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what was the main cause of the civil war
causes of the civil war
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The cause of the American Civil War has been a politicized subject for the past 152 years. There are many different theories for what the main cause is, however the best answer is an all of the above approach. The cause of the war that divided the nation cannot be narrowly defined into a single issue but each cause is affected and tied together. The main causes that resulted in the Civil War were the issue of nullification, tariffs, but most importantly just an overall difference in their ways of life. Yes, slavery was a cause of the war, but that was not one of the central causes that popular belief has engrained in us all, however, the role that slavery had will be discussed. These reasons all-fed off each other, which eventually resulted in the bloodiest war in American history and affected almost every single American family. The first cause, that was most the popular belief for the cause of the Civil War, was the idea of slavery. Thomas Jefferson believed that slavery was, “Rock upon which the old Union would split” . While there is plenty to discuss why this was the cause of the war, the differences between the North and the South go much deeper then the question of slavery. Especially, since the Northern states tried slavery but it did not benefit them as well as it benefited the South. The last use of slaves in the North ended before 1850. While, slavery did play an influence and will be discussed how it did later, it is important to dispel some myths that have been lost in translation over the past 152 years. To the average American today, when asked what caused the Civil War a majority will say, slavery was the immediate cause of the war. However, while the effect that slavery played is undeniable, the... ... middle of paper ... ...tinuation of slavery in the United States. Works Cited Slavery: Cause and Catalyst of the Civil War." www.nps.gov. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. McPhearson, James M. For Causes and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Print Wahl, Jenny. "Slavery in the United State.” Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2013 Scruggs, Leonard M. The Un-Civil War Shattering the Historical Myths. Universal Media, Web. 24 Mar. 2013 Clyde N. Wilson and W. Edwin Hemphill, editors, The Papers of John C. Calhoun, vol. 10, 1825-1829 Columbia. 1977. U of South Carolina P. April 2013 Freehling, William W. Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina. New York City: Oxford University, 1965. Print. Latner, Richard B. "The Nullification Crisis and Republican Subversion." JSTOR 43.1 (1977): 19-38. JSTOR.org. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
In, “Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War,” Charles B. Dew analyzes the public letters and speeches of white, southern commissioners in order to successfully prove that the Civil War was fought over slavery. By analyzing the public letters and speeches, Dew offers a compelling argument proving that slavery along with the ideology of white supremacy were primary causes of the Civil War. Dew is not only the Ephraim Williams Professor of American History at Williams College, but he is also a successful author who has received various awards including the Elloit Rudwick Prize and the Fletcher Pratt Award. In fact, two of Dew’s books, Tredegar Iron Works and Apostles of Disunion and Ironmaker to
Sectionalism was the underlying cause of the Civil War. The North and South could not agree on anything which caused a lot of animosity between the North and South. The collapsing of the two party system and the rise of sectionalism started the Civil War. Every act and policy can be traced back to sectionalism. The South valued State’s Rights and always tried to use them against the North. The North tended to favor Central Government. The question of slavery was also a good example because neither side could collaborate and find the right answer. From the Tariff of 1832 to the Fugitive Slave Act neither North nor South was pleased at the same time. The Civil War was going to happen no matter what as long a sectionalism was an issue.
In Apostles of Disunion, Dew presents compelling documentation that the issue of slavery was indeed the ultimate cause for the Civil War. This book provided a great deal of insight as to why the South feared the abolition of slavery as they did. In reading the letters and speeches of the secession commissioners, it was clear that each of them were making passionate pleas to all of the slave states in an effort to put a stop to the North’s, and specifically Lincoln’s, push for the abolishment of slavery. There should be no question that slavery had everything to do with being the cause for the Civil War. In the words of Dew, “To put it quite simply, slavery and race were absolutely critical elements in the coming of the war” (81). This was an excellent book, easy to read, and very enlightening.
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
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.
Today, it is often debated whether the Civil War was truly caused by slavery. I would suggest that the people who dismiss slavery as a cause have either not realized that the other potential causes all trace back to slavery, or are reluctant to believe that southern citizens would go to war over such a cause. When even the highly-supported secession documents clearly outline how important slavery was to the southern states, it is hard to deny its fault in the war. The argument that the Confederacy was fighting for states’ rights is the most-often suggested alternative, however all one needs to do is dig deeper and calculate what these
What caused the Civil War is not solely one. The main cause of the Civil War is economic difference between the North and the South, which had been set up since American colonial times. The economic division also caused political division and different arguments regarding slavery because both the North and the South fought to protect their own economic system.
