Clashing Causes of the Civil War
When dissecting the causes of the American Civil War, so many historians try to simplify the driving forces that one cannot truly appreciate the powerful and complex reasons for this momentous struggle. The causes of the Civil War are many, and not easily defined, but broken up into the categories of economics, culture clash, the necessity of war itself, and morality.The economic causes of the conflict are far reaching. Charles Beard claims that the war's problems resulted not from slavery, as American voters shunned both the Liberty party and the Republican party when their primary platform was one of abolition, or even of states' rights, because many times before in our nation's history have individual states found major issue with national policy. Instead, he maintains that the Civil War was, in essence, a social battle between the growing industrial North and the diminishing plantations of the South.Since the industry in the Northeast was expanding, the agriculture in the Northwest was tied to the Northeast through transportation and manufacturing, and fertile lands available to farm in the South was steadily decreasing, the delicate balance of equality began to tip, and statesmen found it hard to hold onto the fragile
He doesn't give rational solutions that could have solved the sectional problems, and Schlesinger tears large holes in his arguments. These thoughts exemplified typical Southern pride. Plus, the South quickly blamed the North for its economical problems, instead of the institution of slavery, a more probable cause. No one doubts that war may be romantic, but one must also consider the darker side of war; the side about which no one wants to talk. Since the slaveholders contributed the most to the Democratic Party, they basically dictate the party's platform. "The well-born Southerner was convinced that he was a man of far more spirit and resource than the Northern counterjumper. However, if everything that Randall says proves true, the war would have never happened. " Foreign trade with Northern industry expanded, the farming regions of the West complemented this booming industry, the flow of immigrants progressively increased, the Northern population rose, and the free labor system threatened to push south into the slavocracy. Randall calls the generation of Civil War politicians the "blundering generation," but Schlesinger notes that Randall provides no reason why they are any more blundering that any other generation in history, nor does Randall provide a solution to the problems of the 1850s that could be used instead of war. The South was not prepared to look inwards for a solution to its problems. He doesn't take into account that many people have many different opinions, and some could not realize how silly their decisions were in the long run. The Civil War was most definitely inevitable, given the tipped scales of population and economy. The slaveholders clung to their dying institution, even thought it was ethically wrong.
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