Original subtitles

The American Civil War only became inevitable after American leaders repeatedly failed to

diffuse the tensions. Indeed, the deadliest war in American history was not a foregone conclusion,

but short-sighted deals, ineffective compromises, and indifference allowed tensions to simmer until

they boiled over. Despite early action against slavery, America’s Founders chose to let slavery

die out naturally rather than outright kill it. During their time, the idea that slavery would

revive and grow stronger was unfathomable to them. However, the younger generations

of plantation owners never realized that their paranoid need to protect slavery was creating

the very opposition they sought to smother. Ultimately, a combination of arrogance, mistrust,

and short-sightedness tore America apart. Welcome to the first episode of the American Civil War,

where we will cover the lead up to the most infamous conflict in United States history.

The Early Period The Declaration of Independence states

that “All Men are Created Equal”, but reality was quite different. While many states didn’t

actively practice or encourage slavery in 1776, it was legal in all 13 of them. This dissonance

between their high-minded Enlightenment ideals and slavery gnawed at America’s Founders. George

Washington’s experience was instructive. While he publicly opposed the slave trade for decades,

he only denounced slavery itself and his participation in it privately. He was

acutely aware of how influential he was, and knew that his opposition could doom the institution,

but he was more afraid it could doom the country. Washington fully agreed with Thomas Jefferson’s

assessment that slavery was the greatest threat to the new nation’s unity, as well as a terrible

evil that eroded the moral character of humanity. However, Washington knew that his contemporaries

would never willingly end slavery outright, and he considered America too fragile to survive

that confrontation. State factionalism nearly ripped apart the Continental Army,

paralyzed the Continental and Confederation Congress’, nearly derailed the Constitutional

Convention, and finally caused bitter Congressional fights during his Presidency.

Ultimately, on the topic of slavery, Washington feared that speaking out would break his country.

Washington’s Economic Reality Instead, Washington hoped that his neighbors would

realize that slavery was not only immoral but unsustainably unprofitable, as he had. Washington

inherited Mt. Vernon at 11, and his decades of meticulous bookkeeping clearly showed that

his plantation was failing. Crop yields fell every year as tobacco depleted the soil. Tobacco’s price

declined repeatedly due to increasing production and changing global demand. George Washington took

great pride in maintaining and treating his slaves better than his neighbors, at great expense, but

he’d calculated that even if he spent the barest minimum on their maintenance he’d still be losing

money. The plantation system was a money pit. Washington first wrote about ceasing being a

slave owner in 1778. However, it wasn’t possible. Virginia only allowed manumission by special

act of the legislature, which was rarely done. This left no option but to sell his 123 slaves,

to which he was adamantly opposed, writing in 1794 “Were it not then,

that I am principled against selling negroes, as you would do cattle in the market, I would not,

in twelve months from this date, be possessed of one, as a slave.” Therefore, he continuously,

though privately, pushed for legislative action to end slavery, writing in 1786, “There is not

a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for this abolition

of [slavery] but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished,

and that is by Legislative authority.” The Decline of Slavery: 1778-1808

Jefferson didn’t have Washington’s inhibitions, and publicly worked against slavery,

despite being a slave owner himself. In this he was joined by Benjamin Franklin, a founding

member of America’s first abolitionist society . Their first victory came in 1778 when Virginia

banned importing slaves, a bill Jefferson probably authored. Jefferson further helped

pass an 1782 law allowing emancipation by will or deed, probably at Washington’s urging. Washington

would subsequently free his slaves upon his death , intending to set an example in death as in life.

In 1780, Pennsylvania adopted gradual emancipation and banned further slave

imports. Shortly thereafter, Massachusetts wrote a new constitution immediately banning slavery in

all forms. By 1787 New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were also free states. Meanwhile,

the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory . By 1804, all states north

of the Mason-Dixon line had either outright banned slavery or adopted gradual emancipation laws. The

climax of this anti-slavery push came in 1807 when Congress banned the international slave

trade effective January 1, 1808, the earliest it was Constitutionally allowed to do so . However,

there was opposition. Virginia’s John Randolph warned during debate that the

ban would provide a pretext to eliminate slavery entirely and predicted that the

union would eventually fracture along slave state versus free state lines.

