Cotton Diplomacy

The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,

One could argue that the true causes of the Civil War were states’ rights and taxations. Although this played a large part in the start of the Civil War, slavery was the ultimate factor that led to this event in history. Economic and social differences between the north and the south, fights between slave and non-slave proponents, the growth of the abolition movement, and the election of Abraham Lincoln are all events having to do with slavery in the United States that led to the start of the Civil War.

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.

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.

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.

ship the cotton but this meant that the South had to pay the North to

When the war ended the South was suffering from financial problems and was still relying on “King Cotton” (Nash 426) to be its main source of income. The South was the most affected by the war ending

At first the South relied on imported arms and munitions but soon was able to produce its own. It had more trouble with clothing and food throughout the duration of the war.

The Civil War was caused by the idea of States’ rights, the hypocrisy of the United States in its celebration of ‘Independence Day’ while slavery existed, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln.

The Civil War was caused by economic conflict, slavery issues and the disagreements between the North and South.

For example, farming was the main source of income for the Confederate states. The main southern chief crop which came to be known as King Cotton, accounted for 57% of all U.S. exports (“Civil War”). However, in order to produce these large amounts of cotton, the southern Confederate states depended heavily on slave labor. Since cotton production began to dominate and fuel the southern economy, the South felt that they did not need to industrialize like their northern neighbors did. This caused the South to manufacture very little goods and caused them to purchase manufactured goods from the industrialized North or to purchase imported goods from overseas.

The Union blockade did not take full effect for many months, allowing the Southerners time to export their cotton harvest, and reap the financial benefits. Alexander Stephens had a plan at the start of the war that he estimated would net around $800M for the Confederacy, providing a sound financial base for the war effort. Although somewhat optimistic, and affected by practical difficulties, it is fair to say that the cotton crop would have been far better exported than stockpiled or burnt. Secondly, the Confederate government displayed an unwillingness to tax her citizens, preferring instead to print money, and suffer the rampant inflation that resulted. The Union financed its war effort mainly from taxation and bonds, while 60% of Southern funds came from unbacked paper money. The problems associated with this are clear to see: prices rose 100-fold over the four years of war, wiping out southerners' savings, and devastating the economy. The government's reaction to this, the third mistake, was to impress public goods for military use. However, rather than curbing inflation, this merely acted as a disincentive to supply, making essential items increasingly scarce. This, coupled with the poor infrastructure and parochialism of some State governors, meant that the army went hungry in a nation with the capacity to produce plenty of food. Finally, it is argued that the Confederate government should have done more to improve infrastructure and

In the south the people had a very different way of life. Most were poor farmers with the exception of large plantation owners who were very wealthy. These plantation owners white and black alike used slave labor to grow and harvest their crops. There was almost as many black plantation owners as there were white. In Charlestown, South Carolina there were more than 100 free black men who owned slaves. Slave labor was a big part of the South’s economy. Cotton was the South’s number one cash crop. The only way they could make good money was to sell to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was not always the industries of the North. Most of the time the south would sell their crops to other countries such as England and France, and then in return they would buy their goods from these other countries. That is the reason these countries backed the south in the war. The north did not like the idea that the southern states were trading with foreign countries because they were losing out on a lot of money. The southern states were cutting the north out of the trade cycle completely. So, how does the north stop this? The Government of The United States passed laws and put heavy taxes on imported goods. They passed laws hoping it would cause the south to do more business with the northern industries. It did not work.

President Lincoln quickly realized that the South's tremendous agricultural wealth represented a significant strategic advantage if they chose to leave the Union and he was forced to suppress what he viewed as an internal insurrection (Surdam, 2001, p. 1). Lincoln was aware that Europe and other countries had become dependent on raw cotton imports from North America and were therefore potential commercial and military allies of the Confederacy. In addition, English aristocracy hoped for a diminution of the power of its greatest naval competitor, the United States, and an end to dreams of democracy in the New World (Woldman, 1952, p. 84-85). Russians were concerned about the breakup of the Union for the opposite reason, since it viewed the commercial competition between the U.S. and Britain as a

Slavery was the most important cause of the Civil War, because this single issue divided the North and South to begin with. The ideological differences between the North and South led to economic differences, conflicts over newly acquired territories, disputes over the constitution, and political extremism. The Election of 1860 was the culmination of these disputes and caused the South to secede in 1861 and guided the way towards the Civil War.