On September 17, 2011, thousands of protestors filled Zuccotti Park across from Wall Street in New York City. Armed with peaceful protests and picket lines, these protesters called for change in America's system of equality. They fought for the cause they believe in: no one should be excessively richer than another person, and every American should have equal economic opportunity. This movement has spread across the country with people fascinated by the exuberance that fills these protests. This same passion that continues to fill these protesters once filled every American. However, in this case Americans had enthusiastic, but opposing views on slavery. The North believed that everything about slavery was morally wrong and that having slaves went against the American ideal of freedom. Southerners believed in their guaranteed right to property protection and believed that the federal government that abolished slavery opposed the democracy on which America was also based. When slavery reemerged as an issue to be resolved, the political field was overwhelmed by the chaos of this emotional topic. Slavery's divisive influence on the political aspects of American society, primarily political parties, a Supreme Court decision, and expansion, split the country in two when each side could no longer compromise, resulting in the Civil War. the parties became identifying characteristics of Americans, and each party's opposing views on slavery and a state's rights therein divided the country into two perpetually conflicting sections and set the stage for the Civil War. Before slavery even emerged as a political issue, a Massachusetts Whig commented that if slavery were introduced into politics… half of document… October 31, 2011). Lincoln, Abraham, Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, (Independence Hall Association--ONLINE) 1995-2011, http://www.ushistory.org/documents/lincoln1.htm, (accessed October 16, 2011). Lincoln, Abraham, Lincoln's House Divided Speech, (Independence Hall Association-- ONLINE) 1995-2011., http://www.ushistory.org/documents/housedivided.htm, (accessed October 18, 2011). Morrison, Michael A., Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War, (Questia—ONLINE) 1997, http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d= 54440457, (accessed 20 October 2011). Volo, Dorothy Denneen and James M. Volo, Daily Life in Civil War America. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998), 19, 33, 93. Von Drehle, David, The Way We Weren't, (EBSCOhost--ONLINE)." April 18, 2011, http://web.ebscohost.com/ ( visited on 17 October 2011).