The Turning Point At the time, many scoffed at Randolph’s

prediction. Slavery was declining. While most of the nation's leaders were slaveowners,

they had the good sense to be ashamed of it. More importantly, many plantation owners discovered

that Washington’s economic conclusions were correct and followed his manumission example.

However, that decline was reversing. In England, the Industrial Revolution was building steam. A

series of inventions had mechanized textile production during the late 18th century,

and the industry was rapidly growing. This fueled growing demand for raw material to feed the looms,

particularly cotton. Britain already had access to cotton production in India and Egypt,

but product from those far away regions tended to spoil on the long voyage to the England.

European politics plus Mediterranean trade economics made Egyptian imports expensive,

slow, and unreliable. It was much faster, safer, and cheaper to import from America.

While the full impact of industrialisation wouldn’t be felt in Britain until the 1830’s,

by the late 1810’s Eli Whitney’s cotton gin had revolutionized cotton production and subsequently

“saved” American slavery. Once the Petit Gulf strain was developed , production exploded.

This change saved the finances of the remaining Revolution-era planters but largely didn’t change

their attitudes toward slavery. They’d never known slavery as anything but a declining institution

and a necessary evil. This revival in their closing years was too little, too late. However,

their sons and grandsons came to the opposite conclusion. For them, slavery led to great wealth,

limitless growth, and economic stability. Every recession and financial crisis in the 19th Century

passed their plantations by, while hammering the North. Thus, they broke with their forefathers and

began to actively defend slavery. Gradually, the rhetoric of necessary evil disappeared, ultimately

replaced with arguments of slavery being a positive good, frequently with religious tones.

While the oldest generation retained power through the early 1820’s, tensions were muted. However,

by the 1830’s, the younger generations began to rapidly raise the temperature.

Tensions and Compromise: 1808-1821 Meanwhile, gradual abolition meant

that former slaves needed to be integrated into society. Many whites believed this was impossible

and undesirable , and so a different solution was sought. Their thinking was that since emancipated

slaves and other free people of color’s African ancestors hadn’t willingly emigrated to the United

States, they’d be happier going to their so-called homelands. The American Colonization Society was

founded to quote-unquote “help” African-Americans return to Africa. The ACS established the colony

of Liberia in 1822, which became an invaluable haven for those rescued from the slave trade.

However, only a few thousand African-Americans ever emigrated, as most strongly opposed the

ACS’ mission. With most African-Americans having been born and raised in the United

States, America was their home, not Africa. At the same time, westward expansion began forcing

the slavery issue. The Northwest Ordinance ensured that America’s post-Revolution territory would

ultimately be half slave and half free states , a balance that ensured neither side could force its

will on the other . However, that did not extend to the Louisiana Purchase or Oregon Country. In

fact, there was absolutely no settlement plan in place for either territory, and Congress had run

out of time to make one. In 1818, Missouri petitioned for admittance as a slave state,

the first new state west of the Mississippi. This set off a bitter debate in Congress, as it upset

the planned balance and finally forced the slavery issue to the forefront. The Democratic-Republican

party began to split along regional lines as northern Republicans objected to extending slavery

on moral grounds and southern Republicans rejected Federal action on slavery on Constitutionally

guaranteed states’ rights. This debate remained deadlocked until Maine petitioned for admittance

as a free state in 1820. This enabled Kentucky Senator Henry Clay to broker a compromise.

Missouri would enter as a slave state, balanced by Maine entering free. Thereafter, slavery would

be allowed in new states south of Missouri’s southern border and banned above it . Both

sides found this acceptable, as the western territory wasn’t suitable for plantation farming.

Hardliners Emerge However, as the generational changeover began,

the Compromise would be questioned. While Southerners were pleased that efforts to

completely ban slavery in the west failed, their share of the Louisiana Purchase was miniscule

compared to the territory designated Free. They’d soon question the wisdom of the Compromise and

look toward territorial acquisition south of the line to fix the “imbalance”. This would

lead to an era of military adventuring known as filibustering, where American mercenaries

sought to seize Caribbean islands and Latin American countries to become new slave states .

