“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend” - Abraham Lincoln. In the U.S. the north was industrial, and anti-slave, and the south was agricultural, and pro-slave. But , why did Texans fight in the Civil War? Texans fought in the Civil War to protect states rights, for sectionalism, and to keep slavery. In the south, people believed that each state should pick if they can legally own slaves, or no. According to Document B “ That in this free government that the servitude of the African race… is mutually beneficial to both bond (slave) and free justified by the experience of mankind.” In Texas they were pro-slavery, and didn't exactly care if the north did have slaves or not. Texas was agricultural back when the civil war broke
Sectionalism was a leading contributor to America’s inability to reach compromise. The North and South possessed passionate political views that differed immensely. Both the Northern and Southern states felt unheard and unconsidered. The reannexation of Texas proved to be pivotal in how close America came to going to fill out war then. Northerners were willing to take Texas as she was, sought not to change the character of her institutions and realized that slavery existed in Texas.
Secondly, Texans fought in the Civil War to protect their states’ rights. Abraham Lincoln said in his first inaugural address “No state upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the union”, but an article in the Texas State Gazette from 1860 says “No state can force another state either to remain or withdraw from it”. Finally O.M. Roberts, president of the Texas Secession said “The crisis upon us involves not only the right of self government, but the maintenance of a great principle in the law of nations”.(Document C) This is proof that Texans wanted to protect their states’
The Civil War is known as the bloodiest war the U.S ever fought in, and many people volunteered, including Texans. Slavery has been splitting the U.S apart for a long time, and everyone knew that war would come eventually. Tension was building between the two sides, but the last straw for the South was when Abraham Lincoln, an anti slavery man, was elected for president. The Southern states then began to secede from the Union, with South Carolina leading. Texas was the 7th state to secede, but Sam Houston was forced to resign due to not taking the Confederate oath.
This issue would come to a head following the election of Abraham Lincoln, who, despite not being against slavery, believed that it should not be allowed to spread into new US states. Southern states saw Lincoln’s election as an existential crisis that would stunt their growth and development
Texas’s Struggle for the South Texas seceded from the United States on March 2, 1861 so that they could protect, preserve and defend their beliefs. The Union was starting to deteriorate in 1820 when Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave state, therefore creating the missouri Compromise. In the compromise it stated that to try and balance Missouri as a slave state they would admit Maine as a free state. Many find themselves wondering why Texas may have fought in the Civil War. Texas fought for the Confederacy because of love, states rights, and slavery.
As said in the Texas Secession Convention, “The crisis upon us involves not only the right of self government, but the maintenance of a great principle in the law of nations…” (Doc. C). This meant that the Texans felt
Slavery played a huge part in the Civil War. In Document A, “30% of the Texas population were slaves.” Also in Document A, ”29% percent of white families in Texas owned slaves.” All families thought slavery was vital to Texas, and they feared that the economy would fall. Without slaves, owners would not make as much profits as they were with slaves and could potentially go bankrupt.
Since the Texans did not like the way Mexico treated them, why would they want to promote slavery? No matter what year the constitutions were written in there is were no justification for slavery. It is ashame that individuals, local or higher government could lead Texans to believe that slavery was constitutional. On the other side, how could those Texans not realize that slavery was wrong?
You had many Southern States including Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri that were pro slavery. These states were rich in farm land and landowners felt slaves were a vital part of the production , running, and harvesting of their crops. There were Northern States that were very anti slavery and felt slavery of any form for any reason was immoral and took away freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States. Many of these states were becoming industrialized and included jobs in factories and shipyards for all people. There were also states known as Free Territories.
First, they wanted to protect and preserve slavery. For example, they said “the African race is inferior and dependent”, (Doc B).And in another document, they said that they have to send the slaves to the mountains so the attackers won’t take them (Doc D). They wanted to do this because slaves were important to them and were needed to build and produce things. Second, is there love for Texas.
Lots of people lived in and enjoyed Texas back in the 1800’s. Texans felt extremely loyal to Texas since it freed a lot of people after the Mexican War. However, it felt like the North was trying to take away some of their rights and privileges and Texans did not like that at all. Texas had previously fought for their independence and they did not want
In Document B, the statement from the Texas Secession Committee said, “... the African race had no part in their establishment… the servitude of the African race… is mutually beneficial to both bond (slave) and free, and is… justified by the experience of mankind and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator.” Slavery fueled the entire southern economy. Many southerners worked on farms and ranches, and needed slaves to get work done and meet trade deadlines. People feared that if the South did not have slaves, the South could not farm. Because of this, Texans enlisted in the Confederate Army to protect not just slavery, but their entire
The civil War: Why did the Texans fight Why did the Texans fight in the war? On February 23, 1861, the voters of Texas approved a referendum calling for secession from the United States of America. Just a few months later, the bloody battle of the civil war begun. Texans fought in the war for the love of Texas, defend states rights, and remain slavery. One of the reasons Texas fought in the war was for the love of Texas.
The United States believed that Texas would quickly become a part of the United States, this wasn’t the case and instead it took years of debate and obstacles for it to become a state in the US. In 1836, the Republic of Texas wanted to be annexed by the US but when the Texas minister suggested annexation to the administration of Martin Van Buren in August 1837 the request was rejected since the administration didn’t want to start a war with Mexico. After that, Texas extracted the annexation request. Another thing keeping the annexation from happening was that during the Annexation discussions in the United States people from the north feared that the slave states would gain representation if Texas was admitted as a slave state. And then, despite
Before Texas was annexed as the twenty – eighth slave state to join the Union , many people in Northern states feared that if Texas was to be annexed , the slave states would take over the Congress. The Southern states in the other hand wanted Texas to be part of Confederate because the more slave states , the better economy they will have. The Election of 1844 won by James K. Polk approved annexation of Texas. The U.S. Congress then passes a joint resolution for Texas to join the United States. On December 29 , 1845 Texas was finally annexed as a 28th state .