American History: The Civil War

The characteristics of the American North and American South prior to the civil differed greatly in regard to economic, political and social factors, thus setting the stage for the most divisive battle between fellow American citizens that America had experienced to date. The American civil war lasted for five long years, from 1860 to 1865, and the effects of the civil war left a long lasting hostile divide on America’s social, political and economic scenes, both in the North and South. The uniquely different characteristics of the American North and South and how they interact with each other would be changed forever. The Civil War was the most divisive war in American history. In the early 1800s, the United States experienced a growth of nationalism and unity, but it was replaced by sectionalism, leading to the Civil War.

It has been extremely difficult to exactly pin-point the causes and effects of the war. The United States Civil War had international impact, not only because of the growing international status of the United States, but also because the war threatened world access to the South's cotton. France and Great Britain were the two main countries that had particular interest in the wars outcome, but other nations were as well affected by it. The American Civil War was a conflict over way of life. The Southern states depended upon the agriculture of the slaves, including cotton production. There were many reasons why the South wanted to separate from the union and there were also many reasons why the North wanted to maintain the Union.

The main reason the South wanted to separate was to become an independent state. The Southerners did not want to get rid of their slavery system because it was critical to their e...

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... 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. 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.

Bibliography

Cole C. Kingseed, “The American Civil War”. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1949.

Encyclopedia Britannica online, S.V. “American Civil War” assessed May 4, 2014,

http://www.britannica.com/americancivilwar.

Gary W. Gaallagher, Stephen D. Engle, Robert K. Krick and Joseph T. Smith, “The

American Civil War”, Great Britain, 2003.

John William Draper, “History of American Civil War,” Washington New York, 1867.