The Conflict Emerges: 1821-1850 With the Compromise in place, slavery

moved to the backburner, but regionalist conflict still led to a major blowup between the states.

By 1820 the American Industrial Revolution was in full swing and the new manufacturers were begging

Congress for protection against established and cheaper manufactured goods from England.

Concurrently, the western states wanted Federal help building needed roads, canals, and other

internal infrastructure. Thus, new and stronger protectionist tariffs were floated to raise funds

for infrastructure projects. However, southern agricultural exports were heavily affected by

tariffs already, leading to vehement southern opposition to more protectionism. Thus, a cabal

of southern Congressmen concocted a political ploy to permanently defeat protectionism. The

mid-Atlantic and western Congressmen would support any tariff increase while the South

would oppose any tariff. New England was more variable, and thus the target of the ploy. Thus,

the cabal drafted the sympathetic Martin van Buren from New York to draft a tariff bill that

was guaranteed to fail by taxing New England’s material imports. With southerners co-sponsoring

the bill, they’d appear conciliatory. When New England opposed the bill, the south

would withdraw support, killing the bill. New England would take the blame, and any future

protectionist tariffs would be dead-on-arrival thanks to the lesson of this abominable bill.

However, the southern Congressmen were horrified when enough New England Congressmen and Senators

accepted that a tariff was better than no tariff and voted it into law. The plot had completely

backfired. 1828 was an election year and President John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts lost to

Tennessee’s Andrew Jackson. Southerners hoped Jackson would repeal that Tariff of Abominations,

but he refused. The tariff was perfectly Constitutional and he wasn’t going to rescue

them from their own stupidity. This caused a very public blowup with Vice President John

C. Calhoun from South Carolina, which only served to harden the president’s position.

The Nullification Crisis The tariff lasted until 1832,

and despite predictions didn’t actually crush the southern economy, as the price of cotton

rose faster than the tariff rates. However, nobody likes taxes and the lost potential

profit cut deeply into the planters’ psyche. The 1832 tariff reduced rates, but not to South

Carolina’s satisfaction and at Calhoun’s urging a special convention declared that

the tariff was unconstitutional and could not be enforced in South Carolina, and the state would

secede from the union if anyone tried. Nullification and secession was first

floated in 1798 by Jefferson and James Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. However,

as these ideas flew in the face of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause

and fundamentally undermined the concept of central governance, the Supreme Court would

gradually rule against most of their arguments. They’d been revived in 1814 over the War of 1812,

but its conclusion completely delegitimized both concepts. Calhoun and his allies revived the ideas

again to protect their home state’s interests. This plan quickly slammed into an immovable

object named Andrew Jackson. Despite being a proud southern slaveowner, he was a staunch Unionist and

conflated nullification with treason. An enraged Jackson threatened to enforce the tariff by

raising an army, leading it to Charleston, and personally hanging nullification’s supporters.

Finding that no other state publicly supported them and knowing that Jackson never made an idle

threat, South Carolina delayed implementation until Henry Clay brokered another compromise,

with Jackson’s approval . On February 25, Congress passed the Force Bill, enabling Jackson to use

military force to enforce the law, alongside the Compromise Tariff, which would reduce and equalize

tariff rates over the next 10 years. With its face saved, South Carolina withdrew its nullification

threat. However, Jackson predicted that “the tariff was only a pretext, and disunion and

Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question.”

Intervening Years Over the next 17 years,

the pressure continued to build. Southern politicians used their influence to institute

Gag Rules preventing Congressional debate on slavery, and kept anti-slavery candidates from

the presidency. While Northern politicians raged against Slave Power’s domination of politics,

their complaints went nowhere. The average non-Cotton Belt American neither knew nor cared

enough about slavery to be concerned, so long as it didn’t affect them. The horrors of Deep South

plantations were obscured by the idyllic image model plantations in the upper South created.

America’s abolition societies’ efforts to change this attitude went nowhere. Despite victories

like the Amistad Decision, abolitionists found themselves on the outs politically and not just

because of Slave Power. Abolitionist newspapers and speakers were attacked by Northern mobs,

not from pro-slavery attitudes but annoyance. Most Northerners weren’t keen on black people

being equals in society, and they really hated self-righteous lecturing over slavery. Meanwhile,

the western push continued . Texas was annexed in 1845, and the subsequent Mexican-American War won

additional territory. Again, the lion's share of the new territory was above the Missouri

Compromise line, causing southern discontent. Compromise of 1850

California’s petition to enter the union as a free state caused this resentment to explode.

