Primary Source 1 – In this source, Lincoln explains how the house would not stay the way it was, which was divided. Half of the United States supported slavery and the other half did not. Lincoln states, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, concluding that something needed and was going to happen to change that. When relating this to the question of whether the Civil War was inevitable or not, this supports that is was indeed inevitable.
The question of slavery was too grand of an issue to not result in some type of event in order for it to change. The events previous to the Civil War, such as the growing abolition movement and “Bleeding Kansas”, helped the tension between the North and the South grow.Primary Source 2 – In this source, the Anti-slavery society explained why slavery was morally wrong in the view of Christians. This source shows the power the abolition movement had religiously, especially after the 2nd Great Awakening.
Since the abolition movement grew, the issue of slavery increased in importance, increasing more tension between the North and South. The source supports that the Civil War was inevitable since people felt so strongly about abolition and others felt strongly about keeping slavery.Primary Source 3 – In this source, Henry Clay clearly states his devotion to the Union and in the last paragraph, he states that if the Union were to secede, it will result in war. Its seems that Clay saw the war coming since the North and South continued to distance themselves and argue over issues, specifically slavery. He supports that the dissolution of the Union and war cannot happen without the other, making war inevitable.Primary Source 4 – In this source, it shows the election results of 1860, the year Lincoln was elected.
But Lincoln wasn’t supported by the South which shows in this source. The reason the South didn’t support Lincoln was because Lincoln supported the ideals of the North, such as abolition. Also, once Lincoln was elected, the South saw it as a threat to their power and therefore, the election helped increase the tension between the North and South concerning political power. Since the tension was already so high from the previous events such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, this only shortened the time it’d take for the war to occur.Primary Source 5 – This source is a letter written by Lincoln to Alexander Stephens about the South and its worries.
Lincoln states that the South doesn’t have to worry but his letter then changes near the end, stating their differences and basically saying how the war that they are about to enter was indeed, inevitable.
