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Major Causes And Consequences Of The American Civil War

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Eric Fung Mr. Ferretti APUSH 16 September 2015 1). Historical Causation (Cause and Effect): CE Explain the major causes and consequences of the American Civil War. In general, the American Civil War is thought to have started mostly because of a discrepancy on how to handle slavery. The difference in opinion is most likely a result of political, economic, and religious tension within the country. Before a civil war was even thought about, southern leaders spoke of freeing their slaves and many predicted the demise of slavery due to a lack of efficiency. In 1793 with Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, cotton soon became the most popular southern crop leading to a revival of interest in slavery. With cotton, the south gained a large amount of profit and this benefitted northern shippers while Great Britain also depended on this cotton. Thus the Cotton Kingdom which developed at least half of the world’s cotton grew and gave cotton growers much power (The American Pageant 350-351). While slaves became popular again, they still basically had no political or civil rights (359). Eventually, certain groups realized that the ethical rights of the slaves were being violated and abolitionist groups as well as antislavery societies came about (362). Eventually, in response to the anti-slavery, slave owners responded by justifying slavery with the Bible as well as Aristotle (365). With this began the split between pro-slavery and anti-slavery sections of America, mostly a split between the

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