Southerners objected that southern California was under the Compromise line, and should therefore be

broken off as a slave state. However, California’s legislature made it clear that it would not accept

any division, and Congress couldn’t risk losing California’s gold. The South complained about

this being grossly unfair to them and that it threatened the slave/free state balance.

Facing another deadlock, Clay stepped in to broker his final grand compromise, using California to

help solve a number of issues. The Compromise of 1850 solved Texas’ border disputes, created the

New Mexico and Utah Territories, allowed those two territories to determine for themselves

if slavery would be legal, outlawed the slave trade in Washington D.C, and critically admitted

California as a free state in exchange for a new Fugitive Slave Act. Popular sovereignty, as

the new territorial policy was called, partially overrode the Missouri Compromise, which was seen

as a victory by both sides. Both territories could potentially become free or slave states.

1850 Fugitive Slave Act However, that fact was largely

lost in the outrage caused by the new Fugitive Slave Act. The current Fugitive Slave Law from

1793 was toothless. Most free states required actual court proceedings before allowing alleged

escapees to be extradited, as with any crime. As proof of enslavement was frequently nonexistent,

few slaves were ever returned. There were no penalties for noncompliance or assisting

escaped slaves, so it was impossible to enforce. Therefore, Federal officials rarely bother trying.

The Compromise finally gave Slaveowners the stronger law they’d been demanding for decades.

Now, Federal officials were required to actively hunt down escapees or be heavily fined. There were

also financial rewards for bringing in an escaped slave. The only evidence required or allowed was

the slaveowner’s testimony, and the accused wasn’t allowed to speak in their defense. Moreover,

citizens were required under penalty of fines or imprisonment to report escaping slaves and assist

officials in their capture. The Act outraged all sectors of Northern society. Northern judges

and law enforcement were outraged at the lack of habeas corpus protections, which led to numerous

free blacks being kidnapped into slavery . The politicians were angered at their states’ rights

being trampled despite Southerners constantly citing states’ rights to defend slavery. However,

common citizens were the most outraged. Prior to 1850 they were apathetic at best

towards slavery. It didn’t affect them. The Act turned that apathy to righteous indignation and

rage. How DARE Southerners involve them in their peculiar institution! The more they were forced to

learn about slavery, the more they detested it, a process accelerated in 1852 by Uncle Tom’s Cabin .

The slaveholders had barely finished toasting their victory when shocking news of Northern

resistance arrived. Within a month, Vermont effectively nullified the Act by requiring

a judicial process before extradition of accused slaves, and refused to back down when threatened

by President Millard Fillmore. Slavecatchers were attacked by mobs, and jails were stormed to free

captured slaves. Moreover, juries acquitted anyone tried for aiding escaped slaves. Despite rhetoric

painting all Northerners as abolitionist agitators for years, most Southern politicians were aware

of abolition’s unpopularity. They’d hoped that Northern apathy concealed a secret enthusiasm

for slavery and that the Act would push them to support it openly. They could not have been more

wrong, and now reality matched their rhetoric. To their horror, the South had created the

very opposition they’d always imagined, and had to face an increasingly hostile North.

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854: The Countdown Begins The countdown to the American Civil War began

in 1854. Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas was apathetic about slavery, but cared deeply about

railroads. He wanted a transcontinental railroad, and he wanted Chicago to be its origin. However,

Southern senators were blocking all legislation organizing the territory west of Missouri. The

Missouri Compromise guaranteed that the remaining unorganized territory would become free states,

and that was now anathema. Without organization, there could be no

development and consequently no railway. Therefore, Douglas made a deal. In exchange

for organizing Kansas and Nebraska Territories, the Missouri Compromise would be replaced by

popular sovereignty. However, Douglas didn’t realize that the Kansas-Nebraska Act would

unleash the seventy years of pent up tension. Join us next time as Bleeding Kansas opens a

wound that will drown a nation. If you don’t want to miss that and many other historical videos,

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