Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Political causes of civil war
Economic causes of civil war
The impact of slavery in the united states civil war
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Political causes of civil war
In my opinion the civil war was inevitable. Many important events took place before the civil war actually began. The first shots at Fort Sumter on April 12 1861, the Civil War has been regarded as one of the most influential and significant events in the history of the United States. At this point nobody knows for sure weither or not the civil war was inevitable but I do think the events that took place before the civil war caused everything. When it comes to dealing with the question of whether the American Civil War was inevitable or not, I immediately think of the pros and cons that resulted in serious events on the outbreak of this conflict. During this time it is essential to clarify the terms Northerners and Southerners mean. Both the …show more content…
The Mason-Dixon line severed the slave-holding states of the South from the free states of the North. One of the leading conflicts between the North and South was slavery. The issue of slavery has been thought of as the number one reason and principle behind the Civil War. This might not be true in itself, but in my opinion slavery was the leading conflict that caused the Civil War. Slavery was central to the Southern economy, and without it, it could never compete with the industrial North. Although the value of agricultural products was almost equal, Northern manufactures, railroad systems, urban development and commercial profits far surpassed any economic advancement the South had. The amount of capital the slave states invested in cotton doubled between 1840 and 1860, which was greater than the rate of the actual contemporary population growth. Slave labor was the only means of equaling the national rate of profit, and making it more competitive against the rapidly advancing North. Slavery brought most of the profit for Southern plantation owners. Slavery, however, was not the only issue that Americans worried about in the 1850s, nor were the only significant lines of division between Northern and Southern states. America was not unfamiliar with slavery and
Lincoln also claimed that the constitution binds the states together and that the country cannot legally be broken up. The American Civil War was caused because of the North and South differences in economies, disagreements about abolishing slavery and whether the state or federal government had more power. These three factors played a key role in America's deadliest war. Understanding the causes of the Civil War is important because the war was one of the most important events in our nation's history.
Within the economy a great development had been achieved when the upper south handed its power to the lower south all due to the rise of an agricultural production. This expansion was led by the excessive growth of cotton in the southern areas. It spread rapidly throughout America and especially in the South. During these times it gave another reason to keep the slavery at its all time high. Many wealthy planters started a ‘business’ by having their slaves work the cotton plantations, which this was one of a few ways slavery was still in full effect. Not only were there wealthy planters, at this time even if you were a small slave-holder you were still making money. While all of this had been put into the works, Americans had approximately 410,000 slaves move from the upper south to the ‘cotton states’. This in turn created a sale of slaves in the economy to boom throughout the Southwest. If there is a question as to ‘why’, then lets break it d...
The Civil War was technically caused by the secession of the Southern States, but the secession was primarily about slavery. One can infer, then, that the Civil War was indirectly, but primarily, caused by Slavery. It is important to note that just because Slavery was the primary cause of the civil war does not mean that the war was only about slavery. The war was fought for a plethora of different reasons that surrounded the creation of a new and independent nation. These reasons include states’ rights (rights to maintain and spread slavery for the most part, however a state’s right to secede appeared to be heavily contested as well), the power of federal government (something the south wanted to weaken in order to maintain slavery), and economic and cultural differences, which had the south relying more heavily on slaves to work at plantations.
The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict of the north and south. Other problems existed that led to this succession but none were as big as the slavery issue. The only way to avoid the war was to abolish slavery, but this was not able to be done because slavery is what kept the south running. When the south seceded it was said by Abraham Lincoln that “ a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Because slavery formed two opposing societies and slavery could never be abolished, the civil war was inevitable. These were all the reasons why the south seceded from the union, this succession was eminent and there was no plausible way to avoid it.
The Southern and Northern states varied on many issues, which eventually led them to the Civil War. There were deep economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. These differences stemmed from the interpretation of the United States Constitution on both sides. In the end, all of these disagreements about the rights of states led to the Civil War. There were reasons other than slavery for the South?s secession. The manifestations of division in America were many: utopian communities, conflicts over public space, backlash against immigrants, urban riots, black protest, and Indian resistance (Norton 234). America was a divided land in need reform with the South in the most need. The South relied heavily on agriculture, as opposed to the North, which was highly populated and an industrialized society. The South grew cotton, which was its main cash crop and many Southerners knew that heavy reliance on slave labor would hurt the South eventually, but their warnings were not heeded. The South was based on a totalitarian system.
Secondly, the demand for cotton grew tremendously as cotton became an important raw material for the then developing cotton industries in the North and Britain. The growing of cotton revived the Southern economy and the plantations spread across the south, and by 1850 the southern U.S produced more than 80% of cotton all over the world. As this cotton based economy of the south grew so did the slave labor to work in these large scale plantations since they were more labor-intensive...
