By the time of the Civil War, the United States was a nation deeply divided over the issue of slavery. The slave population had grown to four million, and the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs, held opposing views on this contentious issue.
Democrats, much like some Sharia Islamic countries, were proponents of pro-choice when it came to slavery. They believed in protecting the slave owner’s choice to own a slave. The Whigs, on the other hand, took their name from the British political party and were the opposition party in America. While many Whigs were against slavery, they tried to maintain a broad coalition to prevent their members from defecting to smaller parties like the Free Soil Party or the Know-Nothing Party.
Tensions over slavery continued to escalate, leading to attempts to reconcile these national differences through measures like “The Missouri Compromise of 1820” and “The Compromise of 1850.” However, these compromises only temporarily eased the tension.
Slavery was opposed by various religious groups, including Quakers, Methodists, and preachers of the Second Great Awakening. This opposition echoed similar movements in England, where Christian leaders like John Newton, William Wilberforce, and John Wesley championed the anti-slavery cause.
American preacher Charles Finney, president of Oberlin College, played a significant role in denouncing slavery. Under his leadership, the college graduated the first black woman with a college degree, Mary Jane Patterson.
In 1850, the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress passed the infamous Fugitive Slave Act, which mandated the capture and return of runaway slaves to their Southern owners. This act forced the slavery issue into the face of the anti-slavery North, leading to significant unrest.
Some states responded by passing “personal liberty laws” that effectively nullified the Fugitive Slave Act. Communities insisted on jury trials for alleged fugitive slaves, and some juries refused to convict those indicted. Others refused to use local jails to hold the accused.
In a notable incident in 1854, a slave named Joshua Glover escaped to Wisconsin and was apprehended under the Fugitive Slave Act. A massive crowd in Racine, Wisconsin, broke into the jail to free him, highlighting the strong anti-slavery sentiment in the North.
This incident helped galvanize abolitionist sentiment in Wisconsin, leading to the state supreme court declaring the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. It also marked the birth of the Republican Party, as anti-slavery Wisconsin citizens met in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854 to form the party.
Congress further exacerbated the situation with the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, allowing residents in those territories to decide whether they wanted to enter the Union as slave or free states. This led to a flood of pro-slavery Democrats into Kansas, resulting in violent conflicts known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
Contrary to the 1619 Project’s narrative, slavery was not a purely racial issue; it was a Republican versus Democrat issue. Anti-slavery activists, including Quakers, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans, organized the Republican Party in various states.
The first National Republican Convention met in 1856, making the abolition of slavery part of its official platform. The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision in 1857, which declared slaves as property and not citizens, further intensified the slavery debate.
Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, passionately argued against this decision, asserting that all men, regardless of race, were included in the Declaration of Independence’s principles. Lincoln’s election as the first Republican President in 1861 marked a turning point, leading to the secession of Southern states and the formation of the Confederacy.
The Civil War ultimately erupted over the issue of slavery, and the Republican Party’s stance against it played a crucial role in shaping the course of American history.
In conclusion, the road to the Civil War was marked by deep divisions over slavery, with the Republican Party emerging as a significant force against the institution. The conflict over slavery was not merely a racial issue but a complex political and moral struggle that ultimately reshaped the nation’s destiny.
