The role of slavery in initiating the American Civil War has strenuously been discussed over many years. In South America, African slavery was extensively practiced in the nineteenth century. Southern states wanted to do away with laws that did not support slavery and even extend it to the western territory. The North part of America was against slavery in the western region of America. They led political forces to hinder the extension of slave life from the Southern states to their territory. Slavery was the critical issue to the outbreak of conflict in America, causing the civil war.
In America, the US constitution Bill of Rights disregarded slavery. Both the North and the South had a union that formed their laws. The south states wished to abolish the laws and expand slavery in all parts of America. “Americans in the South believed they needed African slaves to offer labor in their farms for their farming prosperity,” says Bellani et al. (2017). Alternatively, the Northerners embraced the rights of their workers, allowing them to benefit from the fruits of their labor. In 1860, South Carolina delegates decided to leave the union, claiming that states that did not hold slaves had increased hostility towards slavery institutions. South Carolina stepped down from her responsibility in the union, which caused the conflict, leading to the war (Walters, 2017). Northerners fought with the ultimate goal of supporting the union.
Early 1820, the Missouri Compromise which fought against the spread slavery was passed. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 regulated the growth of slavery in the western territories. In 1819, Representative James Tallmadge had tried to put in an antislavery change during the Congress meeting (Walters, 2017). However, there followed a bitter debate over bondage and the government’s authority to control slavery. The amendment that Tallmadge had introduced suggested liberation of the slaves who had attained twenty-five years and placed an embargo on further enslavement (Walters, 2017). Conflicts and disagreements suspended the Congress without sorting out the inquiry of Missouri. Walters (2017) argues, “Later the Congress held another meeting where Maine was made a free state and Missouri made a slave state.” The Missouri Compromise authorized the state legislature to free the races which were in slavery.
The Fugitive State Law of 1850 needed the US government to diligently help slaveholders retrieve the slaves who had run away for their freedom. Although the North was against the law, the Fugitive law supported people who owned slaves (Wells, 2020). “The laws strictly disciplined those found hiding or helping slaves,” Wells (2020) says. United States marshals were instructed to find escaped slaves who were seeking freedom and get them back to their owners (Wells, 2020). The officers who would violate the command would face corresponding fines of a thousand dollars. Wells (2020) says, “Slave owners would pay the commissioner for assisting them find their slave back.” The North, who sought to abolish slavery and oppression of workers, claimed that the act of paying commissioners for the recaptured slaves was bribery (Wells, 2020). Abolitionists fought the Fugitive laws by motivating citizens to oppose the trials of imposing the laws.
In the early days of 1865, many black people continued in slavery. Nevertheless, the Confederate government and the army were falling apart. Even though the Confederates had an aspiration for the reassertion of slavery in the Southern region, the war was too much for them, and they were no longer able to manage slaves. Slaves decided that fleeing would be an excellent choice to escape bondage. The American Civil War came to an end and the slaves eventually gained their freedom.
