The Cause of the Civil War: Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin Essay

Due to the compromise in the 1820, stimulation of freeing of slaves in the North was strengthened, along with the laws of slave rights in the south. It revealed to the North, that slavery was rapidly falling out, and the economic consequences could be a major problem as cotton gin was such a successful profit with the use of slaves in the south.

As the nation descended further into a split entity, with the issue of slavery at the forefront of the debate. The North and South needed to find a way to deal with their differences before the Union fell in shambles. The Compromise of 1850 was passed after long extensive debate in congress, the compromise was intended to settle the debate over how slavery would be controlled throughout the expanding nation. The Fugitive Slave Act was included in the compromise to satisfy southern states, that wanted to preserve the institution of slavery. The act allowed for run away slaves to be hunted down and returned to their past owners, even after they made it to the free states in the North. The Southerners wished to preserve their right to property, which is among the “Unalienable Rights”. Some northern states refuse to recognize the law which infuriated the South because they saw this as an explicit violation of the slave holder’s rights, this intensified the South’s urge to become a separate State.

In 1850, the Compromise was formed as a way of preventing the southerners from withdrawing from the Union. Part of this law, was the Fugitive Slave act, which aroused many reactions from the public that it ultimately led to the civil war. This Fugitive Slave Act stated that the southerners were still owners of these slaves that had escaped to the north and that the Northerners had to abide to it, even though most of their states had illegalized slavery. This law also made it hard for the blacks to have a fair trial as they were not able to prove whether they were free or not. This led to the blacks in the northern states freeing to Canada in fear of being returned to slavery and because they did not feel as safe anymore. The Compromise, to keep the southerners in the Union, made these laws on slaves to favor them. However unexpectedly it made the Abolitionists

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

Later, many questions arose regarding if the newly acquired territory should allow slavery. In the attempt to solve this, Henry Clay led the Missouri Compromise which admitted Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state creating a balance in Congress. This led to the belief that later in the future slavery be prohibited north of the southern border of Missouri in the remaining of the Louisiana Purchase. The issue of slavery continued to be an issue as the nation expanded because the Missouri Compromise didn’t apply to new territories that were not part of the Louisiana Purchase. By the new land acquired, the Southern economy increased because of the “Cotton King”, which also increased the labor in order to maintain the newly achieved economy. One the other hand, the North believed that the expansion of slavery was very small because they didn’t depend on slavery for their economic survival. The North relied on on textile industry on southern crops was increased by the creation of the cotton gin. Many Americans kept migrating to the west despite after the Missouri Compromise was adopted. Many would cross to the Oregon Territory, which belonged to the British and many more settled in Mexican territory

Slavery, in the South and as well in the North, played a huge role of the culture of their societies. The North had a general belief in abolitionism, while the South opposed that idea. All the economic reasons led to the cultural differences. The South viewed slavery as a necessity to their economy. The North believed it was wrong to own a human being. The South contradicted this idea with the North’s use of cheap labor in its factories.

The Missouri Compromise was a temporary solution to the issue of slavery and territorial rights such as the movement West. Two areas of land wanted to become states in 1820, known as Maine and Missouri. Maine wanted to enter as a free state with no slavery as everyone in that area was against it and wanted it abolished. Missouri wanted to enter as a slave state and was all for slavery and wanted it to be spread all throughout the country. The compromise everyone came into conclusion with, was that there would be no slavery allowed north of 36° 30’ latitude. This angered the Southerners because their intention was to promote slavery not have it abolished. They realized that this compromise threatened the balance between free and slave states; Maine and Missouri. In order to expand slavery, the South felt that the United States would need territory from Mexico. The only area of land left was in Arkansas and that line became known as the Missouri Compromise line. The impact that the Missouri Compromise had on the United States was tremendous and had many effects on issues such as national politics, the institution of slavery, and the overall togetherness of the nation as a whole.

