Summary:
The Battle of Gettysburg was symbolic of the major cause of the Civil War. It included the impact of slavery and the states' rights. These were identified by the reactions and political beliefs of two key figures Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln. Both of these men would be impacted by the events leading up to the Civil War. It is this impact that would have the everlasting effect of the battle, which would be called the turning point of the war.
Ariel M. Murcko
American History
Period F.
The Battle of Gettysburg was symbolic of the major cause of the Civil War. It included the impact of slavery and the states' rights. These were identified by the reactions and political belief of two key figures Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln. Both of these men would be impacted by the events leading up to the Civil War. It is this impact that would have the everlasting effect of the battle, which would be called the turning point of the war.
The first of many compromises and bills to try to temporary solve the ultimate slave question was the Missouri Compromise also known as the Compromise of 1820. Aside from a few acts such as the 3/5 Clause the Missouri Compromise was where it all began. This compromise involved the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It was made for the people in the new Missouri Territory and gave them the power to draft a constitution and form a government before admission to the Union was granted. It stated that slaves into Missouri should be forbidden and that all children of slave parents in the state should be free at the age of twenty-five, this bill was passed in 1819. On February 2, 1848 the problem widen when Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo giving United States an abundance of land that was still left to be decided. Lincoln repealed this compromise in 1854. He said we did not question patriotism but rather the motive or morals of any man. Lee would of that thought that the Missouri Compromise was also a quick solution hat needed to be changed being from Virgina, he would of not been directly connected to the Missouri Compromise.
The next major temporary solution was the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 this repealed the previous issued Missouri Compromise and established that popular sovereignty should resolve anything to do with slavery. Its' purpose was to organize the territory which the Louisiana Purchase before the states were admitted to the Union. Sectionalism soon became more prominent between the South and North. Abraham Lincoln although not directly related to this act felt that the Kansas- Nebraska Act was a direct effort to repeal the Missouri Compromise, which many Northerners thought of as part of the Constitution. Anther connection is the main leader of this act, Stephen Douglas who Lincoln later debated with in 1858 and also ran against in the Election of 1860. Robert E. Lee would have thought was fair and legal because the government chose to override the Missouri Compromise.
In the mist of all this, a slave from Missouri was fighting for his freedom in one of the cases most associated with the Civil War, Dred Scott v. Stanford. Dred Scott was a slave form Missouri from 1833 to 1843 he then went to Illinois which was a free state. After returning to Missouri Scott sued for his freedom. His masters claimed that no Negro of African descent and the descendant of slaves could be a citizen It was this case that posed a merge in the constitution now leaving nothing and nowhere off limits for this spreading sectionalism. It was this case that Lincoln makes reference too in his Gettysburg Address claiming that we are all created equally. Northerners in general a long with Lincoln felt that this opened all territories to the expansion of slavery. They felt that this closed any further debate about slavery in Congress and it would forever remain unanswered.
During this time, tensions were rising between both sides. One prominent example of this is the Bleeding Kansas directed my John Brown. He claimed that God led him to lead violent attacks in the Western land. Anther of these was on October 16, 1858 which later became known as by Harper's Ferry Raid. He and twenty-one followers crossed the Potomac without much resistance and captured Harpers Ferry. Local militia under the leadership of Robert E. Lee suppressed him and his escape. Although he was tried and later hanged his attack against slavery were considered an important part of the American Civil War. Robert E. Lee involved in this, he suppressed John Brown because even though Robert E. Lee was against slavery he felt obligated to Virginia the state he grew up and resided in. However, Lincoln would have thought that although John Brown was fighting for the same thing Lincoln was he went about it the wrong way and used violence in an unnecessary way.
Now that Lincoln was brought back into politics by the Dred Scott case and the Missouri Compromise, he was determined to solve this slavery issue once and for all. The first step of this was a series of seven debates in 1858 with Stephen Douglas in a variety of locations in Illinois which gave him national attention. The reason was for a seat in Senate, it did much more and set the standards for both sides as well as gave Lincoln recognition because he was relatively unknown. In it Lincoln claimed that he was opposing to the expansion of slavery anymore than it already was. Douglas however supported popular sovereignty and thought the territory residents should vote on whether or not to allow slavery. He helped enact the Compromise of 1850 and was responsible for the Kansas- Nebraska Act of 1854. These series of debates formed the platforms of the Democrats and the new party of Republicans. Lincoln represented the Republicans and although Lincoln lost the debate (Douglas won the re-election) he gained wide spread popularity that helped win the 1860 election. Lincoln however did secede in falsifying Douglas with some profound questions, one of these questions asked my Lincoln was, " Can people of a United States Territory [lawfully] exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution." Douglas had two choices which challenged his quick judgement if he answered negatively he would probably lose the support of Northern Democrats and his Senate seat by admitting the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been outdone by the Supreme Court ; if he answered in the affirmative [which he did] he could of jeopardized his presidential ambitions by alienating Southern Democrats. His response became known has the Freeport Doctrine. In it he stated that slavery could legally be banished from the territories if the legislature or these territories refused to enact political regulations. This debate was directly linked to Lincoln without it he would of probably not been able to gain the national attention he received, and furthermore helping in his winning of the election of 1860. Robert E. Lee, although not directly involved, it is in this debate where he comments that slavery is a "political evil." This shows us that he does not totally supporting the South, he feels he has a obligation but he still recognized the evil of it.
A civil war by definition is, " a war between factions or regions of the same country." The American Civil War is so much more than that. The events leading up to the Civil Ware all represented in the battle of Gettysburg. It symbolic because it is impossible to have this battle without any one of these events mentioned and so many more. It posed right from wrong, and tested how far morales could go in government. Not only is it a justified war it's a war that was necessary for its' time.
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