People often misunderstand the factors that led to one of the bloodiest wars in history, the Civil War. While many believe the question of the morality of slavery is what drove the South to secede, leading to the Civil War, that was not the main element. While main issue that led to the war was slavery, freedom and morality were not the center of this. It was a variety of political and economic aspects of slavery were what initiated the Civil War. Anti-Slavery writers such as Seward and Helper urged the country to abandon the extension of slavery in order to protect the union and the economy. Others believe that the abolitionist movement was what instigated the Civil War. While it did have a role in this, the morality of slavery was not the driving force behind the dissonance between the North and South. Both sides were not mainly concerned with the moral injustice of slavery, but instead of the depth of their own pockets and their sum of power. The Civil War was prompted by differing interpretations by the North and South of economic and political issues, such as free labor ideology and the spread of slavery, as seen through the analysis of documents dating prior to the beginning of the war.
The fundamental cause of the Civil War was the debate over slavery. As early as 1837, South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun stated that “We of the South…cannot surrender our institutions [of slavery]. To maintain the existing relations between the two races…is indispensable to the peace and happiness of both. It cannot be subverted without drenching the country in blood.” Moreover, every sectional pre-Civil War crisis had slavery at its roots. Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850, meant to quell Southern radicals’ calls of secession over the issue of slavery, addressed slavery in each of its provisions. John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, which deepened Southern dislike of the Northern Republican Party, was meant to start a slave uprising. And when South Carolina seceded from the Union in December 186...
Throughout the years, many people have been taught that the reason the Civil War happened, was to abolish slavery all through the United States. Although that is true, there were more reasons why the Civil War occurred.Referencing will be done on different articles and writers to support the findings of the authors. The article “Slavery, the Constitutional, and the Origins of the Civil War” by Paul Finkelman, discusses about the North (union) and the South (confederacy) and the disagreement of the territories following the constitutional laws regarding slavery, the article explores both sides of the territories and their beliefs of how the situation of slavery should have been dealt with. The article “The Economic Origins of the Civil War” by Marc Egnal, discusses the North’s (union) and the South’s (confederacy) economic situation that could have pushed the two territories to engage in war with one another. Finally, the last article “Politics, Ideology, and the Origins of the American Civil War” by Eric Foner, focuses on the Norths (union) and Souths (confederacy) views on politics and ideas of how each territory is ran and how they have affected the North and the South. These historians supplied specific and different explanations that explained what exactly caused the United States to enter into a Civil War. With the information provided by the authors, the evidence will lead us to the answer of what caused the Civil War.
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.
For generations students have been taught an over-simplified version of the civil war and even now I am just coming to a full understanding of the truth. The civil war was a terrible rift in our nation, fought between the northern states (known as the union) and the southern states (the Confederate States of America). The people’s opinions were so divided over the issues of the civil war that, in some families, brother was pit against brother. Eventually, the south succumbed to the north and surrendered on April 9th, 1865 but not before the war had caused 618,000 deaths, more than any other war in U.S. history.(1) In truth, many believe this horrible war was fought purely over the issue of slavery. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not denying that slavery was a major cause and issue of the civil war, but social and economic differences as well as states’ rights were just as important issues and I will be discussing all three.
Between the economic, political, and social quarrels that evolved throughout the 1850's, the North and the South underwent many changes that led to the start of the Civil War. The most attributing factor to this war was that of a moral dispute between two sections who both wanted different things. Slavery became the issue that spread across the nation and was disputed back and forth between the North and South sections of the country.
In conclusion, these four events were the main causes that led to the American Civil War. All of these events had to do with slavery which is the overall reason why the war occurred. The main causes of the Civil War negatively and/or positively impacted a group of people. The Civil War is also known as “The War Between the States.” The issues between slavery and central powers were what divided the United States (10 Facts: What Everyone Should Know About the Civil
Many are clueless today on what caused the civil war in America. Three of the main causes of the war were: That nation was split into two totally different societies (Kelly), that the growth of slavery in American had become one of the most intense issues in America at this time period, and finally the election of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.