The Rise of the Abolitionist Movement as a Cause of the Civil War

In many ways, it's possible to understand The rise of the abolitionist movement as a cause of the Civil War. The abolitionist movement was radical not only in its aims, but it was radical in its methods, as well. The movement had as its goal nothing short of the immediate and instantaneous ending of slavery. While the goals of the abolitionist movement may have been noble, it was ironically this movement that is largely responsible for the bloody conflict of the American Civil War.

To understand how the rise of the abolitionist movement can be seen as a cause of the Civil War, it's important to understand how the abolitionist movement was different in its aims. For decades, since the founding of the United States and even going back to colonial times, there had been a strong antislavery movement in the country. While it was centered in the North, there were many people opposed to slavery in the Southern states, as well.

This antislavery movement sought to end slavery legally and legitimately, through the course of law. They were strong proponents of legislation that would stop the expansion of slavery, for example. There were those in the antislavery movement that proposed legislation that would actually purchase the freedom of slaves, as had happened in Europe. This sort of solution would have ended slavery, but done it without the violence and death that the Civil War brought.

In contrast, the abolitionist movement sought to end slavery by any means necessary. So, famous abolitionist John Brown resorted to theft, and to attacks on federal officers, in his effort to end slavery. The radical abolitionists had no interested in ending slavery in a peaceful or legal way. They wanted to end slavery at the point of the bayonet.

Much has been written in regard to Abraham Lincoln and his connection to the abolitionist movement. At the time of Lincoln's election, there were many people in the south who recognized that the newly-formed Republican part was, in many was, the party of abolition. While there were some Republicans who would have preferred to end slavery legally, the party platform called for the immediate eradication of slavery.

It is Lincoln's abolitionist position, or at least the theory that he was beholden to abolitionists for his election, that led the South to secede. They believed (correctly) that Lincoln would try to forcibly end slavery - which he did with the Emancipation Proclamation. Indeed it is the Emancipation Proclamation that demonstrates what it was the South feared - that the abolitionist movement would overtake the presidency.