Although the southern states that seceded from the
Union at the outset of the Civil War often claimed that "states rights"
was the issue that resulted in secession, it was a thin argument; the
truth was that the South, dependent since colonial times on slave
labor, felt the North's growing dissatisfaction with the slave
situation in the South as a threat, a threat both to their livelihoods
and their way of life.
The issue of slavery did not suddenly
begin to be problematic with the election of anti-slavery President
Abraham Lincoln in 1859. As each state was admitted to the Union, a
battle raged about whether or not it would be a free or slave state
(despite the fact that slavery was actually legal in the United States
from 1654 until 1865), as the precarious balance of free and slave
states determined which section would dominate Congress.
The
beginning of end of slavery actually began around the time of the
American Revolution, when many white persons were still in the country
as indentured servant and even as slaves. Between 1780 and 1804, nearly
all Northern states passed emancipation laws that freed slaves -
regardless of color - and granted African slaves limited rights.
The
Southern states, had however, a much more compelling need for slave
labor. While states on the northern edge of the Southern region had
lesser need for slaves, Eli Whitney's cotton gin had made the
cultivation of cotton in the rich soil of the Deep South and Delta
plains lucrative; however, it was also backbreaking work that required
many hands. Rice plantations in the coastal areas required African
labor due to the fact that most African slaves were immune to the
malaria that made working in rice fields a dangerous job for whites and
even some Africans who had no immunity. By 1860, over three-quarters of
the slaves held in the United States were held in the cotton and rice
producing states of the Deep South.
Slavery created an insular,
almost delusional society in the South. Southerners defended their
"peculiar institution" on the basis that African-American slaves would
not be able to fend for themselves if freed, and, in fact, would not
want to be freed. They declaimed their fraternal love for their slaves,
all the while glossing over the harsh realities of the slave trade, the
slaves who were beaten into submission, and railed against Northern
abolitionists who refused to uphold the Fugitive Slave Act, which
required that any runaway slave be returned to his or her owner.
Not
surprisingly, the states in the Deep South that held the most slaves -
South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas - were the first
to secede after the election of Lincoln to the presidency. Lincoln had
made no secret of his distaste for slavery, and these states knew that
abolition of slavery would be financially disastrous for the
plantations that were the backbone of their states. Also not surprising
was that the states with the fewest slaves - such as North Carolina,
Arkansas, and Tennessee - were late to secession. Border states like
Kentucky and Missouri, who had areas that relied heavily on slavery and
areas where few or no slaves were held at all, were contested
throughout the war, claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy.
Virginia
actually split over the decision to secede; the northwestern counties
of the state refused to secede and broke away to become West Virginia.
After
the creation of the Confederate States of America and the beginning of
the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of slaves began to escape to the
North from the border states; however, little changed in the
slaveholding states in the Deep South until the Emancipation
Proclamation of 1863. Although Lincoln's proclamation in essence freed
all slaves in the United States, the Confederacy naturally refused to
honor the proclamation, and slaves in the South were not freed until
reached by Union troops. In some areas, this took until the end of the
war, when the Federal occupation of the South removed most Southern
politicians from power.
While the desire to preserve the Union on
the Northern side, and the desire to uphold their own laws on the
Southern side no doubt contributed to the Civil War, it is indisputable
that the need would never have arose had the issue of slavery not split
the two regions in two. As Lincoln said during his campaign for the
presidency, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
