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. In The article “Slavery, the Constitutional, and the Origins of the Civil War”, Paul Finkelman discusses some of the events that he believes lead the United States to have a Civil War. He discusses how both the North and the South territories of the Untied States did not see eye to eye when it came to ab... ... middle of paper ... ...d. The Whig and Democratic parties developed as national parties, they advocated throughout the nation, regardless of the regional and sessional differences between the supporters. Due to the economic changes, it affected many of the territories in the United States. For example, the North and the Great Lakes economy, and the East-West economy was growing as well, which strengthened relations with Border States and the North. Unlike the North, the South struggled the workers and the poverty-stricken farmers felt excluded from the new exchanges that were being made by the Democrats. Both Parties battled each other over economical issues, both of the parties had supporters throughout the entire country and stayed devoted to the idea of a unified nation. Since the parties shared interest leaders from the North and South to work together and work through sectional issues.
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Show MoreNo one is one hundred percent sure why the American Civil War came to be. However, one theory that repeatedly comes up is the issue of slavery and whether it was just or wrong in America the land of the freedom throughout history and discussions. Charles B. Dew the author of, Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and The Cause of The Civil War, claims to be a southerner himself and explains his thoughts and education growing up in the south. In his youth, he was taught by his family that the reason the South went to war was to fight for their State’s rights but as an adult he explains that it may not have been the only reason they fought after researching for himself.
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.
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
Slavery was merely one of the causes of the Civil War. Some historians argue that the political difference between the North and the South is a more influential cause of the Civil War while some insist that economic is the main cause. In fact, the political division between the North and the South was affected by the differences in the economic system of both. The North and the South had had different economic backgrounds that were established since the American colonial period. These economic differences from the colonial period brought about the political division that was based on preserving each other’s own wealth or property and eventually caused the Civil War.
The US constitution was written with great vision to create strong nation. The bill of right were written, it provide all humans with rights. The writers of the constitution we hypocrites, they didn’t abide by what they preached. Thomas Jefferson wrote himself “ all men are created equal” but he owned slaves. The founding father didn’t look or even think about slavery when they wrote the constitution. They were pre-occupied in getting the southern state to join the union and sign the new constitution. They southern states believed that the federal government shouldn’t mess with the issue on slavery because slavery was a state issue.
For a long time, historians have been unable to come to an agreement to why the Civil War started and whether or not it was repressible or irrepressible. Northern and Southern writers had different opinions as to why the war occurred. To most Northern writers, the war occurred because of the unlawful plan of slave owners who were committed to a not liable institution. The North defended the Constitution and was against the immoral aggression of the south. The North clearly defended the Union. However, the Southern writers on the other hand tried to show their views on why the Civil War started by portraying the North as the aggressive ones who wanted to destroy the South and all of its institutions. The south insisted that slavery was not the main cause of the war but instead was the aggressive and unconstitutional acts of the North. The south claimed the North used its powers for political and economic gain and denied that the war had stemmed from differences over slavery. The north’s domineering attitude toward the south was the main cause for their hostilities. They defended this ...
When asked the question; “What caused the civil war?” many people would like to say slavery. Now they are right but they are also only half right. In this essay I’m going to help clear the air on what all caused the civil war like: industry, farming, court arguments, and many other issues.
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.
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 American Civil War was the bloodiest military conflict in American history leaving over 500 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded (Roark 543-543). One might ask, what caused such internal tension within the most powerful nation in the world? During the nineteenth century, America was an infant nation, but toppling the entire world with its social, political, and economic innovations. In addition, immigrants were migrating from their native land to live the American dream (Roark 405-407). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousand African slaves were being traded in the domestic slave trade throughout the American south. Separated from their family, living in inhumane conditions, and working countless hours for days straight, the issue of slavery was the core of the Civil War (Roark 493-494). The North’s growing dissent for slavery and the South’s dependence on slavery is the reason why the Civil War was an inevitable conflict. Throughout this essay we will discuss the issue of slavery, states’ rights, American expansion into western territories, economic differences and its effect on the inevitable Civil War.
To understand how a future civil war is possible, you first have to examine the causes and conditions that led this country to its first civil war. When asked what the main cause of the civil war was, one might say slavery, and they would be correct. But the American Civil War was much more than a fight over slavery, because in reality plenty of southerners did not own slaves, and numerous northerners participated in the owning of slaves as well. At t...
There were many reasons for the outbreak of the civil war, a war that fundamentally changed the United States and inspired some of the greatest thinkers to write some inspiring literary works. Many are fascinated by the civil war and want to make sense of what happened. It was a bloody war in which Americans were killing other Americans. The questions and answers brought about during the war would re-shape the American society and provide an answer about the much debated subject of slavery. Each side held a deeply rooted reason for going to war. There are so many factors involved in the reasons behind the war that has captured and fascinated the American’s attention for many years.
No sudden occurrence, the American Civil War stemmed from decades of sectionalism within the United States, which had separated the industrialized North, home to a growing antislavery movement, from the agricultural, slavery-dependent South. The latter region used the United States Constitution to justify the maintenance of slavery; specifically, the South cited the Tenth Amendment, which gran...
The paramount reason that attributed to the American Civil War was based on Slavery. According to this week’s lesson (DeVry University, 2016) “… some Americans who, for religious or secular reasons, fought for abolition” This group must have felt the anguish of how poorly some of the slaves were treated. Prior to the war, “in 1860, President Abraham Lincoln had won the election; South Carolina secedes from the Union.” Since President Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery, and the South Carolinians was not against slavery, legislators and six other states separated from the union to form their own government. Additionally, Southerner’s disseminated propaganda which spreads rapidly that a “Black Republican” which would eradicate slavery and ruin the society (Keene, Cornell & O’Donnell, 2013, p. 369).
The American Civil War was a war fought within the United States of America between the North, later known as the Union, and the South later known as the Confederacy, starting from 1861 and ending in 1865. This war is seen as one of the most devastating events in American history, costing more than 600,000 lives. From the Southern point of view, this war was a ‘War of Rebellion’, or a ‘War for Southern Independence’. From the Northern point of view this war was seen as a revolution. This war started as a result of many years of disagreements and conflict building up amid the two regions. Between the North and the South there lay deep economic, social and political differences, but it is important to understand that slavery was the root of cause