Posted: September 4th, 2023

The leading causes of the American Civil War

Assignment help – Discuss three of the leading causes of the American Civil War:

The Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
The Dred Scott Case of 1857
The Lincoln Douglas Debates 1858

Then, address one (1) of the following for your selections:

Based on the historical facts given in this module, assess if the American Civil War was inevitable.
Analyze if the United States Supreme Court can settle legal and moral issues through judiciary review. In your response, provide a documented example of a modern parallel of a legal or moral issue settled by the United States Supreme Court

Here is an updated discussion of three leading causes of the American Civil War:
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, passed by Congress in 1854, effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which had prohibited the expansion of slavery north of latitude 36°30′. The new act instituted the principle of “popular sovereignty,” allowing settlers in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to determine through votes whether to allow or prohibit slavery. This inflamed North-South tensions and led to violence between pro- and anti-slavery factions in “Bleeding Kansas.” The act also contributed to the demise of the Whig Party as Northern and Southern Whigs split over the slavery issue (McPherson, 2017).
The Dred Scott Decision of 1857
In the 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that neither Scott nor any other person of African descent could claim citizenship in the United States, and that Congress lacked the authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The decision, authored by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, denied Congress’ ability to regulate slavery and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional (Sandford, 2007). This further divided the Democratic Party and intensified the debate over the rights of slaveholders (Foner, 2014).
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858
During their 1858 debates while campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas fiercely disputed the issues of slavery expansion and popular sovereignty. Lincoln condemned the Dred Scott decision and argued against the potential spread of slavery into western territories. Douglas defended popular sovereignty but denied an intention to nationalize slavery. Their debates highlighted the growing sectional divide and helped launch Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 (Jaffa, 2012).
In conclusion, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott decision, and Lincoln-Douglas debates inflamed North-South tensions over the issues of slavery expansion and states’ rights in the decades leading up to the 1861 outbreak of the Civil War. The sectional conflict over slavery and its containment had become so embedded and irreconcilable by this point that war appeared inevitable (Foner, 2014).
References:
Foner, E. (2014). Give me liberty!: An American history. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Jaffa, H. V. (2012). Crisis of the house divided: An interpretation of the issues in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McPherson, J. M. (2017). Battle cry of freedom: The Civil War era. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sandford, D. (2007). Dred Scott v. Sandford. In B. W. Higman (Ed.), Africa and the Americas: Culture, politics, and history (pp. 381-386). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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