The south began to rely on agriculture as their basis of economic growth. For this to be success, slavery was an almost a natural need for the people of the south. Cotton began to grow as a cash crop for the South. Cotton was dependent on many workers needed for it to exist, thus the need for such a large amount of work force. Slavery in the late 1700’s was beginning to die down and cotton was paying the biggest price for it. Not until Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin did the issue of slavery spark up again and cotton begins to thrive. In 1820 Missouri wished to be part of the Union as a slave state. With there already being an equality of Slave states and Free states it caused tension and sectionalism within the country; because of the edition of Missouri would cause an unbalance of free and slave states. In hopes to resolve this conflict a compromise was reached known as the Missouri Compromise. Through the Missouri Compromise Missouri was able to enter as a slave state, while Maine was able to enter as a free state. However, as pointed out, it created a line between slave states and Free states. Any state below Missouri was able to practice slavery, and any state above was to be a Free State. Even John Quincy Adams led to the sectionalism, with his supportive views of the Compromise. (Document F) He expressed views in the emancipation of slavery as a

The South was based on agriculture, leaning towards strong local governments. The North was heavily influenced by Henry Clay’s American System, accompanied with large scale industrialization and cities. The most distinctive political difference between the northern and southern states was their view on slavery. The southern states found slaves a necessity in order to have a labour force to operated the cotton gins in the plantations; however, the northern states opposed the use of slaves due to their morales. This sectionalism caused a division among American citizens, affecting the government’s ability to unite the two political ideologies. To attempt to satisfy the demands of both the North and South, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was created to resolve issues of slavery in newer western states. This compromise brought upon the 36-30 Parallel Line, a geographical line that split the North and South, depicting the contrasting political and societal views and increasing sectionalism (F). This power struggle between states and the federal government only caused unrest, resulting in no further beneficial reforms or rulings, causing the Era of Good Feelings to not hold true to its name.

During the period between 1790 and 1850, the United States was rapidly changing. It was now a separate country with its own economy, laws, and government. The country was learning to live on its own, apart from England. There began to appear a rift between North and South. The North believing in the Puritan Merchant role model, and the South in the role model of the English Country Squire. The North traded with everyone, while the South traded primarily with England. The major crop in the South was tobacco, and because of the decline in the price of tobacco the slave trade was dying, just as those in the North hoped it would. Then came a man, and an invention, which changed the course of history. In 1792, Eli Whitney visited the

Slavery in the United States of America started with the arrival of the first slaves from Africa in 1619. Slavery continued even after it was abolished; it greatly influenced the events in the country. From the very beginning, anti-slavery movement and slave resistance played a big role in the efforts to uphold the values of the new, rising nation and its belief that all men are equal. Advocates for the anti-slavery movement were not united from the start; some supported gradual emancipation of slaves, others were for immediate and radical abolishment, while free-soil activists argued for restriction of slavery to certain areas in order to prevent its spread across the country. Radical abolition movement was part of the reform movements related to religious revivals in an effort to create a righteous society that would fulfill the high ideals of America. These reforms were a response to economic and social changes which historians termed as “the market revolution” and the “transportation revolution”. After the 1812 war, a tremendous development occurred; improved roads improved transport and increased profits among many farm entrepreneurs, artisans, and manufacturers. In the eyes of many religious leaders, America was dominated and obsessed with materialism and greed and they started to question the fundamentals of human life, justice, and sinful motives. Before the 1930s, the anti-slavery movement was not what one would consider well-organized. However, at that time

The abolitionist movement was an important time in American history. Abolitionists were people that opposed slavery which was an enormous problem in the South. African-Americans worked with white abolitionists to gain support and funds for the cause. Former slaves, white men, black women and all different types came together for the movement. Many abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth and Douglass were able to draw on their past experiences as slaves to tell about the horrible treatment of their peers.

Although historians disagree on its political impact, abolitionism unquestionably helped define slavery as a pressing moral problem (Sellman). Abolitionists played a key role in setting the terms of the debate over slavery and in making it a convincing moral issue, still they had remarkably little influence in the North. Very few Northerners were abolitionists, and many regarded abolitionists as dangerous radicals. What made their case telling was the South's violent reaction. Extreme Southern responses appeared to confirm abolitionist warnings about a conspiratorial "Slave Power." (Larkin) By the 1850s, however, the escalating sectional conflict had largely taken on a force of its own, one that owed less and less to

Eli Whitney's machine could produce up to 23 kg (50 lb) of cleaned cotton daily, making southern cotton a profitable crop for the first time, but Whitney failed to profit from his invention, imitations of his machine appeared, and his 1794 invention was not upheld until 1807.

With Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. This machine was able to reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. However, at the same time the increase in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor, i.e. slaves. Thus, the southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. This disparity between the two set up a