The Civil War: The Great American Tragedy

920 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The American Civil war

Causing four years of bloodshed on American ground, the Civil War was considered to be one of the most divisive wars in American history. Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the US Civil War was fought between the American people, mainly the northern states versus the southern states. There is a common misconception that slavery is the key issue that led to the American Civil War. However, there were several other reasons that pushed American into the “Great American Tragedy”. Because the North and the South were very different economically, socially, and politically, and with territorial expansion all of this eventually resulted in the Civil War, or the War Between the States.
First of all, there is an economic difference between the North and the South. In the North, society was fast becoming industrial and focused more on city life. In contrast, the South remained a region of small towns and large plantations. As Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable (Grischy). People who owned land began to grow cotton which led to a large amount of cheap labor, so slaves were needed. The South became a one crop economy which depended mostly on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the North was based more on industry rather than agriculture. It focused on manufacturing and using raw materials to make finished goods. While the northern people favored taxes on imports, also known as tariffs that protected factory owners and workers from foreign competition, the southern people, on the other hand, were opposed to tariffs. In order for Southerners to buy goods from the North, the Northern politicians passed heavy taxes on imported goods from Europe. The economic difference was one of the reasons that div...

... middle of paper ...

...lavery. On the other hand, the Union fought the Civil War because they wanted to end slavery and also because many people believed that the Southern states did not have the right to succeed.
In conclusion, due to economic, social, political differences between the North and the South and with territorial expansion, all of this added in causing the Civil War. During the early 1860s, the Civil War of America was a major conflict between the Union, and the Confederate of States. The United States was divided into the North and the South because of economic differences, and different lifestyles. The North was become industrialized at a very fast rate and focused more on city life. The South, in contrast, was still an agricultural society which depended mostly on cotton and slavery. There was so many reasons caused the Civil War to happen and it was an inevitable war.

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

  • Essay On The Battle Of Gettysburg A Turning Point Dbq

    487 Words  | 1 Pages

    Some of the causes from the civil war were that the North was more experienced than the South, they also had more resources to fight in battle. The civil war started when Southern states seceded from the Union after the election with Abraham Lincoln. The battle of Gettysburg had a huge impact on the civil war because it was a three-day battle, making it the bloodiest battle from the American Civil War. Also, the south’s Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania enetered in late June 1863.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Causes Of The Civil War Dbq

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. After the Civil War all men were truly created equal, it reunited the country as one, and redefined what it meant to be an

    Read More

  • What Did The North Cause The Civil War Essay

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are various explanations as to who and what really caused the Civil War. It is even fair to say that sometimes morals stand in the way when deciding who really started the war. Therefore, the facts must be analyzed clearly and in depth. It is true that the north played a major role in the Civil War, however, the south would not release their strict traditional beliefs of slavery. As time progressed, slavery debates pressured the South more and more to stand by their strict beliefs. Fugitive acts, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Secession all showed how the south used brutal methods to preserve slavery. Therefore, since the popular sovereignty doctrine, the pro-slavery souths’ strict use of slavery and decisions to secede from the nation, angered the north, leading to a civil war.

    Read More

  • Election of Lincoln and Civil War

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States of America, the repercussions of which led to civil war. However it was not only Lincoln’s election that led to civil war but also the slavery debate between the northern and southern states and the state of the economy in the United States. Together with the election of Lincoln these caused a split, both politically and ideologically, between the North and South states which manifested into what is now refereed to as the American Civil War.

    Read More

  • Events that Led to the Civil War

    1792 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the south, cotton was becoming a huge success for the southern farmer. Cotton, being a very laborious crop, required the ownership of many slaves per plantation. Unlike the immigrants of the north, slaves were property. Slaves were also much less of a profit. When a slave became ill he could not simply be replaced, he needed to be cared for, after all, this was the plantation owners property. On the other hand in the north if a worker became to ill to work, there were several immigrants waiting for the job.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism In The United States:

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most important difference between the north and south was the issue of slavery. The South was primarily agricultural, and the southern economy was based upon the existence of large family farms known as plantations. The plantation economy relied on cheap labor in the form of slaves to produce tobacco and cotton. Farmers on the plantation did not do the work themselves; they needed slaves in order to make the largest amount of money possible. The North, however, was primarily industrial in nature. The North believed that all men should be able to work and support themselves and their families, regardless of color. They also felt that if a man were happy doing his job, then he would be more productive. Therefore, both he and the business would make more money.

    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

  • Impact Of The Civil War On American History

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most dangerous wars in american history, was created over a small period of time, where tensions grew rapidly throughout the country. The Civil War lasted four years, when the popular majority of people believed it would last three months before one side would face defeat. The Civil War was caused by a majority of different events that caused tensions to rise throughout the country over various subjects, such as the economies and the political standpoint of both the North and the South.The stress caused by the politics increased the infuriation throughout the country. And as the pressure of a war occurred, economies of both the North and the South were huge influences to the impact of the separation between the nation.

    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

  • The Secession Crisis

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the years leading up to the Civil War, there was great conflict throughout the United States. The North and South had come to a crossroads at which there was no turning back. The Secession Crisis is what ultimately led to the Civil War. The North and the South disagreed on slavery and what states would be free states. The South despised Lincoln's election and rose up in revolt by forming the Confederate States of America.

    Read More

  • The Civil War Was Inevitable

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main problem in every event leading up to the Civil War involved the issue of slavery, making slavery the main cause of the war. The initial blame for the war can be pointed at America’s founding fathers who knew slavery violated every aspect of America’s liberty, but yet they still did not prohibit slavery. If it was not the election of President Lincoln that caused South Carolina to secede from the Union, allowing other states to follow, a different event would have triggered the war, making the Civil War inevitable. All in all, the Civil War was bound to happen and it became the bloodiest war in American history.

    Read More

  • The Inevitable American Civil War

    1833 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American civil war is one of the historic dark moments that are in the memory of the country was lasted for 4 years, between the years 1961-1965. The conflict that existed was between the north and the south states of the U.S. The conflict led to mass destruction of property and man lives were lost during the war. The war had a great impact in creating awareness in the U.S despite the great tension it created, and was the greatest determinant of the way the U.S is currently in terms of the sovereignty and the liberty of the U.S citizens. It is estimated that over 600,000 lives were lost in the four years’ war most of them being soldiers who were fighting to defend their respective states. The war did not only touch the lives of Americans but whole world felt its effect. The war was purely American since no other country intervened in the war (James & Michael, 17).

    Read More

  • Dbq Civil War

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    A lot of people say that the southern part of the United States is what started the war. Their stubborn ways forced the north to take action, which led to the civil war. In all reality, there was more that came into play when the civil war was in the making. States rights was one of the problems that led to the civil war, the constitution did not define who had what powers and what authority over what. Also slavery played a part because the slaves were raising up and fighting for their rights in which the south did not like and the north tried to help, only making the problem worse.

    Read More

  • Causes of the Civil War

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many causes led to the Civil War. This all happened around the mid 1800s. It was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states. Both sides had their own view on slavery, and their separate views caused contentions between the two. Both had different views on whether to expand or stop slavery growth to the West, or have slavery at all.

    Read More

More about The Civil War: The Great American Tragedy

Open Document