What Made the Civil War Unavoidable?

[L Verge]

Not sure that this is the right topic to post this under, but it is a review of what was happening that preceded Lincoln's election in 1860.

I don't know how I ended up on the email list of something named "Quora," but every now and then they send a topic and post of interest (or semi-interest) to me. The one I received today has a pretty good opinion (and easy to follow!) on why the Civil War was unavoidable. It will be interesting to know if some of you have differing opinions or can add to this:

"First of all, before the lecture let me advise you to do some serious reading. As Shelby Foote put it, and I’m paraphrasing here; no one can understand the United States of America without a solid and thorough understanding of this horrendous tragedy in the middle of the 19th century. The resources are many and ubiquitous; as the old saying goes, 'Knowledge is power and the libraries are free.'

"If you go north from Leavenworth Kansas along the Missouri river road (KS 7), you will come to the charming village of White Cloud. Just to the north is the Nebraska state line. Stop there and climb up the low bluff on the west side of the road, and you will find an iron obelisk about seven or eight feet tall. It is solid cast iron and is a survey marker. From here, a great deal of the west was surveyed all the way out to Wyoming. It can also be argued that the Civil War started here.

"When Jefferson Davis was the Secretary of War, he was pretty much in charge of the West. Being a Southerner, he was in favor of the southern route for the trans-continental railroad, from Atlanta to San Diego. He even had the army buy a string of camels in Egypt to facilitate supply in the Arizona desert and hired a camel driver named Hagi Ali (The Army men called him ‘Hi Jolly’) who is buried in Quartzite AZ.

"But the South wanted more than a railroad; they wanted to expand slavery in the West. So Davis made a deal with Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois: if Douglas could come up with a law that would allow slavery to expand into Kansas and/or Nebraska, Davis would drop his support for the southern route and back Douglas and his plan for the 'Central Pacific' from Omaha west, which, by the way, went through Chicago.

"The resulting Kansas/Nebraska Act advocated the incredibly foolish idea of 'Free Sovereignty:' the idea that each territory would vote on whether to be slave or free. This, of course, led to the tragic 'Bleeding Kansas' uprising which many insist is the real start of the Civil War. The effect of Free Sovereignty was to cause Lincoln to make an issue of the bone-headed decision during the Lincoln/Douglas debates in 1858. And, while Douglas still retained his Senate seat, he became very unpopular with Southern Democrats which split the Democratic party into three warring groups and led to Lincoln’s minority election.

"Since there was an abolitionist plank in the Republican platform, even though Lincoln himself tried to disavow it, any Republican was unacceptable to the South, so the South seceded. Before Lincoln’s inauguration, Buchanan did little to nothing to try to keep the nation together, but he did try to re-supply Fort Sumpter. Southern cadets fired on the ship and drove it away. The people of South Carolina insisted that they would only let a ship through to remove the soldiers and turn the fort over to them. This same kind of tactic, the seizing of national assets, was going on in other places, most notably in St. Louis, where a Southern-leaning militia was formed in order to take over the St. Louis arsenal and its store of arms. There, a young captain named Nathaniel Lyon removed the arms to Illinois and then captured the militia. In the ensuing demonstrations, shots were fired and over 20 people were killed. These were the first casualties of the Civil War, since the only life lost at Fort Sumpter was a mule.

"There were many strong feelings about the war and the role of the federal government. Many young men, who did not own slaves and realistically didn’t have any hope of owning any, fought and died for the Confederacy. Many would claim, 'I aint fighting’ for no darkies, one way or the other,' and would mean it; but the truth of the matter is that slaves were considered real property and as thus were used commonly as collateral for bank loans. Large planters, who had only one pay day per year, depended on credit for the health of their large holdings. The elimination of slavery would have made them insolvent, and these were the guys running the show. They were able to whip up the passions of the ordinary folk with all kinds of talk about ‘States Rights’ and the North invading the South, but in essence the whole thing came down to money, and at the root of the money, was the slave. The greatest mistake of the Founders was the incorporation of the nation with the institution of slavery intact and no system to redress it. As long as slavery existed and continued to grow, as it was, the Civil War had to happen."

[Steve]

(07-27-2019 01:13 PM)L Verge Wrote:  The effect of Free Sovereignty was to cause Lincoln to make an issue of the bone-headed decision during the Lincoln/Douglas debates in 1858. And, while Douglas still retained his Senate seat, he became very unpopular with Southern Democrats which split the Democratic party into three warring groups and led to Lincoln’s minority election.

This Quora contributor is incorrect the Democratic split led to Lincoln's election. Based on the 1860 state vote totals, the only two states Lincoln won which likely would have gone to a combined Democratic ticket were California and Oregon. The split New Jersey electoral vote would've gone to the Democratic ticket. This leads to a whopping net loss of 11 electoral votes, giving Lincoln 169 electoral votes (instead of 180) with 152 electoral votes needed to be elected President outright.

[wpbinzel]

(07-27-2019 04:37 PM)Steve Wrote:  This Quora contributor is incorrect the Democratic split led to Lincoln's election. Based on the 1860 state vote totals, the only two states Lincoln won which likely would have gone to a combined Democratic ticket were California and Oregon. The split New Jersey electoral vote would've gone to the Democratic ticket. This leads to a whopping net loss of 11 electoral votes, giving Lincoln 169 electoral votes (instead of 180) with 152 electoral votes needed to be elected President outright.

Thanks, Steve, for posting this. I do not know how many times I have read or heard that Lincoln won in 1860 only because the Democrats' votes were splintered among three candidates, and I cringe each and every time. I agree with your analysis: the only states where Lincoln received electoral votes without a majority of the popular vote were CA (4), OR (3), and NJ (4), and in which Lincoln won 32.32%, 36.20%, and 48.13% of the popular vote, respectively. In 15 other states, Lincoln received 50.69% or more of the popular vote, which gave him (as Steve points out) 169 electoral votes out of 303. Lincoln only needed 152.

[Steve]

Bill, I cringe whenever I hear somebody making that claim about the 1860 as well.

[Gene C]

It's been years since I read it, but at the time I really enjoyed reading Bruce Catton's "The Coming Furry"

A thrilling, page-turning piece of writing that describes the forces conspiring to tear apart the United States—with the disintegrating political processes and rising tempers finally erupting at Bull Run. -Amazon

Good used copies are not hard to find

[LincolnMan]

(08-01-2019 07:02 AM)Gene C Wrote:  It's been years since I read it, but at the time I really enjoyed reading Bruce Catton's "The Coming Furry"

A thrilling, page-turning piece of writing that describes the forces conspiring to tear apart the United States—with the disintegrating political processes and rising tempers finally erupting at Bull Run. -Amazon

Good used copies are not hard to find

One of the earliest books I read on the war as a young man. His writing is superb.

[Rob Wick]

Quote:It's been years since I read it, but at the time I really enjoyed reading Bruce Catton's "The Coming Furry"

Gene,
Did Fido write that? (Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Besides, I never make misteaks).

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

(08-01-2019 07:32 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  

Quote:It's been years since I read it, but at the time I really enjoyed reading Bruce Catton's "The Coming Furry"

Gene,
Did Fido write that? (Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Besides, I never make misteaks).

Best
Rob

I just read this “Furry” comment and had to laugh out loud. Fido- you are very slick!