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Why the South Chose to Secede from the Union
On December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to be seceded from the Union. Many factors come into play with what lead up to this decision: The Missouri Compromise Act, The Mexican War, Kansas-Newbraska Act, the Dred Scott case, the raid on Harper's ferry, Bleeding Kansas, politics, Southern expansion, and the heavily-debated topic of slavery which created anti-sentiment and distrust between the North and South over time.
The Mexican War of 1846 to 1848 was over border disputes and slavery issues between the United States and Mexico. Slavery was banned in Mexico years before, but the white settlers refused to give up their properties. Also, the United States recognized the border as the Rio Grande, while Mexico saw it to be the Nueces River. The United States declared war, feeling it was the right thing to do for expansion, and Mexico finally surrendered in 1848 into signing over a vast part of Mexico to the United States for a sum of money. This came to be known as Texas, which became a slave-state.
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement made between the pro- and anti-slavery sides involving the usage of slaves in the then unchartered western territories. States below Missouri line became the "slave" and states above were "free". This was repealed and replaced by the Kansas-Newbraska Act in 1954. The Kansas-Newbraska Act was made by Congress and was created to form and organize the remaining territories of the Louisiana Purchase. Legislators, such as Stephen Douglas, however favored the use of popular sovereignty (the idea of states voting whether or not they should become "slave" or "free" separate from the federal government), which only caused a conflict between the North and South, and "Bleeding Kansas". Bleeding Kansas was a sequence of violent guerrilla attacks between the abolitionists and pro-slavery fighters that occured between 1854 and 1856.
The case of Dred Scott involved a slave who sued for his freedom because slavery had been outlawed in the then Louisiana Purchase, but was turned into a slave-state. The case was a failure, due to the courts' reasoning of not depriving people of their "property", which is backed up by the Fifth Amendment.
The raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859 by a radical abolitionist (person adamently against slavery) named John Brown involved black recruits to help disarm the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Brown during the Border War in Kansas had murdered slave-owners at Pottawatomie in order to liberate slaves. They were captured and eventually killed, but the North held him as a martyr which outraged the South because they feared why the North would glorify such a person who did these deeds. This only added to the distrust between the two spheres.
Slavery was highly-contested between the North and South already, and both sides saw motives against them from the other. Slavery was a necessity in the South due to cotton production, where in the North it wasn't. This was the key issue behind all of the occurences I've listed. The South felt they had to expand and maintain that balance from the Senate to keep from being out-numbered by the "free" states.
To conclude, South Carolina had decided to secede in 1860 as a result from slavery issues and what ensued from them. Other states, such as Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas later followed to secede for their own stated reasons.
On December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to be seceded from the Union. Many factors come into play with what lead up to this decision: The Missouri Compromise Act, The Mexican War, Kansas-Newbraska Act, the Dred Scott case, the raid on Harper's ferry, Bleeding Kansas, politics, Southern expansion, and the heavily-debated topic of slavery which created anti-sentiment and distrust between the North and South over time.
The Mexican War of 1846 to 1848 was over border disputes and slavery issues between the United States and Mexico. Slavery was banned in Mexico years before, but the white settlers refused to give up their properties. Also, the United States recognized the border as the Rio Grande, while Mexico saw it to be the Nueces River. The United States declared war, feeling it was the right thing to do for expansion, and Mexico finally surrendered in 1848 into signing over a vast part of Mexico to the United States for a sum of money. This came to be known as Texas, which became a slave-state.
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement made between the pro- and anti-slavery sides involving the usage of slaves in the then unchartered western territories. States below Missouri line became the "slave" and states above were "free". This was repealed and replaced by the Kansas-Newbraska Act in 1954. The Kansas-Newbraska Act was made by Congress and was created to form and organize the remaining territories of the Louisiana Purchase. Legislators, such as Stephen Douglas, however favored the use of popular sovereignty (the idea of states voting whether or not they should become "slave" or "free" separate from the federal government), which only caused a conflict between the North and South, and "Bleeding Kansas". Bleeding Kansas was a sequence of violent guerrilla attacks between the abolitionists and pro-slavery fighters that occured between 1854 and 1856.
The case of Dred Scott involved a slave who sued for his freedom because slavery had been outlawed in the then Louisiana Purchase, but was turned into a slave-state. The case was a failure, due to the courts' reasoning of not depriving people of their "property", which is backed up by the Fifth Amendment.
The raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859 by a radical abolitionist (person adamently against slavery) named John Brown involved black recruits to help disarm the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Brown during the Border War in Kansas had murdered slave-owners at Pottawatomie in order to liberate slaves. They were captured and eventually killed, but the North held him as a martyr which outraged the South because they feared why the North would glorify such a person who did these deeds. This only added to the distrust between the two spheres.
Slavery was highly-contested between the North and South already, and both sides saw motives against them from the other. Slavery was a necessity in the South due to cotton production, where in the North it wasn't. This was the key issue behind all of the occurences I've listed. The South felt they had to expand and maintain that balance from the Senate to keep from being out-numbered by the "free" states.
To conclude, South Carolina had decided to secede in 1860 as a result from slavery issues and what ensued from them. Other states, such as Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas later followed to secede for their own stated reasons.