Civil War Causes

From the birth of the United States, the country was always divided into two regions, North and South. The North benefited from industry, machines, factories, and even a bit of farming in the Midwest, while the South benefited from one thing. Slaves. Slaves were first brought from Africa as indentured servants, but once the demand of labor increased, they were changed into slaves, meaning they would never earn their freedom. The debate of slavery had always been a topic in politics, however it began growing with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Soon in 1860, the country was divided into two seperate countries, the United States of America (North) and the Confederate States of America (South). However, the question still remains, what exactly caused the Civil War?

Slavery, as Abraham Lincoln often noted, was the root cause of the Civil War. Tensions over slavery dated back to the contradictory nature of the American Revolution of 1776 that resulted in a republic simultaneously committed to freedom for whites and bondage for blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Within years North and South reached the point at which compromise was not possible. At that time Civil War had been started.

The Civil War was caused by the economics of slavery and the political control of that system, specifically being states’ rights on the federal powers of the government, the territorial expansion of the united states that led to the division of the two sides, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln which was the final event that sent the nation to war.

From the above, the most important cause of the Civil War is the economic conflict between the north and the south with the abolition of slavery. The union won the final victory in the Civil War. The victory of the union strengthened the unification of the country and also laid the status of the capitalism. The subsequent Reconstruction cleared the way to the development of economy.

Slavery makes people that are confident and people that think they can do anything, make them feel like they can't do anything and make them not confident.

Slavery was one of the main factors sending the north and south into a raging war. There was more to than just slavery being abolished. Slavery being abolished to the south was like the government was taking abilities and money from them. Thus making them feel as if they were being done wrong. Also a majority of southerners were plantation owners needing slaves to work the farms so they could earn

Another event, Bleeding Kansas can mainly be said to have led to the Civil War because it led to the establishment of the Republican Party. Bleeding Kansas was when the U.S. gave Kansas the right for their citizens to vote whether they wanted Kansas to be a free state or a slave state. If Bleeding Kansas never happened, Kansas would have been a free state. What happened is that Missouri’s citizens wanted Kansas to become a slave state. So, they snuck into Kansas and voted slavery for Kansas. Missouri’s citizens then went around Kansas, and killed many people that did not vote slavery. Then In 1857, Dred Scott was a Virginia slave who tried to sue for his freedom in court.  The case rose to the Supreme Court, where it was said if a slave goes up to a free state which is illegal to have slaves, the slave would be free. Then came about The Scott Decision which court rules African Americans were not, nor could ever be, citizens of the United States. Congress cannot prohibit slavery and it was considered the worst Supreme Court decision in history. In 1859, the militant abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. arsenal at Harper 's Ferry, VA. He commanded anti-slavery forces and planned to end slavery by killing slave owners and freeing their slaves. Twenty-one individuals take part in the raid but John Brown is soon captured and hung. A quote from a newspaper at the time by Alan Farmer, "The Harper 's ferry invasion has advanced the cause of disunion more than any other event

With discontent spreading across the country, a brewing war was on the horizon. The American people were facing many different issues, centered around slavery, throughout the century which would eventually lead up to the Civil War.

The causes of the Civil War were complex and have been controversial since the country began. Some causes include; states’ rights, economics, and slavery. The most recognizable and popular cause is slavery. The freeing of the slaves was an important moral issue at the time and one of the greatest causes of the civil war. "It was only by carefully avoiding the moral issue involved in slavery that Northerners and Southerners could meet on any common ground." (Goldston, 79). The time came in which our great country would finally address the moral issue of slavery. Although there are many different causes to the American Civil War, the main cause was slavery because other causes are rooted in the issue of slavery.

Slavery was the main cause of the Civil War. The economies of the North and the South were very different. The South relied heavily on the plantations, factories and slaves for their incomes while the north relied more on its ports and trading for their economy. When the north wanted to end slavery, the south saw it as the north destroying their

In the mid 1800’s there was multiple reasons to explain the cause of the Civil War of 1861 in the United States of America. From the compromise of 1850 which passed five bills to try and solve a four year political debate between slave and free states. Most importantly the Fugitive slave act which by itself created significant turmoil. To the Election of 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was appointed to office. With the Compromise and it’s fugitive slave act plus the election of Lincoln, the tension surpassed it’s breaking point and the Southern states started to succeed resulting in the impending war.

I believe that the Raid on Harpers Ferry led to the Civil War the most. I believe that because of the way the north and south reacted to it. Because some of the northerners called John brown a martyr, the southerners were outraged. They were outraged that someone would call Brown a hero for threatening their lives to take their property. Most of the southerners were outraged and feared slave revolts. Some of the southerners even began talking about seceding. On the other hand Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry caused tension and made any further accommodations between the North and the South nearly impossible.

Some may argue that slavery itself did not start the war, the problems it created did. And in a way they are right. Slavery made each side believe they are different from one another. How could they see it any other way? They were divided by a Compromise line, ideals, different economies, and different political officials. The disunion of the nation was inevitable because of these differences and sparked many battles and rebellions pre-civil war; and under lincoln they become united.

In 1860, the world 's greatest nation was locked in Civil War. The war divided the country between the North and South. There were many factors that caused this war, but the main ones were the different interpretations of the Constitution by the North and South, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the arrival of

The North’s actions of abolishing slavery and enacting tariffs caused the South to fight in hopes of preserving their way of life and economy. Plantations in the South were only successful because of slavery. Without the slaves helping them create the abundance of cotton, the South would have no economy. The country’s economy would be greatly altered if slavery was eliminated both from a consumer and producer perspective. When the North did announce that they wanted to completely eradicate slavery, the South was taken aback due to the fact that the whole country would not function without slavery and the cotton produced. The North wanted the South to industrialize but the South replied “… we must ever continue to be, wholly dependent upon agriculture and commerce (South Caroline Protest Against the Tariff of 1828).” The climate in the South did not allow for the same industrialization to occur as it did in the North. Plantations and their productions of cash crops were booming in the South and the northern frontier was too small of a market, therefore leading them to sell to foreign countries. This caused the North to enact tariffs and in order to prevent the South from being too successful and lose them as a market. The North ended up petrifying the Southerners into fighting a war in order to preserve their way of life and thriving economy.