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Social Differences In The Civil War

Decent Essays

The Civil War happened because of slavery but thats not the only reason. America was on the road to war. (Crash Course #18) After Lincoln became the president, Southerners felt they had no power political system that was controlled by voters in the North that they felt no connection to.The many difference between the North and South caused conflict that eventually led to war. The social differences between the north and the south were huge and caused much conflict. One of the main parts of the social differences was the view on slavery. Slavery was more popular in the South and enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas working on small farms and plantations doing a variety of jobs. (Deverell and White, 386) While in the North did …show more content…

One of the major differences was cotton over manufacturing. Cotton was big in the south because southerners felt that agriculture was so profitable that industrial development was not needed.(CivilWar.org) In the North the soil and climate was favored for small farmsteads bur manufacturing of products was a big part of the economy.(CivilWar.org) Cotton though was grown on plantations with slaves labor to pick the cotton and process it on a daily basis. The manufacturing of items did not need slaves to work many free blacks often worked in the factories for pay. Which comes to the next piece over slave labor over wage labor. Wage labor is the when you work and you get paid for the amount of time or days you worked. Slave labor is being owned by a person or persons and not getting paid and having strict rules for your work. Another economical difference was transportation in the area. One source of transportation was the train. In the north there was about 50,000 miles of track while in the South there was only about 10 to 15 thousand miles of track. ( America the Story of Us: Civil War) Also in the South there were steamboats that shipped cotton around the country. The North had more train transportation but the South used the steamboat. Economic differences were large, but the political differences led them to the pushing point of …show more content…

First of all, the political leaders of the North and the South had different views of how the country should turn out in the end. A leader from Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner who was a northerner who wanted to abolish slavery and South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks who was a southerner who believed slavery was morally correct. Brooks attacked Sumner with a cane until he was unconscious on the in the senate chambers for Sumner criticized pro-slavery supporters.(Deverell and White, 449) Brooks was a pro-slavery supporter and had beat or harmed other men before because they disapproved of slavery.(Deverell and White, 448-449) Slavery once again was the main source of the conflict between these regions. Secondly, the people among the hole political system the Republicans (Free Soilers) and the Southern Democrats. The Republicans were Northerners who opposed slavery while, the Southern Democrats were in favor of slavery. This caused problems in Supreme Court rulings. Especially the Dred Scott decision. This was to determine if this certain black man was free or a slave but the majority of the Justices were Southerners which ruled the man a slave.(Deverell and White, 451-452) Lastly, the different beliefs of the political figures in the system. The Southerners felt that slavery was needed for life to continue normally, while the Northerners believed that slavery was morally wrong and that

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