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Slavery most certainly led to secession.
The impetus of secession was the Election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States in 1860. Southern states, convinced that his policies would ruin them, began to secede from the Union, beginning with South Carolina in December, 1860.
Why did the Election of Lincoln prompt the Southern states to leave the union? Because Lincoln had pledged, not to end slavery, but to ban the expansion of slavery into the territories. This was a means of checking the movement by Southerners to make slavery universal and perpetual. With the entry of Kansas into the Union, slavery would ultimately be dissolved due to the unequal proportion of free states and slave states. This initially prevented the slavery issue from dissolving the Union at the time of the Missouri Compromise (1820).
The Confederates themselves noted slavery as the cause of secession.
Vice President Alexander Stephens declared that the cornerstone of the new government "rest[ed] upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination to the superior race - is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth".
See the Formal Declarations of reasons by South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi for further evidence.
Furthermore, there are those who suggest that the pro-slavery southerners just wanted more time, and slavery would have just ended on it's own. But the fact that Abraham Lincoln was not pledged to the ending of slavery, only the prevention of the spread of slavery into the territories demonstrates that it was the intention of the Confederate states to perpetuate slavery indefinitely. Slavery had always been profitable for those people who maintained it.
Owen Lovejoy, one of the "Radical Republicans" in Congress, offered the slaveholders a quarter-century to transition from slavery, and even this was unacceptable to the Southern politicians. The North, including Lincoln tried to bend over backwards to prevent secession, fighting in the beginning of the war only to preserve the union, not to end slavery where it already existed. In fact, had Lincoln tried to end slavery universally before the end of the war, the border states may have seceded too.
In the end, the secession of the Southern states actually allowed for the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, which ended slavery in all parts of the Union. The bill was passed by the Union Congress, and under Reconstruction, the new Southern legislatures were required to ratify it.
Still, after Reconstruction ended, the emancipated slaves were kept in virtual slavery (segregation and discrimination) until the 1960s.
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What were the pro slavery anti secession states generally known as?
what were the pro slavery anti secession statesgenerally known as border states
How did secession lead to the American Civil War?
Initially because the USA wanted to save the cotton revenues. On later did Lincoln turn it officially into a war on slavery.
What was the immediate cause of the secession of southern states before the civil war?
Well slavery was a big part of the southern secession.
How did slavery led to secession?
Slavery split up the country, and with the North's striving to abolish slavery, many southern states began seceeding, beginning with South Carolina.
Which idea do Lincoln and lee shared?
That slavery was a bad thing, and secession was a bad thing.
How did the wilmount provisio of 1846 lead to secession?
this document said that slavery could not spread into other lands gained from mexico. because of this, the southerners were angered because they wanted slavery and this is one of the things that eventually lead to succession.
What were the pro slavery anti secession states generally known as?
what were the pro slavery anti secession statesgenerally known as border states
How did the secession lead to the civil war'?
Initially because the USA wanted to save the cotton revenues. On later did Lincoln turn it officially into a war on slavery.
How did secession lead to the American Civil War?
Initially because the USA wanted to save the cotton revenues. On later did Lincoln turn it officially into a war on slavery.
What civil war word starts with s?
slavery, secession,
What was the immediate cause of the secession of southern states before the civil war?
Well slavery was a big part of the southern secession.
What was the conflict in Abraham lincolns life?
Slavery and the secession of the Southern States
What argument did southern states base secession on?
Slavery and the election of Abraham Lincoln
How did slavery led to secession?
Slavery split up the country, and with the North's striving to abolish slavery, many southern states began seceeding, beginning with South Carolina.
What are three s's of the Civil War?
Slavery State's Rights Secession
Which idea do Lincoln and lee shared?
That slavery was a bad thing, and secession was a bad thing.
How did Lincoln election lead to secession?
The election of Abraham Lincoln who promised not to disturb slavery in the states where it existed lead the southern states to secede because of his affiliation with the north. The southern states did not trust Lincoln viewing him as antislavery and too close to northern interest.
