A Nation Divided Case Study
DC History of the United States
6 December 2023
1
Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery campaign was so controversial, that seven states seceded
from the union within three months of hearing the election results. Lincoln refused to recognize
the rebellious claims of desertion and decided to continue governing and enforcing U.S. law in
the “Confederate” territories. He had been president for exactly four months when a request
came from Major Robert Anderson to resupply Fort Sumter, the stronghold he was stationed at.
Unfortunately, Fort Sumter was in South Carolina, the first state to secede. To order an
evacuation would be a sign of weakness. To resupply the fort would be an act of war.
Early on, differences in climate resulted in the development of different economies in the
North and the South. Southern farmers became dependent on slaves. The colder northern
climates made large-scale farming impractical, and the need for slaves never caught on. David
Moss, in his book about the events leading up to the Civil War, wrote that “By the early 1800s,
all of the states from New Jersey and Pennsylvania northward had taken action to emancipate
their resident slaves, either immediately or over time.”1
Northern business owners pursued different means of production and commerce. Far up
north, there were a few pacifist religions, like the Quakers, that were set against slavery for its
violent origins and inherent cruelty. Some northern Politicians opposed slavery because of the
three-fifths compromise, which counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for purposes of
representation, and gave southern states an unearned amount of governmental power.
Eventually, slavery became a political issue. Agricultural goods made up the majority of
Southern exports and Southern plantation owners became dependent on slaves to do the main
bulk of the agricultural labor. As a matter of fact, slaves did all of the labor because the
1
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano, "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession."
Harvard Business School Case 716-048, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, February 2016), revised July
2017.
2
plantation owners were too lazy to do the work themselves, too selfish to pay workers, and
morally corrupt to dehumanize and exploit human beings for profit. The Southern Politicians had
become wealthy through their exploitation of human beings, and any attempt by Northern
politicians to reduce slavery was countered by fierce complaints or pro-slavery laws. In the
1820s, the National Government passed a series of tariffs to raise the price of imported goods,
and prompt Americans to buy American-made products.2 David Moss wrote, “Southerners
claimed that it hit agriculture hard, inflating non-agricultural prices and deflating agricultural
exports.”3 John Calhoon, a prominent southern politician and slave-owner claimed that the State
government was more powerful than the National government. Soon after, The South Carolina
State government passed the “Nullification Act” which voided the tariffs. President Jackson
slightly modified the tariff and continued to enforce it.
Turner’s rebellion, a violent yet unsuccessful rebellion, struck fear into the hearts of slave
owners, and Southerners became suspicious and even paranoid that northern schools, churches,
and newspapers were brainwashing the public with an “anti-slavery agenda”. The Compromise
of 1850 regarding the sanctioning of slavery in Texas, further polarized the North and the South.
By the mid-to-late 1850s, a few years before the Civil War started, the issue of slavery had
already incited violence between northerners and southerners. Just as Kansas was about to vote
to become a free state and enter into the union, crowds of pro-slavery settlers from Missouri
2
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano, "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession."
Harvard Business School Case 716-048, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, February 2016), revised July
2017.
3
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano, "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession."
Harvard Business School Case 716-048, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, February 2016), revised July
2017.
3
arrived and voted to make Kansas a slave state.4 Violent conflict earned the territory the
nickname “Bleeding Kansas”. After the upheaval in “Bleeding Kansas”, the neutral Whig Party
effectively disappeared, and in its place rose the anti-slavery Republican Party. Two days after
the pro-slavery Democratic President James Buchanan was elected in 1856, the Supreme Court
announced the Dred Scott decision.5 Despite having lived in free states for years, the Supreme
Court announced that Scott was not free and would be returned to his enslaver. Furthermore, the
Supreme Court said slaves were not US citizens, had no rights, and were not allowed to sue
anyone.
Southerners opposed Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform so much, that his election
was actually the cause of South Carolina’s secession. President Buchanan refused to resupply
Fort Sumter, but, as it turns out, Lincoln didn’t have to make any decisions. He tried to factor in
multiple variables into his decision like any good president, but Confederates had already fired
on the fort and forced the Union forces to evacuate.
There had been a divide between the North and the South even before the Revolutionary
War, and slavery drastically increased the schism to the point of violence. Politicians and
civilians alike became hostile and violent. The South craved for war. The Southern Confederates
fired on Fort Sumter first. The Civil War was inevitable. Abraham Lincoln’s election was merely
the inciting event that gave both sides an excuse to fight.
4
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano, "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession."
Harvard Business School Case 716-048, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, February 2016), revised July
2017.
5
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano, "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession."
Harvard Business School Case 716-048, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, February 2016), revised July
2017.
4
Bibliography
Moss, David, and Marc Campasano. "A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of
Secession." Harvard Business School Case 716-048. (Boston: Harvard Business School
Publishing. February 2016). revised July 2017.
