Slavery throughout the nineteenth century can be considered one of the primary causes of the civil war. During the nineteenth century, the North side began to flourish due to industrialization based on waged labor as the South continued to rely on slave wage for income. Additionally, the massive difference in opinions between the North and South caused for the divergence of the country and hatred from both sides. With the different prerogatives on Slavery came the very differentiating opinions on the president and his new policies. The Civil was a result of decades of tension building up from both sides of the country and their acceptance of slavery. Slavery can be considered the main cause of the Civil War due to the fact that it would not …show more content…
While the North became more reliant on waged labor, primarily preoccupied by urbanization of their states, the South became reliant on wealth stimulated from slave labor; slaves working on plantations were bringing wealth into the houses of wealthy plantation owners who needed their work. One article explains the viewpoints of those in the south, how the possible detriments of ending slavery on the Southern states. It writes, “Defenders of slavery argued that the sudden end to the slave economy would have had a profound and killing economic impact in the South where reliance on slave labor was the foundation of their economy. The cotton economy would collapse. The tobacco crop would dry in the fields. Rice would cease being profitable.” (History.org)1 Tobacco, cotton, and rice would not be as profitable, endangering the South and forcing them to adapt to new techniques in order to make money. Given the profitability and convenience of slave labor, it would take a while before the South could begin to make money through other means of labor, as the North continued to do. Abraham Lincoln and his prominent opinions about slavery and the legalization of it contributed to the tensions building between the North and the South. Soon, states from the South began to secede from the …show more content…
In fact, there is evidence proving that there was more variety and options for railroads in the North than there was the south. According to one article explicating the mass differences between both sides (both pre-civil war and post-civil war) the major difference lie between the very different lifestyles of people in the North versus people in the south. It writes, “Industry flourished, fueled by more abundant natural resources than in the South, and many large cities were established (New York was the largest city with more than 800,000 inhabitants). By 1860, one quarter of all Northerners lived in urban areas. Between 1800 and 1860, the percentage of laborers working in agricultural pursuits dropped drastically from 70% to only 40%.” (CIVILWAR.org)3 The replacement of agricultural lifestyles with urban lifestyles rid the northern society of any remnants of slavery. New technology had a heavier impact on the North. Railroads were also more effective in the North. The South was dependent on the North. There was more of a variety of major railroads in 1860 in the North than in the
Slavery was the largest contributor in the beginnings of this awful war. From the fear, to the abolitionists, to tension, to the vast growth of slaves education, all of America was was divided because of one largely impactful event, slavery. Increased freedom, education, and rights of slaves were the main causes of the civil war due to the substantial amounts of tension and fear between the Northern Abolitionists and the Southern slave owners.
When we look back at the sectional division of the North and the South in the mid 19th century, one issue stands out as causing the most tension, slavery. However, there were other issues as well, but they all stem back to slavery because the South depended on that in order to have a successful economy. Despite their disagreements over the practice and laws regarding slavery, that reason alone led the South to secede from the Union, which caused the Civil War.
One of the biggest reasons the south seceded from the Union was because they believed that the north would interfere with their property rights. They thought that the north would reduce their wealth from taking land from them, as well as taking their slaves. The south believed that they would receive help from England and France, due to the need for cotton. As the Civil War began, you can clearly see the strengths and weaknesses of each economy. The North’s industrialized economy had grown incredibly to fight the south, while the South’s economy began to dip due to lack of industry and leaning so heavily on slave labor and agriculture.
The Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1877, was mainly caused by the diverging society between the North and the South. The North and the South had different goals. There were many factors that led to the war and the chief ones were political and economic differences between the North and the South. The North’s aggression to control the South had led to the point where it was intolerable. The issue on slavery was one of the causes of the Civil War. Slavery and slave trades had become a big part of the South’s economy. The slaves were needed to work on plantations which helped the South prospered. During the 19th Century, the North worked hard on abolishing slavery, which they thought was a disgrace to the Union.
The north and south were very different, while the north was based on industry and trade the south was based on agriculture. Plantations were the way of life and well established in the states that formed the confederacy. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney became a tremendously profitable business leading to an increase in the number of fermentations willing to grow cotton which created the need for cheap labor, that meant slavery. However, the economy in the northern states were based more on industry, in fact the industries in the north were purchasing the raw cotton and transitioning it to finished goods. Society evolved which meant that the different cultures and classes in the north had to work together.
Slavery was the focal point of the economy in the South, this inthrallment was the fuel for the agricultural South as well as the industrial North. Slaves would work the lands of their masters and bring in the raw materials produced, and these raw materials, commonly tobacco and cotton, would be shipped to the North and Europe. The North used the raw materials for the textile mills from the South because it made more economic sense because it cost less than the raw materials coming from Europe. Both regions became dependent upon each other, "the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing states..." (Doc A) would occur if slavery was prevented from spreading by the Republicans. This claim being that if the North continued its free-soil mentality, it would fail as well due to a lack of raw materials caused by an insufficient amount of land for slaves and plantations; "a blow at slavery ia a blow at commerce and civilization..." (Doc R). The North was strongly tied economically to the products of slavery, the South was immensely impacted by slavery, it was the foundation and
The Civil War was caused by the economics of slavery and the political control of that system, specifically being states’ rights on the federal powers of the government, the territorial expansion of the united states that led to the division of the two sides, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln which was the final event that sent the nation to war.
