Political Causes of the Civil War
Political Causes of the Civil War
When discussing the causes of the civil war, some topics that may come up are the differences between the North and the South economically, or perhaps the South’s refusal to industrialize, but by far the most popular is that the boom in cotton production following Eli Whitey’s invention of the Cotton Gin is the most prominent argument. The Cotton Gin was a huge contributor to what brought the Civil War about; however, there are many other factors to consider, such as the politics behind the war. Quite often the political causes are over looked, though they are the most complex and arguably caused the most distress as well as bringing the war about much more rapidly. The political turmoil preceding and following 1861 had the greatest impact on the severity of the civil war because the fall of the Whig party left no connecting party between the North and the South, the controversy over admitting Kansas as a slave state separated them further, and the election of Lincoln into office which divided the country most of all. All of these factors had major impact on the choice for the South to secede. The decline of the Whig party severed the last political connection between the North and the South. When the American Whig party was created during Jackson’s presidential term, it served as an opposition against the policies of the Democratic Party. The Whigs were never a particularly strong party, because they appealed to a very small percentage of the vote. However, since this percentage they appealed to was the upper-class, those with positions of power or large amounts of land, they often won votes through the power of the supporters they had. The demise of the Whig party became apparent when they were divided The Compromise of 1850 separated members of the party behind pro- and anti- slavery lines. Another reason that the Whig party failed was because of the creation of the Republican Party. When the Republican Party was created,
When discussing the causes of the civil war, some topics that may come up are the differences between the North and the South economically, or perhaps the South’s refusal to industrialize, but by far the most popular is that the boom in cotton production following Eli Whitey’s invention of the Cotton Gin is the most prominent argument. The Cotton Gin was a huge contributor to what brought the Civil War about; however, there are many other factors to consider, such as the politics behind the war. Quite often the political causes are over looked, though they are the most complex and arguably caused the most distress as well as bringing the war about much more rapidly. The political turmoil preceding and following 1861 had the greatest impact on the severity of the civil war because the fall of the Whig party left no connecting party between the North and the South, the controversy over admitting Kansas as a slave state separated them further, and the election of Lincoln into office which divided the country most of all. All of these factors had major impact on the choice for the South to secede. The decline of the Whig party severed the last political connection between the North and the South. When the American Whig party was created during Jackson’s presidential term, it served as an opposition against the policies of the Democratic Party. The Whigs were never a particularly strong party, because they appealed to a very small percentage of the vote. However, since this percentage they appealed to was the upper-class, those with positions of power or large amounts of land, they often won votes through the power of the supporters they had. The demise of the Whig party became apparent when they were divided The Compromise of 1850 separated members of the party behind pro- and anti- slavery lines. Another reason that the Whig party failed was because of the creation of the Republican Party. When the Republican Party was created,