We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to Slavery agitation Under the operation of that policy that agitation has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented ID: 1020407
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1. A “House Divided”If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to Slavery agitation.Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I don’t expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new—North as well as South.
2. Election of 1860CandidatePartyPositionsElectoral VotePopular VoteAbraham LincolnRepublicanOpposed the further expansion of slavery. Favored protective tariffs, internal improvements and free land in the west.1801,867,198(39.8%)Stephen DouglasNorthern DemocratFavored “popular sovereignty,” that is, letting the people of the territory decide whether or not slavery should be allowed there.121,373,434(29.4%)John BreckinridgeSouthern DemocratFavored the expansion of slavery.72854,248(18.2%)John BellConstitutional UnionAsked support for the Union; avoided a stand on slavery. Consisted of former Know-Nothings and Whigs from the South.39591,658(12.6%)
3. Rise of the Republican PartyFounded to oppose the spread of slavery following the Kansas-Nebraska Acts2. Platform was “Free Soil. Free Labor, Free Men”
4. Election of 1860Abraham Lincoln becomes the first Republican President and 16th President of the United StatesWas against the expansion of slavery, but was not an abolitionist.Believed the union could not exist as a “divided house”Did not believe the states had the right to secede from the Union
5. Election of 18602. Wins the election without carrying one electoral vote from the SouthThe election of a Northerner who opposed the expansion of slavery drove some Southerners to talk about seceding from the United States.Many did not believe the South would follow through with their threats
6. Secession1. Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or political entity.South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860.All together, 11 Southern states withdraw from the UnionThey form a new nation: The Confederate States of America or the Confederacy
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8. Causes of the Civil WarSLAVERYSECTIONALISMSTATES’ RIGHTSSECESSION
9. Closing QuestionTo what extent was the Civil War unavoidable?