The Great American Conflict of Interests
The Great American Conflict of Interests What developed into the civil war between the North and South originated from geological differences, which led to economic and then moral conflicts of interest. The way in which colonists adapted to their surroundings in the early years of the European settlement of America directly affected the way in which their economies would work, the way their people would live and the moral standards by which they would live by. The War Between the States did not just suddenly occur but rather it took nearly two centuries of developmental differences to finally set it off. When the Europeans began to settle the South in the mid 1600’s they took notice of how different the land was from the land in the North. The South was an ideal environment for growing crops. Certain colonies primarily grew one type of plant called a cash crop. Thousands of acres of land spread across the continent full of untapped natural resources. Colonies such as Virginia and Maryland “had found a cash crop in tobacco” (Americans 38). While South Carolina had grown indigo and rice as their staple crops, the people of North Carolina, used the “principal exports of wood and wood by-products fr
There are many theories as to why the war started. The land in the North was quite abundant but most people chose to stay close to the coast because of the spawning opportunities and jobs available to those involved with shipbuilding, sea trade, merchandising imported goods, sail making, rope making and other such ways of earning a living. The president could not do anything until March when he was inaugurated but he wrote to himself, “he would not agree to any compromise in regard to the extension of slavery” (Americans 351). Other forms of income were used and trade was probably the most important one. The North kept a strong economy because they relied upon themselves for their labor needs while the South had a highly profitable but deceptively fragile economy because it required high amounts of disgruntled, disloyal, and disgusted servants and slaves to keep them going. Certainly, though, the war was not started for any one reason but rather many that stemmed from dissimilar environments that developed into nationwide tension. The newly formed Confederacy of seceded states began capturing and taking over Union forts in the South. Since the South’s economy depended on slavery, the Southerners wanted to bring slavery to new territories in the West. The environment that the North’s economy developed in was quite different from the environment the South’s economy grew up in and thus each was graced with certain strengths and cursed with certain weaknesses. This is the practice that led to slavery in America. Beauregard gave the order for an attack on Fort Sumter and thus started the Civil War. T!he boats would venture to England, and other colonies, for trade, to Europe for immigrants and laborers, as well as to Africa for slaves. Skilled labor could easily be found in such cities and slavery was not very necessary to the success of the North’s economy. In a drastic turn of events, six weeks after Lincoln was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union and was soon followed by six other states: “Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas” (Americans! 350). The North did have its share of farms and in fact, in the early days, most northerners were farmers.
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