The
events leading to the American Civil War were some of the most contentious
issues in the history of the United States. They involved a situation where
there were considerable questions concerning state sovereignty and the level of
authority that the federal government cold exercise over them. In addition,
there were also questions concerning the status of states within the American
Constitution, especially considering that they had gained independence as
independent states prior to the formation of the United States. These matters
of contention almost led to the demise of the nation as it had originally been
constituted and this situation was only avoided through a bloody civil war. In
this paper, there will be an attempt to make use of primary sources to gain an
understanding of the reasons the Confederate states felt justified to leave the
Union. The issues discussed will include state rights, slave ownership, and the
threat of the federal government to use force to enforce its policies.
One
of the biggest reasons behind the Confederate states choosing to leave the
Union was that the federal government interfered in states sovereign rights.
This argument was justified through the belief that the states that had formed
the Union had done so because out of their own free will as independent nations.
Therefore, they also had the right to determine their own internal affairs
without the interference of the federal government. Another justification was
that the role of the federal government was to ensure that there was the
advancement of the interests of all the states in such a way that it oversaw
their mutual defense, as seen during the war for independence from Great
Britain.
Apart from these functions, the federal government was to essentially make sure
that it left the states to determine their own futures because they had
absolute sovereignty over their own affairs. This attitude, held by most
Confederate states, especially South Carolina, was highly contentious because
the latter state had been among one of the biggest proponents of the formation
of a strong central government that would oversee the activities of all the
states within the Union. Moreover, because of the potential of the breakup of
the Union, then President Abraham Lincoln had made a speech urging for a
negotiated settlement of the conflict with Confederate states in such a way
that allowed them to gradually align their policies with those of the federal
government; ensuring that their rights as states were secured.
Another
issue that was used to justify secession was the idea that the federal
government had turned as tyrannical as that of the government of Great Britain
prior to the fight for American independence. South Carolina was especially of
the belief that it reserved the sovereign right to declare its independence
from the Union if it felt that the latter had become tyrannical.
It compared the federal government to Great Britain, which had involved itself
in so many commitments across the world that it had forced its burden on its
empire. According to the leadership of South Carolina, it was specifically
because the British parliament had sought to impose its will on the thirteen
American colonies, which had previously had the right to govern themselves,
that had led to the revolt that created the United States of America.
Therefore, this state seems to have believed that it reserved the right to
declare independence from the Union based on its right to rebel against any
form of tyranny that infringed on its right of self-determination. However,
President Lincoln, especially in his letter to Horace Greely, seemed to suggest
that he was a believer in the role of the federal government in guiding the
course of the Union. A result is that he sought to ensure that the conflict
between the states comes to an end because he believed in the restoration of
the authority of the Union over the states. His determination to end slavery was
based on his belief that it is the only way through which the Union can be
saved.
Thus, rather than exercising tyranny, the federal government seems have been
seeking to ensure that it advances the interests of the Union in general
because slavery is seen to be no longer feasible.
Another
matter of contention from the Confederate states that led to their secession
was that there was interference in their ownership of slaves. This argument was
based on the belief that non-slave owning states had taking the initiative to
impose their ideas on slave owning ones. South Carolina especially argued
against tribunals in states such as New York, which essentially declined to
ensure that they restored runaway slaves to their owners.
The interference with what they considered their rightful property made the
slave owning states feel that they were being discriminated against within the
Union and the result was that they sought to advance their own interests
through seceding from the Union and forming their own confederacy. This
initiative was opposed by the federal government, which believed that the time
had come to ensure that slavery was brought to an end.
With an increase in initiatives aimed at promoting free labor market, slavery
was no longer considered feasible and the result was that there was an attempt
by the federal government to ensure that it charted a more advanced future for
the nation based on industrialization. The attempt to achieve this goal seems
to have been considered a threat by the Confederate states, because they sought
to ensure that their slave owning rights were maintained through a withdrawal from
the Union.
One
of the biggest justifications for secession from the Union by Confederate
states was that the federal government had plans to bring about the forceful
removal of slavery in the South. Under such circumstances, they felt the need
to protect their interests against the tyranny of the federal government
through withdrawing from the Union and seeking to bring about a situation where
they had self-determination.
Their determination to attain freedom from federal jurisdiction failed to have
considered that the federal government had no intention of making them end
slavery immediately. Instead, the process was to have been gradual in such a
way that ensured the Southern states were able to adjust to the economic
realities that were increasingly becoming prevalent at the time. Therefore, the
decision by the Confederate states to leave the Union was immature because it
failed to consider that they had a lot of bargaining power with the federal
government that would have been to their advantage. Moreover, these states
failed to consider that the federal government was determined to end slavery
for humanitarian reasons.
Instead, they only saw the situation from their own perspective, which was
based on the belief that slaves were property, irrespective of their status as
fellow human beings. This was a significant challenge when it came to the
federal government, which saw slavery as no longer being feasible.
In
conclusion, the primary sources dealing with the secession of the Confederate
states show that their actions were premature and that they were motivated more
by the need to maintain a slave economy rather than defending themselves
against tyranny. These states seem to have been determined to ensure that they
advanced their own interests in such a way that negotiations with a federal
government that they considered hostile did not take place. A result was that
the United States ended up in a civil war that was to determine the survival of
the Union.
