Causes for the Split between the North and South

800 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Political differences between the north and the south

It was only a matter of time for the inevitable conflict between the North and South to occur. The North and South were complete opposites in their economic systems, political views, social positions, and geographic regions. The dispute over slavery became the main conflict argued about throughout the country. Northerners formed the Republican party and the Southerners formed the Democratic party. Both sides tried to take different social positions based on the many conflicts prior to the Civil War. Although there were other important causes, ultimately differing views on political and social events and beliefs were the main causes of the Civil War. The contrasting views on states’ rights and the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law led to greater political strains between the North and the South. There were many arguments on the chance that certain laws favored one region over the other. These arguments led to the States’ Rights Doctrine, which said that state power should be greater than federal power since the states had formed the national government. Robert Young Hayne, a supporter of states’ rights, stated that “If the federal government alone can determine the limits of its own authority, and the States are forced to go along with these decisions ... then this is practically a government with unlimited powers” (Hayne, “Speech Before the United States Senate on Mr. Foote’s Resolution”). The southerners favored stronger states’ rights, while the northerners wanted federal power over state power. This political difference further divided the North and the South, strengthening the forming sides of the Civil War. Through this belief of state power over federal power, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, which favored the South over ... ... middle of paper ... ...ves were property, instead of people, and they could now spread slavery through the United States. The result of this case helped to widen the schism forming between the North and the South. Therefore, social factors that divided the North and South helped cause the Civil War. Even though geographic and economic disputes were considered important, mainly political and social differences gave birth to the Civil War. Unable to agree about the amount of rights a state deserved, the North and South fell further away from each other. This division increased as the Fugitive Slave Law was passed and when the final verdict of Dred Scott’s case was announced. Abolitionist attempts to end slavery continued to separate the splitting sides. All in all, the Civil War started out as political and social discords, but grew into a full-scale battle deciding the fate of our nation.

Show More
Related

  • Summary: Why The North Won The Civil War

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Civil War, beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, was a notorious event in American history for many influential reasons. Among them was the war 's conclusive role in determining a united or divided American nation, its efforts to successfully abolish the slavery institution and bring victory to the northern states. This Civil War was first inspired by the unsettling differences that divided the northern and southern states over the power that resided in the hands of the national government to constrain slavery from taking place within the territories. There was only one victor in the Civil War. Due to the lack of resources, plethora of weaknesses, and disorganized leadership the Southern States possessed in comparison to the Northern States,

    Read More

  • The Differences between the North and South on the Eve of the Civil War

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Differences between the North and South on the Eve of the Civil War On the eve of the Civil war, both the North and the South had differences, both minor and large. The main difference was Slavery where both sides had a completely dissimilar view point on how the treat black people an example of this is the Missouri compromise in 1820. There were also differences in the rate of industrialisation and Education. The largest difference between the North and the South was the number of free black people. The North had hardly any slaves; however the South had around 4 million slaves.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Half Slave And Half Free Bruce Levine

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War, Bruce Levine attributes the cause of the Civil War to the incompatibility between North and South that, in Levine’s opinion, is connected to slavery. Levine claims that from the beginning when the discussion of slavery was left out of the Constitution, a wedge was created between North and South that eventually affected all aspects of life: socially, politically, religiously, and economically, with the North focusing on manufacturing that relied upon free-labor while the South’s cash crop depended upon slave labor. This division caused the two sides to be incompatible and with both sides unwilling to compromise and the interpretation of the Constitution unable to lead to a firm decision, the only foreseen end was through disunion.

    Read More

  • The Sectionalism of the 19th Century

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    The North was based on industrialism and the South on agriculture. Perhaps one of the greatest issues ever faced by the United States was that of slavery. The South had become extremely content with their way of life with slaves and the North were very against it. This caused many disagreements between the two regions and ultimately was one of the main causes of the Civil War. They also had different views on tariffs due to the difference in the economies. The North was booming with industrialization and they didn’t like competing with the goods being imported. The tariffs provided protection for the northern industries and in turn had a negative impact they had on the southern economy. This only amplified the uneasy feeling that the South felt about the Union. They feared the Union would grow too powerful and the people would eventually lose their voice. It was the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that opened the door and unleashed the beast that was sectionalism in the nation. After the compromise the North and South had a hard time agreeing on anything.

    Read More

  • Election of Lincoln and Civil War

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion the election of Lincoln as president in 1860 caused a civil war because it was falsely perceived by the south that Lincoln would threaten the state’s constitutional right to slavery. This false idea was due to a rift between the northern and southern states in both an economic and ideological manner. That is the north was based on industry and generally was opposed to slavery. But the South was an agricultural society which ran on slavery and, due to Nat Turner’s Insurrection and John Brown’s stand at Harper’s Ferry, was fearful of the north’s involvement in the governing of states as well as being opposed to this on the basis of state’s rights. The election of Lincoln caused the south to succeed from the union causing civil war.

