Civil War Causes

During 1851-1865, the Civil War took place lasting four years. It was a war among the American people; specifically the southern states against the northern states. The southern states were known as the Confederate States of America and their leader was Jefferson Davis. On the other hand, the North had kept the name of the United States of America and was also known as the Union and was led by Abraham Lincoln. Although most people mainly associate the Civil War having to do with slavery, there were also many other causes which had led to this war. Some of the main causes of the civil war include the different goals of the North and the South, the North’s desire to control the South, and the issue of Slavery. The industry of the North began
to dominate the economy, but the South was still reliant on agriculture. Inevitably, there were many differences between the North and the South which included political and economical differences.
In contrast, the North focused on expanding in the industrial and commercial side while the South was more depended in agriculture. Southern states only produced manufactured goods for consumption and the North was capable of exporting their manufactured goods. Because of the economical differences, the South found that the taxes and tariffs were unfair to them because they mostly favored the North. The Tariff act of 1832 put very high import feeds on manufactured goods which was made to protect the industries of the North. Upset with this act, the South threatened to secede from the Union. In addition, railroads were being built in the North which gave the North more easier transportation that that of the South. This allowed the North to trade with the West while the South was only able to trade by seas. The North and the South also had political differences with the North having more of an advantage over the South. Because the North was more populated than the South, they had more power in the House of Representatives. Since the North had a growing population, they firmly believed that majority rules and that they should make the
laws. There was much aggression between the North and the South due to the fact that the North was very controlling. It was thought that the North was trying to take away the state rights of the South. Because of this, the South had wanted to stand up and fight for their moral rights. Because the South was depended on slavery, their society would be distressed if slavery were to be taken away from them. In addition, it seems that the thriving North was trying to control the South only for their own benefits. Slavery was definitely an enormous issue which led to the start of the Civil War.
Slavery and the slave trades had started to play an important role in the Southern economy. The south prospered off of slaves because they used them to work on their plantations. In contrast to this, the North wanted to abolish slavery because they though it was brought shame to the Union. Many compromises were made in working toward the abolishment of slavery. These compromises included the Missouri Compromise that made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. It also excluded slavery from Louisiana Territory and lands above a certain northern latitude. Other compromises like the Compromise of 1850 did favor both sides by admitting California as a fee state and abolishing interstate slave trade in favor of the North and also including stricter fugitive slave laws in favor of the South. Although these compromises were made to help the slavery issue, they just further pushed the issue back. During this time, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published. It was a novel that emphasized that slavery was wrong and it ignited much tension between the North and the
South. All in all, the many differences between the North and the South had led them to the Civil War. Their different beliefs, goals, and morals brought them to many disagreements over issues such as slavery. Because of the diverging society between the two, there were many disputes and the South had needed to maintain their civilization. Expansion of slavery caused many debates over the compromises being made to ease the slavery issue. In Conclusion, the North and South had no other way to resolve their problems but to fight in the Civil War.