The Impending Crisis America

By the mid 1830's many Americans were now having mixed fillings about slavery. In fact the nation was even threatened to separate over the whole issue. Perhaps it was one of the main reasons that the United States fought the civil war. The majority of the people living in the north were against slavery, while the white southerners were proslavery.

The north saw slavery as evil. They said that it was immoral; that in a nation such as the United States, where principles of equality and freedom come from, slavery is wrong and should not exist. In addition, the north argued that the nation should not depend on only the crops produced by slaves, but should also engage in other systems of commerce.

In October of 1854, Abraham Lincoln made a speech about slavery at Peoria, Illinois. He said that, "[slavery] is undermining the principles of progress and fatally violating the noblest political system the world ever saw." (Document D) How can slavery exist in such a nation where freedom and equality exist? In this speech he warned all Americans that if they continued to exploit the slaves for profit then the nation may fall and even white man's freedom may be jeopardized.

In 1857, Hinton Helper has published a book called "The Impending Crisis". In this book he stresses the devastating economic effects of slavery. He argues that the United States has grown so accustomed to slavery that it has forgotten other systems of commerce. He says that the nation cannot depend on only slavery and the staple crops. He suggests that in order for the U.S. to become a great political nation they should start to seek other means of obtaining wealth. He says, "We must begin to feed on a more substantial diet than that of proslavery politics.... Before us there is vast work to be accomplished... It is not less a work than that of infusing the spirit of liberty into all our systems of commerce, agriculture, manufactures, government, literature, and religion." (Document E) He concludes by saying that, "Oligarchal despotism must be overthrown; slavery must be abolished." (Document E)

Perhaps the one of the most influential pieces of literature against slavery was a book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (Document F) which was published in 1860. This book helped convince many Americans that not only was slavery wrong but it also reviled many negative aspects of a slave's life. This book was widely sold. In fact, 135, 000 sets and 270, 000 volumes were sold to thousands of Americans and other people all over the world, convincing many people that slavery is wrong and immoral.

In contrast to the northern majority, white southerners viewed slavery as positive and good. They said that, overall the slaves of the south, were treated much better than the workers in the factories in the north. They argued that the production of staple crops