Inevitable or Avoidable: The American Civil War

The Civil War that occurred was one of the darkest times in our history as a country. It was a time where there was a complete breakdown of social and political systems. Hundreds of thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands more were aversely affected. However, it was also a time of remembrance and significant moral progress. It is remembered as the turning point in American History and would be the foundation for the Civil Rights movement many years later.

The Civil War, the bloodiest war in American History, had many causes that turned brother against brother. The issue of slavery was the largest conflict between the north and the south. The south was upset with many things such as Slavery, government, and legislative issues. All these conflicts eventually led to secession, and the horrific war began.

Although some believed that the Union would never split, many issues lead to the bloodiest war in American history. The conflicting beliefs on popular sovereignty, slavery, and the publication of Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin all proved that the Civil War was in fact inevitable, and that brothers fighting brothers never ends

The South heavily relied on slavery to keep their economy stable, although not their only source of money, but by abolishing slavery and making it illegal it would damage their economy quite badly. And so this caused a lot of tension between the North and South because they were very different economically. The South is much more agricultural, and is reliant upon exports as well. The North on the other hand is in complete contrast to the South. The North industrialised very fast and many people of poor background and some African-American succeeded and made a lot of money. It isn't very clear that if they had lived in the South if they could have achieved this much success, but those in the North faced a lot less discrimination compared to the South. "Because the economics of the dynamic industrializing North and the static agrarian South were incompatible, the two societies were on a collision course that led inexorably to war" (http://civilwartalk.com/threads/historians-evolving-views-of-civil-war-causality.21223/) Many historians agree that this was not a major cause. According to economic historian Lee A. Craig, "In fact, numerous studies by economic historians over the past several decades reveal that economic conflict was not an inherent condition of North-South

The overall reason of the Civil War was through the separation between the South and the North. The North was industrializing at an incredible rate. The South was resisting industrialization in favor of their plantation lifestyle. The North was modernizing much faster which accelerated "enlightened" thinking. There were tens of thousands of railroads built in the U.S., with over 90% of them being built in the North. Both the North and the South believed in a different type of lifestyle and economy. Although, Fort Sumter was the main cause of the Civil War, root causes are the reason that the Civil War developed such as the debate of slavery, Industry vs. Farming, and election and presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

The South invented the cotton gin which produced cotton a lot faster. One cotton gin equalled the same as seven slaves. According to source 6 “ This tool had completely changed the face of the south's agriculture and wealth. The south provide two thirds of the world cotton. Making the south very rich but also increasing slave numbers and the number of cotton farms.” Meanwhile, the north did not have suitable rock soil for establishing farmers. The north's economy came to be known for its trading and its factories. Source 9 states “ Industries and factories centered in the north. Many factories using mass production methods had sprung up there, and cities grew rapidly.” The North then started to build intricate railroad systems and shipping industries to transport the manufactured goods. As you can see the north and the south had huge technology differences which also caused a lot of tension between the states as

The Civil War was inevitable in many reasons. The economic and industrial evolution was mainly in the North side of the United States while the South was just a cotton kingdom, Slave Empire. Also both were completely opposites of one another when it was about freeing the slaves or hiring more. With many debates there has to be sides that would be separated especially if the president has so much hate from the people. With that being said, since many want opposing ideas, the Civil War becomes much evitable.

North thought the “black people were inferior to whites, but the doubt the benevolence of slavery” (civil war). The north started to become a safe a safe place to be for free black people or people escaping their slave owners. Also a few blacks became educated and started to even raise more tension between the too different sides. Also since the north was more industrial they did not need slaves. They also thought “slavery impeded the spread of factories and mills, and argued with the planters” (isreview). People the north didn’t want to be held back they want to move forward and get rid of

Did you know that the invention of the Cotton Gin influenced the Civil War? Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin in 1793 and it greatly impacted American history. Cotton was a very valuable product at this time, as we shipped it to European textile mills. The Cotton Gin increased the amount of slaves needed to produce the maximum amount of cotton, since it could be deseeded quickly, but it still needed to be gathered by hand. This caused the demand for slaves to increase indefinitely. The invention of the Cotton Gin escalated tensions between the North and South leading to the Civil War, by making the Southerners rely much more heavily on owning slaves(Clough).