    Read More

  • Events that Led to the Civil War

    1792 Words  | 4 Pages

    There were several issues that contributed to the split between the northern and southern states. Among these were the deep social, economic and political differences. The split could be traced as far back as the early 1800’s, just as the industrial revolution was beginning. It’s effects on the north and the south caused the economic split. As the north was becoming more industrialized; the south began to rely heavily on slave labor. This was one of the main reasons, as the southern view on slavery differed greatly from the North. These views were based on drastically different interpretations of the constitution.

    Read More

  • The Breakup of the Union

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the years paving the way to the Civil War, both north and south were disagreeable with one another, creating the three “triggering” reasons for the war: the fanaticism on the slavery issue, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the separation of the Democratic Party. North being against the bondage of individuals and the South being for it, there was no real way to evade the clash. For the south slavery was a form of obtaining a living, without subjugation the economy might drop majorly if not disappear. In the North there were significant ethical issues with the issue of subjugation. Amazing measures to keep and dispose of subjugation were taken and there was never a genuine adjusted center for bargain. Despite the fact that there were a lot of seemingly insignificant issues, the fundamental thing that divided these two states was bondage and the flexibilities for it or against. With these significant extremes, for example, John Brown and Uncle Tom's Cabin, the south felt disdain towards the danger the Northerners were holding against their alleged flexibilities. The more hatred the South advanced, the more combative they were to anything the Northerners did. Northerners were irritated and it parted Democrats over the issue of bondage and made another Republican gathering, which included: Whigs, Free Soilers, Know Nothings and previous Democrats and brought about a split of segments and abbreviated the street to common war. Southerners loathed the insubordination of the north and started to address how they could stay with the Union.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism In The United States:

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were many problems, events, and situations that led to the Civil War. One of the major reasons for the outbreak of the war was sectionalism. Once the United States was split, many of the country's fundamental issues were disputed, with slavery being at the top of the list. Some of the other major issues in dispute were representation, tariffs, and states' rights. Sectionalism is defined as, the sharp socio-economic differences that divided the Northern and the Southern states in the U.S.

    Read More

  • Differences Between the North and South that Led to the Civil War

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Civil War - North Vs. South

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early American colonies, the south and the north developed into two distinctly different colonies. Although their origins were both from Europe, their customs and living habits became so different that it would play a major role in America’s history. There are many reasons why these differences occurred but only a few major reasons stand out. Religion, greed and the composition of the colonies are some of the major reasons why the north and south grew to be so different in the late 1600’s. Different religions in specific colonies varied, but the people from the New England region were generally more devoted to their religious beliefs, whereas people from the south felt religion wasn’t as important. Children from the north are taught from The Bible as soon as possible and this instills high moral values into the people. In the south only the wealthiest families could afford education, causing the common population to be ignorant and un-educated. The people of New England were willing to work together and help each other for the sake of the community because they felt that they were working under God’s will. (Doc. A) The south on the other hand worked to better themselves through the Headright System, which ended up pitting the people against each other instead of working with each other. The people of Massachusetts agreed: "We whose names are underwritten, being by God’s providence engaged together to make a plantation…" (Doc. D) This shows that reli...

    Read More

  • The American Civil War: The Inevitable Confrontation

    1753 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Who Was To Blame For The Civil War

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Union is to blame for the civil war, particularly the northern states because the federal union’s goal was to not promote conformity, but to permit diversity within the orderly confines of any socialized community (Niven 311). The union could easily be considered a haven for all types of people, not just slaves. From 1830 until 1860, relatively few immigrants settled in the South (Meyers). The Northern states had a different vision of what they wanted America to be and strongly opposed how the South ran things. The southern states thrived off slavery and is mainly how people made a living in that region. Slavery is the cornerstone of a social order that protected individual liberty and equality for the white population in the south (Niven 311). Meaning that the North had way more resources, workers, and support in comparison to the South, so slavery was a way for the Southern states to at least stay relevant in the United States of America. The North’s feelings about how slavery was tearing the country and the union apart was the spark for the Civil War.

    Read More

  • The Secession of the South

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia assembly speech will explain how the Southern leaders justify the secession from the United States.

    Read More

  • The Road to the American Civil War

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Dred Scott Case Essay

    490 Words  | 1 Pages

    So they were determined to do something about it. The confederate states felt that the republicans in the north were interfering with their personal properties, and the republicans felt that African Americans should be free and nobody should be enslaved and use for free-labor. This tension caused a divide in the country, increasingly leading the way to civil war.

    Read More

More about Causes for the Split between the North and South

Open Document