The Battle of Fort Sumter marked the start of the Civil War in America in 1861. The civil war was characterized by disagreements between the southern and the northern states over the issue of slavery. This paper analyzes the issue of slavery in the US and the events that led to the start of the Civil War.

The issue of slavery was the main source of disagreements between the Northern and Southern states in the US. The Southern states had developed based on an agrarian economy while the northern states became more industrialized. Slaves played a major role in the agrarian economy of the southern states, and this led to disruptions in the union as the northern states banned the use of slaves in favor of low wage laborers. The southern states used slaves to tend to the large plantations and the slaves also became part of the corporate property. In this case, it was difficult for the southern states to ban the use of slaves in favor of federal policies that would sustain the union. The southern states were motivated by the issue of slavery to push an agenda to have their constitution since their economic issues were different from those of northern and western states. The issue of slavery led to power struggles between the individual State’s rights and the powers of the federal government to control or abolish slavery within a state (History Net. 2015).

The abolitionist movement became very strong and influential from the 1830s, resulting in an equal strong reaction from the slave owners in the south. The abolitionist movement was formed by those who believed that all the people were equal and that no one deserved to be treated as a slave. The supporters of abolitionist movement advocated adherence to higher laws of humanity and human dignity over constitutional provisions that allowed individual states to manage certain affairs such as slavery. The abolitionist movement was one form of the sectionalism that advocated for issues that led to differences between the southern and the northern states. Sectionalism helped to fuel the political differences in the federal government by lobbying for either slavery or anti-slavery policies. The sectionalism also formed the basis of the request of independence by the southern states (History Net. 2015).

The push for independence by the southern states had been fuelled by the Missouri Compromise in 1820. The Missouri Compromise was led by the US-Mexican War of 1846 to 1848, after which new territories were formed. The abolitionists wanted to establish an anti-slavery policy in these states, but the move was rejected by those in favor of slaves. Missouri applied to become a slave state, and this led to a heated debate in Congress due to the moral issues that were associated with slavery (Civil War Trust. 2014). A move to deny Missouri the application through the US Congress would have created a deeper wave of resistance due to the presence of pro-slavery legislators in Missouri. The US Congress made a number of decisions called Missouri Compromise in which some territories were admitted as free while others were given the slave state status. The Missouri Compromise played a major role in creating a political precedence that was later used by the southern states in their demand to retain their status as slave states. The southern states wanted a political compromise in which the abolitionist movements would be restricted to the northern states and also a policy that would reduce the federal government’s interference with slavery.

The next development was the push for a new compromise by the southern states that would safeguard their interests in slavery. The 1950 Compromise was a policy that was aimed at resolving the differences between the southern and northern states by setting a legal framework through which slavery will be handled. The proposal attracted a lot of opposition in the US Congress and failed to achieve a majority vote until the death of President Zachary. His successor, Millard Fillmore was more accommodative to the compromise, and this led to its success in Congress. The 1950 compromise allowed the admission of California as a free state. In exchange, the federal government guaranteed that it would not interfere with slavery in Utah and New Mexico. Texas lost its claim to the territory in New Mexico in the 1950 Compromise but got compensation from the federal government. In addition, the Compromise led to a requirement for Northern states to return runaway slaves to their owners in the south under a penalty law (Civil War Trust, 2014). This compromise set a new stage for struggle as the northern states would later violate some of the provisions leading to new disagreements.

The 1950 Compromise was followed by a new wave of anti-slavery sentiments fuelled by the 1951 publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The publication was an anti-slavery novel that offered a clear vision of the conditions of slaves in southern states. The publication made revelations to new information about the plight of slavery that was previously unknown by many people in the northern states. In 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin became the nationwide and worldwide bestseller (Civil War Trust. 2014). The publication was a huge success in the abolitionist movements as it helped in fueling more support for the end of slavery in the whole of US territory.

The provisions of the 1950 Compromise and Uncle Tom’s Cabin publication played a role in the development of the Bleeding Kansas between 1854 and 1861. The Bleeding Kansas was the sporadic outbreak of violence between the slavery and anti-slavery advocators that led to the deaths of 56 people. The violent incidents started in 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was narrowly passed in Congress, overturning some provisions in the 1950 Compromise. The Congressional debate on the issue set the stage for violence due to bitter disagreements that made some Congressmen threaten each other with weapons. Before the end of the Bleeding Kansas, the supporters of slavery in the southern states gained a lifeline in a Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott v. Sanford, in 1857 (Civil War Trust, 2014). The court held that slaves were a form of property to their owners and that they did not have any rights to gain recognition as equal human beings with their owners. The decision threatened the federal government’s provisions that had managed to stop the start of a civil war while on the other hand led to a form of legitimization to the claims made by the southern states.

The onset of the civil war was marked by the attack on Harper’s Ferry, in which the Southerners started arming themselves in preparation for a possible war in 1859. This trend was followed by the election of President Abraham Lincoln with a considerable margin in 1860. President Lincoln was elected on an anti-slavery party, and this fueled fear among the southern states. Shortly after the election, Southern Carolina seceded from the Union. Six other states seceded by the spring of 1861. The secession made some of the federal ports, including Fort Sumter, foreign territories. On April 12, 1861, Carolina opened fire on a supply convoy sent by President Lincoln to Fort Sumter, and the event led to the start of the Civil War. President Lincoln mobilized a Northern army of 75,000 volunteers, but the states in the south were unwilling to contribute troops in the war (Civil War Trust, 2014). The southern states realized that a defeat was inevitable and rejoined the Union.