Short Term and Long Term Causes of the Civil War Essay

During the early nineteenth century the United States began to split, but at the middle of the century people views started to become more concrete and so separation in the Union became more drastic. From 1850 to 1861 it was apparent that the union was separating into the North and the South. The Constitution played a major role in the separation that was occurring. Through sectional favoritism of bits and pieces of the Constitution and through ideas that were left out of it, the Constitution led to sectional discord and nearly the failure of the union.

Although the American Civil War mainly occurred because of slavery, the fact is that slavery had a lot to do with economic and social issues.

In November of 1860, the presidential election was one of the most momentous in the history of the United States. The land was split between North and the South and was smoldering for almost a decade. The candidates for the presidential election of 1860 were Abraham Lincoln, Republican, John Breckinridge, Southern Democrat, John Bell, Constitutional Union, and Stephen Douglas, Northern Democratic. Abraham Lincoln was against the increase of slavery into the new territories. Lincoln did not receive one vote from the south, but he did win over 50% of the Electoral College votes so Lincoln won the presidency to become the 16th President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was known as one of America’s greatest heroes because of his inconceivable impact on our nation and his unique appeal. Lincoln was a captain in the military and a lawyer all before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was one of two U.S. presidents who was assassinated while in office. Lincoln was also the president during the roughest part of American history, the Civil War. Lincoln was heavily in favor of abolishing slavery and so most of the citizens in the northern states of the U.S... On the other hand, the south had large plantations and favored slavery because the slaves worked for free and made plantation owners and other farmers a staggering amount of profit. The slaves were not treated as human beings; therefore, the slaves were mistreated. Slave owners often beat their slaves

Who would have thought that a nation could split and turn on each other? The Civil war has main causes, key people, and battles. All of the people, events, and causes effected how the war came to be and how the Civil War was fought. The important people of the Civil war made important decisions that may have caused one side to a victory or a horrific lose. The battles of the war were bloody and devastating, and the causes of the Civil War show how different the North was from the South. Many people know the Civil War was extremely significant, but most people don't know what caused this major battle in history.

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.

Although some historians feel that the Civil War was a result of political blunders and that the issue of slavery did not cause the conflict, they ignore the two main causes. The expansion of slavery, and its entrance into the political scene.

The Civil War was caused by many several pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by sectional differences, and was finally set into motion by a most unlikely set of political events. From economic differences to political differences all the way up to cultural differences, the North and the South opposed each other. These tensions were further increased after the western expansion of the United States. By the early 1850’s a civil war was known to be likely coming soon.

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

The civil war is an important event in the history of the United States. It began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate General opened fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and lasted until May 26,1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered . All aspects of the war have been a topic of concern to the academic community, especially in the United States. In my opinion, the civil war not only important for American, but also important for the world. Here I will show you the main causes of the Civil War.

The coexistence of a slave owning south with an increasingly anti-slavery north made conflict likely. It was formidable to decide whether such states like the ones gained from the Mexican War should be slavery or anti-slavery, which either way would disrupt the balance between the slave and antislavery states. This divided the Union and Confederacy even further. Later on, President Lincoln sought not to propose federal laws against slavery where it already existed, but he had in his 1858 House Divided speech, expressed a desire to “arrest the further spread of it “(Doc. G). Much of the political battle in the 1850s focused on the expansion of slavery into the newly created territories. All of the organized territories were likely to become free soil states which increased the southern movement toward secession. Both north and south assumed that if slavery could not expand it would become nonexistent. Southern fears of losing control of the federal government to anti-slavery forces, and northern feared that the slave power already controlled the government; these thoughts brought the sectional disagreements. The morality of slavery, the scope of democracy, and the economic merits of free labor versus slave plantations caused the Whig and know nothing parties to collapse and the free soil party to arrive, ruining the resolve of compromise.

The Civil War happened due to the many differences between the North and the South. For example economic, social, cultural and political differences. These all helped lead America to a Civil War. But to an extent, the most important cause was the fact there were many disagreements with states' rights versus federal rights.

If the parties involved wanted to avoid a war, the smartest move would have been to shoot down the bill initially. Douglas and the South should have approached the issue more subtly. Douglas could have introduced a compromise with the North, in exchange with the intentions of applying popular sovereignty in the areas. Even though it reinforces true democracy, introducing popular sovereignty contradicts the provisions of the Missouri Compromise which would only create more political drama. A bill that was intended to repeal an important slavery-related compromise would do nothing but destroy all stability between the political parties.

Lincoln suggests that the institution of slavery be contained by preventing the spread of it to the new territories and Free states, although he had no interest in interfering with the already entitled slave states. He agrees that it was the right of the state to make its own decisions, not the federal government. Although Lincoln did not favor getting involved with abolishing slavery in the already declared slave states, he did favor total abolition in the distant future. He was first worried about stopping the expansion of slavery and then the next step to be taken would have been the "ultimate extinction" of it throughout the states. Lincoln did believe that every white man had no more equality than another. For this is one of the main reasons why at this time a resolution needed to be found in order to keep this equality in the new territories. Lincoln made a valid point in his speech that if slave holders were to settle in a new territory along with people opposed to slavery, which party has the right to decide what type of territory and future state it will be declared as? As for the rights of slaves, Lincoln agreed with Douglas that slaves did not have the same individual rights as everyone else, but he did believe that the liberties given under the Declaration of Independence involved such slaves. It is obvious that the Republicans of this time find slavery as being a "moral, social, and political wrong",

The American Civil War, which began in 1861 to 1865, has gone down in history as the one of the most significant events to have ever occurred in the United States of America, thus far. At that time, questions had arose wondering how the United States ever got so close to hitting rock bottom, especially being that it was a conflict within the country itself. Hostility steadily grew through the years dividing the nation further and further, and finally leading to the twelfth day in April 1861 in Fort Sumter, North Carolina. The American Civil War was an irrepressible battle and aside from the obvious physical effects of the war, the disagreement over states rights, the act of slavery, and the raising of tariffs played crucial roles in the

The Civil War was caused by many reasons. The factors that were most responsible in causing the Civil War were the different views of the Constitution among the North and South, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the arrival of Lincoln as president. They caused immense destruction throughout the nation. If these factors were prevented, the United States could have been preserved and civil war could have never occurred.