Broc Alexander

Kim Spencer
U.S. History
12/25/14

DBQ: What Caused Secession?

No event affected the United States and its people more significantly than the secession
of eleven Southern states and the Civil War that followed. Four years of bloody warfare, over
half a million deaths, untold misery and destruction, and long-lasting racial and sectional hatreds
resulted. Even today, almost one and a half centuries later, America is still marked - politically,
economically, and socially - by these awful events. Americas who witnessed the secession of
the Southern states, and historians ever since, have argued over the causes. The reason for the
secession was because of the disagreements of leader, Hysteria, and the overall problem of
slavery.
Slavery was probably the biggest reason that the South seceded from the North. It was a
way of life for the South, it was how they made their money, but the North did not see this as
this and wanted to abolish it. In Doc 6 it explains that they drew a line across the county to try to
keep the anger at bay, but all it did was delay the inevitable. Then in document 1 you can see
that the government is trying to completely get rid of slavery, while the southerners are fighting
back because they believe they have a right to their property. This whole thing was handled
very poorly because the US Government just kept pushing the problem away, instead of dealing
with it in the first place.
Hysteria in the North and South was also a real problem, because people believed that
the other one was out to burn their towns and kill their children. In Doc 2 it is talking about how
the southerners believe that the Northerners hate the South and that they are going to be burnt
to the ground overnight. Also in Doc 5 it shows the view of a New York attorney who is looking at

what is happening and watching the brutality and stupidity of it all, he then talks about how
everything was going downhill. This mass hysteria was affecting everyone and was making the
already tense situation even more tense.
The leadership of the country was the final blow that forced the South to secede,
because with Abraham Lincoln as President, they stood no chance of keeping their slaves.In
Doc 3 & 4 it shows that the popular vote i already for Lincoln and the South knows that is
Lincoln is President, then their way of life is over for them, and then in Doc 7 i think it is stated
perfectly, that the election was not the cause of secesion, but the last feather which you know
breaks the camels back. With this new leadership the south knows that they stand no chance,
so they secede.
As anyone can see, the North and South could not agree on anything regarding slavery,
which was what damaged the relationship between them the most. Neither of them could
compromise with the other, so it was stuck in a stalemate for many years, so it was just a matter
of time before one of them was going to explode.