulating tension that manifested during and after several events shows why the war did not occur later.
Among the efforts to ease the unrest in the political scene belong the compromises of 1820, 1850 and the Act of Kansas-Nebraska. The former two concern the adjustment of the state borders, along with establishing the regulations regarding slavery (Parish). The main controversial issue was the political balance in the parliament between the free states and the states that supported slavery. The U.S. expansion that required the alignment of new territories to the one of the opposing sides invoked the balance issues. Consequently, the compromises were designed to split territories and provide both sides with a state adhering to a respective policy.
The compromises managed to postpone the problem, however, it did not solve it: the northern states were unsatisfied with the policy and demanded change. The dissatisfaction reflected in the rise of virulent and hostile ideologies, such as abolishment (Parish). The uncertainty on the slavery question in the new states outraged the northern politics, which led to the failure of the creation of a Republican political party comprised mostly of the northern states (Parish). It showed the impossibility of future compromises due to the ever-decreasing efficiency of each consequent one.
The social unrest caused by the political instability can be seen in the riots, such as the raid on Harper’s Ferry. It was organized in 1859 by the abolitionist John Brown; he attempted to capture the arsenal and arouse enslaved people to the open riot. Despite Brown failing to succeed, his example quickly became viral in the mass media and for many Northern abolitionists he became a martyr (Parish). However, the local outbreaks only foreshadowed the upcoming conflict. One of the last draws of the Civil War were the presidential elections of 1860. Since the North had greater human and economic resources than the South, the president elections resulted in the victory of a president not even presented in the bulletins of the South states (Parish).
Works Cited
Parish, Peter J. The American Civil War. Routledge, 2020.
Hall, Andrew et al. “Wealth, Slaveownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: An Empirical Study of the American Civil War.” American Political Science Review, vol. 113, no. 3, 2019, pp. 658-673.
Clifton, Ellis. “Slavery in the North: Forgetting History and Recovering Memory.” Journal of American History, vol. 106, no. 2, 2019, p. 467.