If Abraham Lincoln Was Not Elected President, Would the Civil War Still Have Happened?
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If Abraham Lincoln was not elected president, would the Civil War still have happened?
Section one
The idea if civil war sounded devastating to the people of America in terms of loss of lives. However, it is among the major factors that contributed to the coming together of the States in America. There are many theories and beliefs explaining the causes of civil war in America, one being the election of Abraham Lincoln as the Americas first elect president (Sam 330).
The election of Abraham Lincoln as the first president of America did not contribute to the start of the civil war. There are various factors that propelled the war into existence;
To start with, ending of the Mexican war played a chief role in propelling the civil war into existence. Immediately the Mexican war came to an end, America ceded all the western territories. This posed some greater problems because the new territories would gain admission as States and thus slavery could continue existing. To get rid of this, the congress decided to come up with the 1850 compromise that basically freed California. This move was referred to as popular sovereignty (Charles, Laura, Pytlik, Karin 2011)
Moreover, the Act of Fugitive Slave also contributed to the civil war. The law was passed in the year 1850 in line with the Compromise. The act forced the entire federal staff or rather official to arrest each and every slave who attempted to escape. Whoever did not comply with the law was severely fined. This became one of the greater controversies in the Compromise, thus it caused many abolitionists to stabilize their efforts against captivity. As a result, the act increased the railroad activities as many fleeing slaves found their way into Canada (Sam 1998).
In the year 1854, there was an act passed in the northern part of America, called the Kansas-Nebraska. It allowed the northern territories to make decisions for themselves whether they were for the slavery of freedom they decided this by the popular sovereignty. After about two years, these territories became among the most violent regions that fought anti-slavery (Charles, Laura, Pytlik, Karin 2011). Thus, the reported events in these regions are said to be among the factors that led to the commencement of the civil war.
John Brown is among the renowned abolitionists who were against the slavery in America. He majorly opposed slavery in the northern part of America. In the year 1859, John led a squad of seventeen young men to raid a ferry located in Virginia (Harpers Ferry). His principal aim was to start a slave uprising by the use of the captured ferry. Nevertheless, after the capture of various buildings, John and his men were either killed in cold blood or taken captives by troops who were under command of Colonel Robert. This event was among the chief stimulators of war in the year 1861 (Charles, Laura, Pytlik, Karin 2011).
Numerous constitutions became operational and underway immediately after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was put into action. In the year 1857, there was a portion of the Lecompton constitution that gave chance or rather allowed Kansas to be a slave state. In addition, James Buchanan attempted to force the entire constitution into operation as he supported the pro-slavery in United States. However, opposition arose in the year1858 and sent back the Kansas to the ballot. This though delayed the statehood, the constitution was rejected the constitution in order for the Kansas state to be free from slavery.
Therefore, civil war did not necessarily arise from the election of Abraham Lincoln as the first president of America. He was simply among the abolitionists who supported the anti-slavery.
Section two
Prior to the presidential elections, most of the southern states had made it clear that in case of election of Lincoln as a president of the United States, they will be forced to secede from the union. Amongst the reasons that had been given for the resentment to resentment to Lincolns presidency was his opposition to slavery. This is a clear indicator that had Abraham Lincoln not won the elections, then the chances of the civil war still happening would be so minimal (Charles, Laura, Pytlik, Karin 2011).
The election of Abraham Lincoln led to the precipitation of the attempt at secession by most of the southern states. The power holders in those states had made declarations of the placing in jeopardy of the survival of their vital institutions of slavery since the election of Abraham Lincoln meant the election of an anti-slavery man. In the absence of the election of Lincoln would mean that the states have been consequently deprived of their popularised reason for leaving the union. This implies that in the absence of Lincoln, there would be no secession. Since the war has always been attributed to the secession, mostly in defence of Fort Sumter, S, C. by firing cannons,