The coming of the Civil War caused the level of uneasiness to grow ever greater with the threat of more states seceding and the election of President Lincoln. It was barely a century since the Revolutionary War had ended, and the threat of a new war seemed just around the corner. This was not a war between external foes, but one between brothers. The secession of South Carolina in 1860 brought seemed to bring tensions between the northern and southern states to a head. Both John S. Preston and President Lincoln gave speeches that greatly influenced the war. Their respective speeches, “Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address” and “John Smith Preston on Recession,” both had a large impact on the events leading up to the Civil War. While analyzing the …show more content…
Preston was a large figure in southern politics, particularly in Virginia and South Carolina. He wrote an address for the Convention of Virginia on February 19, 1861. Mr. Preston contributed to the constant debate of whether the secession of states was even legal. In this speech he gave reasons as to why the southern secession is reasonable and valid. The non-slave holding states were invading the slave states, and Preston used these actions to further demonstrate his points. He stated that the free states were willing to even destroy their own government to get the rest of the Union to change to their views to be more in-line with their own. The Democrats saw this as unethical, even unlawful. While Preston did not have any issues with Northern Free States invading the Southern Slave States, he held the standing that Southern States seceding was illegal. The political union was seen to be “...unnatural and monstrous; and its offspring must be abortive and fruitless, save of that fearful brood of woes which must always come from such conjunctions” (John Smith Preston on Secession, 3). Regardless of his state of mind or his motivations, his actions from these views were not …show more content…
President from March 1861 through his untimely death in April 1865, as a result of his assassination. He was the country’s President throughout the Civil War. His election was no doubt a major factor in both the events in and leading up to the war. His first Inaugural Address certainly did not fail to influence the timing of the war. His remarks seemed to be in response to Mr. Preston’s statements, given the date and connection between the two documents. Despite President Lincoln stating, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so” (Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, 1). He was a strong Republican and it was these views that resulted in his being elected to the highest office in the United States. His opponents saw his election as a threat to their individual State’s rights. In the President’s eyes, the states could and should not be seceding. He believed that the Northern and Southern States were acting as if they were separating from a marriage, but when in fact this was much deeper both emotionally and geographically. President Lincoln directly addressed this when he said, “A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse,
The act of Southern rhetoric I have chosen to research and analyze is John C. Calhoun’s Clay Compromise Measures. John C. Calhoun, being from Charleston, South Carolina, was one of the South’s most famous senators during the time period from 1832 to 1850. He was then, and still is, known for ceaselessly defending the institution of slavery, promoting states’ rights, and being a radical nationalist. In fact, he often used the platform of states’ rights to argue his side for slavery.
During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.
During the Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln’s position on the practice of slavery had changed greatly from the start of the war to the end of it. He expresses his views on slavery through a variety of documents: both of his Inaugural Addresses, his letter to Horace Greeley and in the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Through these primary documents Lincoln demonstrates his initial feeling toward slavery as indifferent, for his priority was to keep the nation unified. As the war continued he stuck by his desire to keep the unity of the Union regardless of the state of slavery. By the end of the war, Lincoln called the practice of slavery an “offence” and that God “wills” the removal of its practice.
Venturing into the woods, smoke everywhere, bombs flying over your heads, people around you being shot down one by another. This was just the beginning of the Civil War, the harshest war in American history, especially for the Texans. It all started because Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and didn’t want slaves. But, why did the Texans fight? They wanted to keep slavery, protect states’ rights, and overall, for the love of their state, Texas.
On April 12, 1861, the Civil War was a war fought to determine the survival of the Union or independence for the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln, elected as the President representing the Republicans, supported the banning of slavery in all the U.S. territories. The Southern states viewed this as a violation to the Constitution, therefore, seven slave states formed the confederacy before Lincoln’s inauguration. Efforts for compromising failed, therefore both sides were prepared for war. Although, there may have been many different discussions on the underlying causes of the start on the war, it has been proven that the causes made the war in the end inevitable.
When president Lincoln got elected in 1860, however, the southerners felt intimidated and believed his election threatened slave labor, thus, they exited the Union. As mentioned earlier, their secession was peaceful and its only purpose was to preserve the southerners’ way of life. The Union, on the other hand, realized that their secession was not as simple as the southerners have thought, they knew that if they did not return to the Union, it would cause deep conflict in the near future. Before the secession, the country was already torn over the issue of slavery which weakened the nation, when the states left the union, the dividing of the nation was even greater and the Union was now at a great risk of having foreign invaders invade the country. At that time, the president did not realize how serious the Confederate states were, he thought he could easily convince them to come back with a compromise.
The issue of slavery causes conflict over new territories, economic issues, and political tension. Slavery was the main cause of the division of the union, and it influenced other factors, such as territorial expansion, industrialization and economic tensions, and political frustration. Slavery was the most predominant cause of the slitting of the union. The Civil War was very important and a big deal during slavery. Slavery started in the 1800s.
The Civil War is one of the bloodiest wars in American history, but what started it? What did it lead to? In the book, “Two Miserable Presidents”, by Steve Sheinkin, the author explains events that led up to the civil war and how they were finally resolved through the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Throughout the book, we learn about the causes of the Civil War through anecdotes and we learn “everything your schoolbooks didn’t tell you about the Civil War.” He gives a humorous 13 step guide in ripping a country in two and names each section of the book a with a captivating yet true title.
This essay will explore the reasons as to how and why secession occurred and whether slavery was the main
Lincoln does quite a couple compare and contrast scenarios for the two parts of the divided nation, but always ends up putting the north on top. Another appeal is hidden in the big section where Lincoln addresses God’s will and what he desires. He states that the Union upheld God’s law while the south rebelled against it, thus, once again praising the
As the Union was on the brink of a great conflict, a number of individuals held heightened influence over the people’s thoughts and actions. John C. Calhoun became a prominent figure in the Southern cause. While his political thoughts did not desire the splitting of the South from the Union, his speeches seemed to provide no clear way out of this conflict. However, in one of his most notable speeches, know as “Slavery a Positive Good,” Calhoun established a firm view on the necessity of slavery in the Union and worked to become a “moral” based voice for the Southern cause. His “Slavery a Positive Good” speech began to justify the concept of slavery as a universally beneficial cause, turn the Southern focus towards the inevitability of war, and ultimately flipped the evil title from the South to the North.
It is seen clearly in his word choice that Lincoln calls for a lasting and fair peace, but not only between the North and South. He also calls the American people to apply this concept of peace with other countries and in foreign policy. Throughout his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln employs a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote unity between Americans. As Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.
Lincoln urges the people to “strive on to finish the work we are in,” “to bind up the nation's wounds,” he is trying to get the United Sate Citizens to become one again to unite and be one strong country, showing that even after a huge war that the country can remain strong and unified and that this war will allow for a strong brotherhood in the US. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is significant because Lincoln offered and objective point of view. Lincoln did not speak of the unloyalty of the South nor did he praise the North. Rather, Lincoln used multiple points to show that the Unification should be the main focus of his speech not that the states should be divided because of
In the 240 years that the United States has been a country, there have been 45 Presidents to lead it through peace and war. From the birth of our nation through revolution, to a war between the states, to interventionism in great wars that encompassed the whole world, the United States has had presidents at the helm to steer it through all forms of conflict and keep the Constitution intact. While there have been many great men to lead this country, there are two presidents who are kept in historical regard for the extraordinary strength they showed in trying to preserve not only the constitution, but this great union as well. In George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we see two presidencies with some similarities and differences, but who