Since the beginning of the Market Revolution, the institution of slavery became the leading factor that intensified the relations between the North and the South. Regarding the geographic differences between the North and South, the South was primarily agrarian and the North was mainly urban. Therefore, the North rapidly industrialized while the South remained relatively rural and cotton-slave based. As a result, the Market Revolution economically separated the North and the South and created a second party system. Thus, the issues of pro-slavery and anti-slavery arose between the Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans in the 1850s. The North desired to halt the expansion of slavery into western territories while the South strongly opposed. These two opposing parties led to radical abolitionism in the North, William Henry Seward and John Brown, and extreme secessionism in the South, James Henry Hammond, and South Carolina Ordinance of Secession. Due to their strict ideologies regarding slavery, both parties could not compromise on the issue of the expansion of slavery. Therefore, according to Americans in the years prior to the Civil War, conflict was inevitable.
The Civil War was a hard fought battle between the North and the South. The Civil War was caused by four main things: sectionalism, lifestyle differences, secession, and slavery (Wise). Slavery was the ultimate cause of the Civil War. The different leaders from the North and South had a large impact on what happened during the Civil War and how the battles were fought. The battles of the Civil War brought turning points and tragic moments in American History. In the end the North won and took control of the country and tried to bring it back together as quickly as possible. The Reconstruction Era after the war lasted for 12 years as the Presidents tried to reunite the split country (Reconstruction). The Civil War was a long hard fought war that ultimately changed the U.S. forever.
The majority of speculations regarding the causes of the American Civil War are in some relation to slavery. While slavery was a factor in the disagreements that led to the Civil War, it was not the solitary or primary cause. There were three other, larger causes that contributed more directly to the beginning of the secession of the southern states and, eventually, the start of the war. Those three causes included economic and social divergence amongst the North and South, state versus national rights, and the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case. Each of these causes involved slavery in some way, but were not exclusively based upon slavery.
The American civil war was completely inevitable. Though efforts had been made by the Republicans to stop the war, southerners were the major contributors to the war. Actions of the southerners were intended at starting a war. Though northerners did not intend to start the war, they could not void retaliating after attacks were launched by the confederates.
In conclusions, the Civil War was an inevitable conflict because of slavery. All aspects mention requires slavery for there to be a conflict. In addition, all states that seceded from the Union indicated that slavery was their main issue. Unless the North continued to allow slavery in the South and the expanding western territories, the conflict was sure to occur. Moreover, once the idea of money became an issue for slave owners, there was no doubt a war would ensue. Each compromise initiated by the federal government fell short of pleasing either party and violence occurred in Kansas. Slavery is the core of the inevitable Civil War and it took war to abolish it.
The Civil War was inevitable in many reasons. The economic and industrial evolution was mainly in the North side of the United States while the South was just a cotton kingdom, Slave Empire. Also both were completely opposites of one another when it was about freeing the slaves or hiring more. With many debates there has to be sides that would be separated especially if the president has so much hate from the people. With that being said, since many want opposing ideas, the Civil War becomes much evitable.
In 1860 about 400,000 white families owned approximately 4 million slaves. Owners of large plantations and farms grew crops for the market and also for home use. Cotton became the most important crop to grow in the United States. By the time of the Civil War, 4.9 million bales of cotton were being harvested yearly and a good portion of it was being transferred to the North. Slaves played an important role for the South, as they used them for cheap laborer and could make a quick profit from it.
The biggest cause was a social difference between slave and anti-slave states. Also, the growth of the abolition movement added to the turmoil. Most importantly is the land gained from the Mexican War, and what should be done with the land gained. To try and resolve the conflicts over the land, congress kept making compromises. The first major compromise was the Missouri Compromise, which was an imaginary line across the thirty-six and thirty degrees latitude. Anyone above was a free state and anyone below was a slave state. However, when new lands were added to the United States, people did not want slavery to expand and created the Wilmot Proviso which banned slavery in new territories. This outraged many people so they then decided to allow slavery to be determined in each state by popular sovereignty. However, with this idea came threats for individuals to vote for one side, and caused many fights in Kansas, hence, the Bleeding Kansas. All this social issues contributed to the Civil War.
To understand the importance of the debate on if the Civil War was preventable or not, it is crucial to note how influential this event was on the nation as a whole. At Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the Confederate artillery fired the first shots that begun the Civil War. There were numerous battles, like the Battle of Gettsburg and Chickamauga that resulted in millions of causalities. In fact, according to civilwar.org, “The Battle of Antictam (September 17, 1862) remains American’s single bloodiest day” with 3,652 deaths. This four years war from 1861 to 1865 was “proved to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and the population and territory of the South devastated” (“American Civil War”). Interestingly enough, war was never in the plans of either of the leaders at the time.