Civil war causes and historical impact

¶ … philosophies and events such as the Free Soil Party Platform; the Doctrine of Nullification; Manifest Destiny, and the Fugitive Slave Law that contributed in moving the country towards the American Civil War.

The Free Soil Party Platform

When people discuss the split over slavery between the Southern and Northern states in the pre-Civil War decades, it is often assumed that the Northerners opposed the spread of slavery beyond the already existing 'slave states' of the South for moral reasons. The impression is not accurate. Many Northerners (including Lincoln) opposed slavery mainly because they feared that black slave labor might spread to the North and threaten the economic and political interest of free white farmers.

This "free labor" principle that was based more on the self-interest of white workers and free farmers in the North, rather than the plight of black slaves in the South, was reflected in the Free Soil Party Platform announced in 1848. The announcement categorically opposed the compromises being contemplated at the time by Northern Congressmen to placate the demands of slave states for extending slavery in the free states and newly acquired U.S. territory in the West. It was also a declaration against "Slave Power" and the influence of powerful slave owners that was in direct conflict with the interests of free farmers. ("The Free Soil Party Platform," 1848)

Although the Free Soil Party did not come into power at any stage, its platform of no compromise with "Slave Power," was adopted by a lot of people in the 'free states;' it drew the clearest line between the North and the South and led the two adversaries into a violent civil war.

The Doctrine of Nullification

The doctrine of nullification has its roots in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, which were secretly authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in response to the federal Alien and Sedition Acts. The Resolutions asserted that "states, as sovereign entities, could judge for themselves whether the federal government had overstepped its constitutional bounds, to the point of ignoring federal laws." The doctrine was later applied by South Carolina in 1833, when it nullified the federal Tariff of 1828, considering it unconstitutional because it was a protective rather than a revenue tariff. It even triggered a serious conflict between South Carolina and President Andrew Jackson, before a compromise tariff was adopted (Hawes 2007).

In the pre-Civil War period, the Southern states in particular believed that the powers of the federal government were limited only to the extent that the states had agreed to "delegate" such as the power to declare war; all other powers were retained by the states, which had the right to defend their rights in case of their 'usurpation' by the federal government. The declaration of secession by the Confederate states that precipitated the Civil War was, thus, an extension of the Nullification doctrine.

Manifest Destiny

The philosophy of Manifest Destiny is inherent in the history of United States from even before the term itself was coined. It embodies the belief that the United States had a divine mandate to expand its territory throughout North America and God had chosen the nation to spread the natural law of freedom and equality among nations that were deprived of such virtues. The philosophy was used by Andrew Jackson for the military occupation of the Floridas in 1818 during the Florida crisis. It was also the driving force behind the annexation of vast territories by the United States in the West, including Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, which were conquered from Mexico, and Louisiana, which was purchased from France (Lubbrage, 2003).

The newly acquired territories became a bone of contention between the Southern and Northern states as the slave-holding South wanted to create more slave-holding states in order to restore the balance of power with the North, while the North resisted the expansion of slavery mainly because of a fear of "Slave Power." Hence, Manifest Destiny, at least indirectly contributed to the start of the Civil War.

The Fugitive Slave Law