Slavery, the Civil War, and National Identity

The worst blemish any nation can have is war, not with another nation, but between two sects of the same country. The United States has this tarnished mark on its more or less brilliant history. When the constitution was written it was meant to be a flexible document which was able to adapt to the ever-changing times. This flexibility allowed for certain issues to be debated as to their constitutionality, and left up to the general public decisions which hadn’t been decided in national or state governments. The United States Civil War was a culmination of many unique factors, which combined to form an unavoidable animosity between several sects. These factors included politics, federalism, slavery, expansionism, sectionalism, economics, modernization, and competing nationalism.

The debate over exactly what the constitution meant was intensified between 1789 and 1861 as the population of The United States expanded at a phenomenal rate. This expansion led to different ways of life, different economies, and different opinions on the role of the national government and it’s relationship to the states. The Union of the north and the Confederacy of the south had differing opinions on exactly what the constitution meant, especially relating to two major issues, slavery and secession. Each side viewed their opinion as justified under the constitution’s lack of specificities on certain issues. The north was slave free not under a national order but instead under their own state laws which outlawed it. The south used the opinion of The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case to solidify their position that slavery was indeed legal. In this case it was decided that all black people, whether slaves or free, were not U.S. citizens and could therefore not be guaranteed rights expressed in the constitution. Slavery was left to be a local issue until 1860 when the situation was raised to a national level. Southern states feared that the Lincoln administration would restrict and eventually abolish slavery and decided to secede from the Union. Each side again justified their position as constitutional based on their individual beliefs. The south felt they had the right to secede from the Union because they deemed it a compact of sovereign states and could subsequently secede based on protection of their basic rights, namely slavery. The north rejected this assertion by the south saying that secession was not sanctioned by the constitution and that their actions constituted an act of rebellion or revolution. They felt the perpetual union the framers had created had been broken by the confederacy.

This debate over constitutionality of issues was not a minor problem; it stretched deep into the hearts, emotions, and minds of the American public. It made everyone question not only the legal aspects to decisions, but also the morality and consequences of the actions they may take. Everyone had to ask themselves whether we believed in the principals outlined in the Declaration of Independence or not. They also had to question the relationship of the national government with the states and whether we we’re one nation, a perpetual union, or whether we were instead just a confederacy of states working with one another for individual interests. The public needed to solidify the fundamentals on which our great nation was founded upon and find one common public identity for the country as a whole. Slavery was the igniting issue to this debate over fundamentals as there were many different views throughout the U.S. on just how the issue should be dealt with. Everyone pushed for their opinion, friction between groups of people ensued, and eventually civil war broke out.

The Emancipation Proclamation, a move made by President Abraham Lincoln that freed all slaves in the Confederate states that were still rebelling. It was a powerful move by a powerful man. It has been called “one of the most sweeping measures ever undertaken” and I am in agreement with this strong assertion. I feel the issue of slavery required a strong and swift action for it to begin to cease. This declaration by Lincoln provided just the power that was needed to begin the abolishment of slavery. The move changed history. Were it not for this move the nation could be a totally different place. I feel the correct action was taken, as it was this type of response that was needed to counter the secession of the south and draw the Confederate states back into the union.

Although the civil war is a black mark on the overall history of this great nation, it raised some basic questions that may not have been raised otherwise. It also helped our nation answer some of the most challenging questions it has ever faced and provided an opportunity for our national identity and fundamentals to be solidified for all of history.