A Guide To The Various Complex Causes Of The Civil War
The American Civil War was an extraordinarily destructive tragedy that divided the nation and claimed more than 600,000 lives. This has led many to ask, “what caused the Civil War?” As is often the case, there is no single answer to what ultimately led the nation into war. Rather, the stage for the Civil War developed over decades and involved complex economic interests, political issues, and cultural and regional disagreements between the Northern and Southern States of the United States.
In the years leading up to the Civil War, tensions between the Northern and the Southern States increased, as their respective economic interests grew further apart. Shortly after the Revolutionary
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In 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the election on a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the western territories. Lincoln narrowly won a majority of the electoral votes and only received 40% of the popular vote (Gruver 367). Following the election of Lincoln, seven southern states seceded from the Union and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America (Robertson 26-27). After the inauguration of Lincoln as President, South Carolina bombarded federal troops in Fort Sumter and forced its surrender (Robertson 27-28). After the attack on Fort Sumter, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederate States of America (Collins 154). In response, President Lincoln called upon the states to provide 75,000 volunteer soldiers to shut down the rebellion (Robertson 28). As of April 19, 1861, the United States of America was a nation at war with itself.
The Civil War was the result of a complex mix of divergent economic interests, irreconcilable political issues, and regional disagreements between the North and South. These factors developed and progressively deteriorated over the decades setting up the kindling for the war to begin. The election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession of the Southern States were the sparks that set the nation ablaze and at war against itself. The Civil War started and resulted in the bloodiest four years in American
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 decades leading up to the American Civil War showed a great divide in the economic, political, and regional attitudes between the North and South. These divisions still plague the country today. However, there is a divide on whether economic anxieties or political differences were the major factor in the run up to the Civil War.
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.
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.
The civil war, a devastating conflict amongst the American North and South in the mid to late 1800s, was caused by growing tension between the opposing sides for many reasons but also because of territorial expansion of America. In determining the impact of territorial expansion in the mid 1800’s on the sectionalism that led to the civil war, one would first have to look at the tactics for territorial expansion in America. Americans began to entertain the idea of heading west in the early 1800’s, which then brought forth the acts and events of the United States spreading its boundaries from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Historical events involving the expansion of America such as Manifest Destiny, the War with Mexico, and popular sovereignty in the west, all contributed to the growing tension between the North and the South, ultimately starting the Civil War.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in the United State. But, the United States had been divided in the 1850s, due to the question about expansion of slavery and the rights of the slave owner. The issue of slavery had heated the nation to the boiling point. Fourth Months later, after Abraham presidential election, the seven states in the deep southern part of the United States, like South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia. Louisiana, and Texas, had seceded and seized many federal facilities. Although President Lincoln is the president of the United State, he still had no official powers to do anything about the Southern forming a new nation. On April 15, Lincoln called 75,000 volunteers to put down the Southern rebellion, and to reverse the seven states to vote in favor of session. After the nation drifted toward conclusion, Abraham Lincoln traveled all over the North, so he can make campaign speeches for the Republicans party. Abram Lincoln used his influence, as the leader of the Republican Party, by reaching out to the political leader of the Republican party, writing privately letters, demanded that the Republican party needs to hold firm to its opposition to the extension of slavery and to also reassure the southern that the Republicans composed no threats. When Civil War begins, Abr...
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.
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.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor when the Confederate army attacked Union soldier and ended on May 9, 1865 with a Union Victory. There are many events, laws, and people that provoked the Civil War. The two most important causes are slavery and the expansion of the United States causing an unbalance of free and slave states. This essay examines major events that initiated the war starting from the Compromise of 1820 to the election of 1860 and proves how the Civil War was inevitable.
The Civil War officially began on April 12th, 1861, when Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard shot at the Union Troops currently occupying Fort Sumter. While this specific event may have marked the beginning of actual warfare, it was not the only event to spark the beginning of the Civil War in general. One of the most well-known causes of the Civil War is the conflict over slavery. The Southern states were very dependent on agriculture and the slave labor that was required to maintain healthy crops. On the other hand, the Northern states were more focused on factories and industrial work, and did not want slavery to expand as the country grew. As if this disagreement didn't cause enough tension, Southern states were seceding from the Union because they felt that the government (which at the time was run mostly by people from the North) was gaining too much power, and soon would have complete control over the Southern states. Starting with South Carolina, a total of eleven states seceded from the Union during this time period. The third cause of the Civil War was the taxes that were placed on many parts of the South. Taxes such as those placed on European goods imported to the South proved to be quite a burden for the people that lived down there, and this only further encouraged them to separate themselves from the Unio...
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, opposed the expansion of slavery into United States' territories. Lincoln won, but before his inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to secede had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, a total of 48.8% for the six. Outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincoln's inaugural address declared his administration would not initiate civil war. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy. A peace conference failed to find a compromise, and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "King Cotton" that they would intervene; none did and none recognized the new Conf...