Davis’ argument against slavery causing the civil war Essay

As president of the Confederate States of America, I maintain that slavery was not why the South seceded from the Union. We Southerners seceded because the federal government was becoming increasingly pro-Northern in its views and imposing on our sovereign rights. Slavery was legal, yet the government threatened this institution and paid increasingly less heed to our rights. Just as the United States broke free from a British crown that overstepped its authority, the Confederacy formed to protect itself against an intrusive government under Northern sway. In addition, I am aware that many of our soldiers were not slaveholders; indeed, Southerners did not take up arms in order to defend slavery. Men who loved their homes, valued their freedom, and feared a Northern invasion and imposition on their rights formed the Confederate Army. No Southern soldier took up arms to help a slaveholder; many shouldered arms to fend off invasion by a people whose views opposed ours and who tried to coerce us into compliance with their ideals (Wikipedia). We also seceded because we wished to maintain our prosperity, which is a sacred right of Americans. Our economic and social system is the source of our vast wealth, and the Constitution grants us the right to defend it. The federal government favored Northern industry and legislated against us, which would have reduced us to poverty and placed the South in deep economic crisis. Our soil was becoming depleted and our plantations too numerous to be confined to its existing territory, and the federal government insisted on restricting where we could maintain our system, instead of allowing the people to decide (McPherson 78-116). We were not rebels against the federal government, since there was no concrete law binding us to the Northern states. The United States began as merely an association of sovereign states and the Southern states were not obligated to remain. REFERENCES Anonymous. â€Å"American Civil War. † Wikipedia. 8 November 2005. . Causes of the Civil War. † The American Civil War. 8 November 2005. . McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.