Throughout the 1800s in America, slavery was a controversy between the north and the south. A Slave was one who was the property of another human being under law and was forced to obey them. The North felt that slavery was unfair and inhumane, whereas in the South, they felt as though slavery was crucial to their success. African American slaves were not allowed many rights: they were not allowed to testify in court against a white person, could not receive an education, or even sign contracts. Due to the brutality they faced each day, many slaves escaped with hopes to find freedom. The Underground Railroad, a system utilized by many runaway slaves to help them escape from the South to Canada, played a large role in the downfall of slavery and eventual abolition in the United States following the Civil War.
Many factors led to the occurrence of the American Civil War. The key issues were slavery, different political ideologies, right of the people, and economic reasons. However, the key reasons that lead to the Civil War was slavery. Slavery is touted as the main cause of the conflict between the states in the northern part and those in the south. To date, slavery is still considered the worst human tragedy to have occurred in the United States. Abraham Lincoln himself pointed out that slavery was the root cause of the Civil War because of increase in tension within the country.
The Civil War was started by many events that proved to served sectional tensions, where the Kansas-Nebraska Act proved the tensions that had failed to be resolved. Northerners became more opposed to slavery, whether for moral or economic reasons, while Southerners became more united in their defense of slavery as an institution. Different ideas over slavery were shared. This caused sectional tensions and as the North and the South were trying to come with a consensus of what to do, things became more intense. Political sectionalism occurred because of certain events happening throughout the government. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which was followed by the Kansas Nebraska Act was a main cause in the lead of Civil War. Since the Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise, tensions regarding the issue and stance of slavery became more debated throughout the country. As the North and the South became increasingly different, their goals and desires separated as well. Arguments over national policy became more aggressive. Between the 1840s and 1850s, both the North and South evolved extreme positions that had as much to do with serving their own political interests as with the morality of slavery. As long as there were an equal number of slave-holding states in the South as non slaveholding states in the North, the two regions had even representation in the Senate and neither would dictate to the other. However, each new territory that applied for statehood threatened to upset this balance of power. Southerners consistently argued for states rights and a weak federal government, but it was not until the 1850s that the issue of secession was raised. Southerners argued that having the Constitution ratified and having agreed to join the new nation in the late 1780s, that they would retain the power to cancel the agreement. There were controversial attempts at a solution that included legal compromises and debates such as the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 1858. However, Southerners felt that the laws favored the Northern economy and were designed to impede the South. Although, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 which was in favor of
The American Civil War occurred between April 12, 1861, and May 9, 1865, and began due to the long-standing controversy of slavery in the country. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln took office, Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and among the 34 U.S. states seven Southern slave states succeeded from the United States. More states seceded and the Confederacy grew up to eleven slave states. This split the country between the Union in the Northern states, and the Confederate States of America in the Southern states. One big disagreement many Americans have today is whether slaves rights was the cause of the Civil War or not. Charles B. Dew believes the Civil War was fought over slavery, using speeches and public letters of 41 white southerners who were commissioners and appealed to their audience the ideas of the preservation of slavery and white supremacy as his evidence. Gary W. Gallagher believes that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, and the main goal for Northerners was to preserve the Union, using letters of white Northern soldiers that do not show much concern for black people as his evidence. Frederick Douglass’s statement, “The cry of Free Men was raised, not for the extension of liberty to the black man, but for the protection of the liberty of the white” is valid because the Civil War was not fought for the equality of black people, African Americans were treated very poorly after the Civil War and the emancipation proclamation was passed for
Many people can argue that the main cause of the Civil War was the Kansas-Nebraska Act, The Missouri Compromise, or even the Compromise of 1850. There are an abundant amount of reasons that people can argue how the Civil War was started. What most people don’t understand, that most of the events leading up to the Civil War that people debate on, were related to slavery. Slavery is the practice of, or a system based on, using the enforced labor of other people (in this case the “other people” were African-Americans). At the time of the Civil War, the Abolitionists (the people that wanted to end slavery most were in the north) had many conflicts with the South (who preferred slavery). All of these conflicts, such as the Border War and John Brown’s Raid, made the North and the South have violent attitudes toward each other. And then the “straw that broke the camel’s back” effect came into place, and the North and the South eventually declared war against each other. The main cause of the Civil War was slavery as shown by the Border War, John Brown’s Raid, and the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher.
Slavery was the most important cause of the Civil War, because this single issue divided the North and South to begin with. The ideological differences between the North and South led to economic differences, conflicts over newly acquired territories, disputes over the constitution, and political extremism. The Election of 1860 was the culmination of these disputes and caused the South to secede in 1861 and guided the way towards the Civil War.
The causes of the Civil War were complex and have been controversial since the country began. Some causes include; states’ rights, economics, and slavery. The most recognizable and popular cause is slavery. The freeing of the slaves was an important moral issue at the time and one of the greatest causes of the civil war. "It was only by carefully avoiding the moral issue involved in slavery that Northerners and Southerners could meet on any common ground." (Goldston, 79). The time came in which our great country would finally address the moral issue of slavery. Although there are many different causes to the American Civil War, the main cause was slavery because other causes are rooted in the issue of slavery.
Cause of the Civil War was slavery; however, some think that the Civil War was caused by multiple causes known as pseudo causes. The 3 so-called causes are states’ rights, tariffs, and sectionalism. These causes are all dependent on the slavery. This dependence makes this a pseudo. Slavery is the main reason that caused the war. The north didn't want slavery but the south wanted to have slaves. The north thought that slavery was a cruel thing to do humans or any living thing. The southerners didn’t think slaves as human beings or living creatures, they thought of them as property and didn’t have a mind of their own. The slave owners didn’t think that slavery was something bad, but it was actually something horrific and cruel. The southerners didn’t think of slavery as something bad or something cruel. They grew up thinking that slaves weren’t living things