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.
Many different issues upon the north and south caused the Civil War, but slavery was the main conflict. Due to slavery, different political beliefs and systems were created causing conflicts such as disagreements during Westward Expansion and the election of Lincoln. The Constitution tried to balance the inequalities with many compromises, yet failed.
The Civil War between the North and South was the result of two cultures that economically, morally, and legally clashed on almost all levels. The steadily growing conflict between the two parts of the union makes it hard to pinpoint the origin or the cause of the resulting war. The conflict arose from a nation thats geographical areas had slowly grown apart in their ideals and also their source of income, which is often the cause of strife between battling regions. This rift driven between the two areas gradually increased from one state disagreeing with the other in policy to an imaginary line drawn, dividing the nation into the North and the South. Measures were taken in order to try and close this divide but were unsuccessful because
There are three main reasons why there was a civil war in the United States. One well known reason was slavery. The South wanted to continue adding slaves to new states, while the North didn’t. The debate about the future of slavery was a big problem. This caused a feud between the North and South. The North didn’t see the need for slaves due to a huge population of people from Ireland and Germany immigrating into the North. The German and Irish could be hired as cheap labor, instead of having slaves. The North also didn 't have plantations with crops that needed to be constantly cared for.
Broadly speaking, the Civil War arose because of the fact that northerners and southerners became divided over various political, economic and social issues during the early nineteenth century. This phenomenon, known as “sectionalism,” came about mainly because of the differences in the economic structures of the north and the south. As Klein says in this regard, the conflict between the two sections of the country were increased “as the northern states moved increasingly into commerce and manufacturing while the southern states expanded their agricultural economy into a plantation system based on slave labor” (36). Because of the differences in these two economic systems, northerners generally took one side on important political issues while southerners generally took the opposing side, creating animosity between the two. This sectionalism that eventually led to full-on secession and the Civil War between the north and south quickly escalated due to many issues, including economics and politics, but much of the divide lied on the issue of slavery.
Lincoln's election went well and he became president of the United states but after a few months after that seven states had seceded from the Union. Many of these states believed and maintain that the primary cause of the war was the Southern states wanted to keep the institution of slavery. Others minimize slavery and point to other factors, such as taxation or the principle of States' Rights.South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. South Carolina adopted the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union on December 20, 1860. The document stated that We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it
The Truth: The Civil War began due to differences in beliefs on slavery. The free states and slave states did not agree when it came to the national government's power to prohibit slavery in the territories that were not yet considered states. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 pledging to end slavery in southern territories, seven slave states seceded from the Union to form The Confederate States of America. Lincoln and most of his fellow northerners feared for the future of democracy and their country when this happened and did not acknowledge the secession as a legitimate political move. The war officially started when the Confederate army claimed Fort Sumter as their own in April of 1861 by opening fire and forcing the federal troops to lower the American flag and surrender.
Before the Civil War occurred in 1861 the North and South had major differences that would create factors leading to the war. For example the North originated as a religious safe haven while the South was all about producing goods so they had very different ideas of what life should be like. These different ideas lead to disagreements later down the road regarding methods of labor, decisions for new land and who they thought should govern them. All of these became factors that led to the Civil War.
Another political issue that revolves around the Civil War is the 3/5 compromise, or the three-fifths rule. The 3/5 compromise was put into action during the constitutional convention in 1787 in order to count the number of people for representation. Due to this, the southern states counted the slaves as 3/5 of a person instead of one whole person for each individual slave. One of the reasons this was a cause of the Civil War was because the South was not counting slaves as people, but instead as property. Another way this caused the Civil War is this effected taxes. The southern states were the states that had slaves, and therefore enraged the northern states due to the South only having to pay minimal taxes due to this comprise. Another area
One event that led to the civil war was the opposing views on slavery. Most people in the North thought that slavery was bad and they wanted to make it illegal to own slaves. However, the South's economy revolved around slaves therefore they didn't want to get rid of their slaves. These views on slavery caused many conflicts between the two sides.
The Civil War was started at Fort Sumner where the first shots were fired. Luckily, no one had died but this did start a nasty war. Even though the Civil war was gruesome, it did shape our nation as a whole.
There are numerous complex reasons for the eruption of the Civil War. No single issue was the cause. However, certain events and ideas strained the relations between the North and South more than others. By the time the Civil War broke out, the North and South were almost two completely different entities. Although there was definite economic and political strife, I believe that social conflict around prominent issues such as slavery led to an irreconcilable shift in attitudes and relations.
What exactly caused the American Civil War? There are so many variables that lead up to the beginning of the war inside America itself. First, how the states’ wanted their own rights. The election of president Abraham Lincoln and how the southern states had no role in his election as president. Lastly,slavery and how it brought economical help to the southern states how the states’ wanted their own rights. These factors are what caused this war to pull families apart: father against son, and brother against brother. The American Civil War is known as the bloodiest war in our country’s history because it was on our own land and it was between Americans themselves. The war was fought based off of view of who was animal and also based on pride between families. Pride caused problem during the war.
The economic and social differences between the north and south was a proponent for the civil war. The south relied on cotton as a cash crop, and cotton was a majority of all the crops produced. Producing this large amount of cotton meant that they needed a big amount of cheap labor, which at the time was slaves. Meanwhile, in the north there was industrial growth. The north would receive cotton from the south and produce goods, such as clothing. The south had an older view of thinking since they were still living agriculturally, and the north was advancing, because they were living in a city. The south also had a different view of social classes. The south separated people having those richer and smarter on top, and the poor and uneducated on the bottom. The north did not think this way, they had people with different cultures and apart of different classes working together (Kelly).
When the Civil War started, no one predicted the strenuous effects that it would leave on the two conflicting sides, the Union and the Confederacy. The four year-long affair contained highs and lows for both armies, forcing politics and military aims to become entangled and riddled with conflict. The Union’s victory in the war occurred based off years of hard fought battles and timely legislation, all of which depended on both governments’ readiness to take action against the other, while blurring the lines between the boundaries of the law.