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roners
937 words
comments are welcome, but I doubt I'll get any lol razz

America In Turmoil: Was it Avoidable?

It is 1863, thousands of Americans are dead and the country is in chaos. The South is in ruins. Now, almost 150 years later we are faced with a question: was the Civil War avoidable? Some say it was, but after reading many documents about the Civil War, it is obvious that political turmoil was going to turn deadly. Daniel Webster confirms, “ These abolition societies…sent incendiary publications into the slave states…. They created great agitation in the North against Southern slavery.” Others agreed with him, Frederick Douglass suggested, “If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did, at least, begin the war that ended slavery.” It is apparent that it must come to war to end the political anxiety and chaos.

A decade before the Civil War, there were many acts and bills that were proposed to end the conflict. Stephen Douglas, a congressman, proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed the people of Nebraska and Kansas to vote on whatever the new state would be a slave state or a free state. He argues, “Leave the people, under the Constitution, to do as they may see proper in respect to their own internal affairs…”. He made the biggest miscalculation in American history. People flocked to both states and violence erupted, giving Kansas the title ‘Bleeding Kansas’. Stephen Douglas again argues that “our fathers knew…that the laws and institutions which were well adapted to the green mountains of Vermont, where unsuited to the rice plantations of South Carolina.” He strongly supported the people to vote for slavery or free state but history can tell us that questions cannot be easily answered.

Prior to the Civil War, many people spoke out and protested. For one, John Brown hacked and killed southern proslavery people in Kansas. He also attempted to raise a slave rebellion but after his last revolt, he was captured and hung. Frederick Douglass believed that John Brown started the war. Northern abolitionists sent protest papers to southern states that many believed, such as Daniel Webster, aroused the southern tensions against the North. In a book, called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there is a part where his immoral master, Legree, is beating Uncle Tom because he refuses to agree that his soul belongs to Legree and someone cannot own another soul. Legree, in response, beats to death Uncle Tom. This document does not show protest, but it shows that Southern slave owners will refuse to give up their slaves and they treat their slaves like dirt. Thus, they may protest in response, such as a civil war if it must come to that. All of these instances all point at the fact that people will protest to get their way and in many cases people will not stop until their goal is finished.

Before the Civil War, the America people were very polarized on the slavery issue. They knew what they wanted but they were unsure on who would best represent their beliefs. This showed in the House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861. The majority party switched between the Republicans and the Democrats. There was also a strong increase of other parties taking seats in congress. This showed that the people did not know who to vote for, thus adding fuel to the raging fire of politics. In Congress, the elected members wanted to do something about it, but where afraid to be the ones to cause the Civil War, so they blamed and attacked each other. They played a good game of political hot potato, the objective: don’t be the one left with the slavery issue, but to blame each other instead. They were also non-compromising, creating a larger gap between the North and South. It is quite clear that war was inevitable.

One issue that many political leaders can all agree on was the fact that the government was split. Some say that it can endure, but other say that it cannot be split, for it shall fall. Abraham Lincoln argues that “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, and later he continues, “I do not expect the house to fall—but I expect it will cease to be divided”. He is true to his word. He was one of the sole reasons the Union was able to bring back the South and reunite America post-Civil War. Of course, there still was a division between the North and the South. Unfortunately, the pre-Civil War division did not healed fast enough before the infection set in. Robert Toombs of Georgia plainly stated, “I am for disunion.” That was in 1849, twelve years before the start of the Civil War. This almost predicted what will happen because in 1860, The Declaration of the Secession of South Carolina announced that “A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man…whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery…he has declared that that ‘Government can not endure permanently half slave [and] half free’…slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction”. This is the final gust of wind to make it a forest fire, more states will follow and it will take a lot of water to kill this fire.

It is transparent that the Civil War was inevitable and the political and social turmoil would come to war. It was Abraham Lincoln who commented, “A house divided against itself can not stand.” Only after the Civil War could the division between the American people be finally healed. It could not be healed any other way.

you stated the "house will fall" quote twice
and it took the power out of it.
either keep it in the heat of the essay
or leave the best for last.
once you use a quote,
its power is reduced according to how many you use,
(you rarely used quotes but that's a good thing),
but your repetition kills the Lincoln quote
cuts the power by half.

I thought the essay was good.
(in an educational way, it would pass with a decent score I bet)
I'm sorry I couldn't help out much though.
If I had a teacher or professor to go to, I would have them read this
and I bet they would definitely find some things worth improving or looking at.