After thoroughly assessing past readings and additional research on the Civil War between the North and South, it was quite apparent that the war was inevitable. Opposed views on this would have probably argued that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War. Therefore suggesting it could have been avoided if a resolution was reached on the issue of slavery. Although there is accuracy in stating slavery led to the war, it wasn’t the only factor. Along with slavery, political issues with territorial expansion, there were also economic and social differences between North and South. These differences, being more than just one or two, gradually led to a war that was bound to happened one way or another.

The United States has been involved in a lot of wars and battles throughout the past. The Civil War was one of the most significant moments in the history of the United States of America. The Civil War took place between the North and South of the United States of America following the Confederacy seceding from the Union after Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and fought to maintain their independence. The war started off as a war regarding the rights of the different states. As the war progressed, it ended up turning into a war about freedom, slaves, white Northerns rioting against the draft and black Americans, Union troops, and much more.

The Civil War, which started in April 1861, marked a defining moment in United States history. The opposing forces that were in the Civil War were the Unions, Confederates, and the Cherokee Indians. The Unions and the Confederates believed in different things. The Confederates believed that it was okay to own people while the Unions believed that owning people was wrong. While the Cherokee Indians were split, some went the the Union side while others went to the Confederates side.

In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin was a device that helped separate the seeds from the cotton with its rollers and brushes. With this invention and the “rise of king cotton in the south became the dominant engine driving slavery” (video lecture: Slavery in Antebellum America). With cotton becoming a huge source of economy in the south the slave number increased. These slaves were labors working with agriculture not only cotton but rice, tobacco, sugar, and hemp also. Most the slave labor was field labor and to meet the needs of labor there was the domestic slave trade. Although slave trade was prohibited in 1808, a new huge slave trade had developed. In the southern cities there were slave auctions, businesses selling slaves and they had advertisements for the purchase of them. “Southern newspapers carried advertisements for the slave sales, southern banks financed slave trading, southern ships and railroads carried slaves from buyers to sellers, and southern states and municipalities earned revenue by taxing the sale of slaves”(Foner pg.

The fairly young United States was a family of emancipated children who now had to fend for themselves, and with any group of young people, arguments are bound to arise. To continue with this metaphor the Civil War can be compared to siblings resulting to violence to get rid of the tension that had been increasing since is conception. The main issues that led to this war were that the north and the south had different views on slavery. Furthermore the south felt that the north would impose its lifestyle on them sooner or later. The result was the bloodiest war to occur in American history with more than six hundred thousand casualties. Since then there has not been a war with the same amount of casualties; the closest being World War II with more than four hundred thousand American deaths. A Civil War seems silly today, but once one analyzes the reasons for such a fight one can understand that the lives lost were not solely lost, but sacrificed to keep the United States afloat. In short, this war was inevitable. With the United States only being an official country for less than a century the differences from the Revolution were still present. Examples of such differences were the difference regional economies, states’ rights, slavery being illegal/legal and the presence of abolitionists. That being said, the differences that had been around during the revolution were all regional because of the different economies that each region supported at the time. Which also meant

The American Civil War was a bloody, horrific conflict that killed roughly a million people including civilians. The war lasted four entire years despite being mapped out as a short skirmish and easy victory for the long standing Union. Most people claim the war was fought over slavery, others argue it was fought for the protection of states’ rights. Regardless of the reasoning for a domestic war, it is just as important to understand what chain of events lead up to the first shot being fired. With sectionalism rendering the nation more and more divided, the Civil War may have been the only viable option to determine the final destination of our country’s government. A series of controversial legal decisions and radical actions ultimately lead to the Civil War.