Question

1.

Describe the debates over slavery in the 1850s that divided the nation and led to onset of the U.S. Civil War. Be sure to examine the key political, social, and cultural developments regarding slavery in this decade.

2.

Explain how the various reform movements of the antebellum reform period offered pathways for change for individuals, groups, and society. Be sure to cite specific reform movements, the problems they identified, and their respective programs for change.

Answer 1

As per policy we have to answer first question.

Answer-1) Slavery is the exploitation and ownership of one individual by another and in human history is among the oldest social relationships. Slavery was vital to the south because the economy of southern, which was an agricultural-based economy whose biggest exports were cotton and tobacco has its major dependency on slaves for labor. Southerners felt that ending slavery would devastate the southern economy. The Southerners categorised Blacks to be less intellectual and more physical and in comparison to the whites; thus slavery is the natural condition of blacks. Moreover, the south wanted slave states for it's expansion into the west while the north wanted to make western states free states. When Abraham Lincoln, who was a member of the Republican party, won the 1860 election, the southern states saw this as a vital loss to their cause. They had a feel that they were being pushed out of the political process in the country of United States, as a result eleven southern states felt they are left with no other choice and decided to secede from the Union. When South Carolina seceded in December of 1860 then demanded that the nation to abandon its military forts in Charleston Harbor and afterwards in April of 1861, attacked and overtook Fort Sumter, and it was an event which kick started the Civil War. The civil war was fought among the states of the Confederacy (Southern states) and the Union states (Northern states). It was fought between 1861 and 1865; and finally was won by the Union states.