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Introduction
The Civil War was the hardest time America had ever known, and slavery became its major driving force and the primary reason for it to happen. During many decades, the country was moving towards this war and even though some compromises were reached to solve slavery conflicts, none of them, in fact, could solve those and only postponed the inevitable.
A Series of Compromises and Acts that Contributed to the Civil War
By the end of the eighteenth century, the southern states of the country had already acquired the status of pro-slavery ones. The majority of the northern states, on the contrary, wished to end slavery once and for all. Since desires did not match, the North and South could not agree on too many points when it came to politics, and many so-called compromises followed. However, even though they had such a name, none of them was a compromise exactly – each subsequent agreement gave more and more power to pro-slavery states and was a proof of the unwillingness of those to end slavery.
Firstly, there was the Three-Fifths Compromise, which stated that every slave should be counted as 3/5 of a free person when it came to the number of each states’ representatives in the Congress and the voting rights (Choby, 2010, p. 55). Although it seemed like a change for the better since it finally provided slaves with some political power, it was not. Instead of giving power to slaves, the compromise gave too much of it to their owners, increasing the influence of pro-slavery people in the Congress. Thus, it contributed to the extension of slavery.
Then, the Missouri Compromise was signed. It gave Missouri the status of a slave state while Maine gained the status of a free state (Bessette & Pitney, 2013). As they say, it was reached to not violate the balance of the free-slave states ratio. However, it only proved one more time that the South did not want the slavery to end and wanted it to expand into new territories. Besides, the compromise escalated the conflict between the North and the South since it established the line, which separated slave and free stated from each other. It was evident that this rule would be violated sooner or later.
With the passage of time, the debates over slavery became more and more fervent. To stabilize the situation, one agreement was not enough anymore. So, in 1850, a series of arrangements, known as the Compromise of 1850, has been reached (The Library of Congress, 2015a). Although those made California a free state, they benefited pro-slavery states even more (because of the Fugitive Slave Act, for example) and the Northern ones became furious. However, the compromise still postponed the Civil War for ten more years.
Starting with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the situation worsened significantly. First of all, it terminated the Missouri Compromise, allowing the slavery north of the Missouri Compromise line (36° 30´ latitude) (The Library of Congress, 2015b). Secondly, it had countless adverse consequences, such as violent confrontations between proslavery and antislavery Kansas citizens. In fact, it became “a prelude to the Civil War” (The Library of Congress, 2015b).
Finally, there was the Dred Scott decision. It refers to the famous case of Dred Scott v. Stanford. That is when the Supreme Court officially stated that slaves were deprived of any citizenship privileges and could not be called citizens at all (Bardes, Shelley, & Schmidt, 2010, p. 149). Slavery was confirmed and justified constitutionally (Bardes et al., 2010, p. 149). This case gave the Northern states one more proof that the South never tried to compromise but only wanted to preserve slavery and finally made the Civil War unavoidable.
Why is Slavery Incompatible with our Political and Economic System?
That is self-evident that the concept of slavery contradicts both political and economic systems of the modern United States. First of all, slavery violates the very fundamental human rights protected by the Constitution. The prime example is the Fifth Amendment, which says that “no person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (Fifth Amendment, n.d.). It also is not compatible with the democratic lines.
Secondly, slavery promotes economic inequality and hinders economic development and growth, since all profits of slavery belong to the owners and do not play any role in the product chain, lowering the total economic output (Datta & Bales, 2013, p. 206). Besides, that is like the stick and carrot policy: a stick makes people do what they have to, that is, only the required minimum, while a carrot encourages them to do their best, increasing the productivity of their work and boosting the economy as such. Finally, the US has many policies that are impossible to coexist with slavery. For example, the country prohibits the trade and importation of any slave-made goods (Datta & Bales, 2013, p. 209).
Driving Forces that Led to the Civil War
With this in mind, it can be concluded that both the abolition of slavery and the Civil War were inevitable, and the events of many decades prove that. If to talk about driving forces that led to the Civil War, first of all, there were too radical differences between the South and the North. They were unable to understand each other and wanted completely different things. Secondly, neither of sides wanted to compromise. Both the North and the South just strived to get what they wanted at any cost. Finally, fights between proslavery and antislavery population made the Civil War inevitable.
References
Bardes, B., Shelley, M., & Schmidt, S. (2010). American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Bessette, J., & Pitney, J. (2013). American Government and Politics: Deliberation, Democracy and Citizenship (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Choby, B. (2010). Liberty in America, Past, Present and Future: A Prescription for America. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
Datta, M. N., & Bales, K. (2013). Slavery is Bad for Business: Analyzing the Impact of Slavery on National Economies. The Brown Journal of World Affair, 9(11), 205-223.
Fifth Amendment: An Overview. (n.d.). Web.
The Library of Congress. (2015a). Compromise of 1850. Web.
The Library of Congress. (2015b). Kansas-Nebraska Act. Web.
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