The Civil War
Was Slavery the Main Cause of the Civil War?Between the years of 1861 and 1865 the United States was gripped by the bloodiest war in it's history, there is much debate as to why this war occurred, it is generally concluded that Slavery was the main cause of the civil war, however, in this essay I will discuss why the deep economic, political and social differences between the southern and northern states, and of course discuss the issue of slavery, which encompasses all the above differences.Propaganda along with Slavery is often considered one of the primary reasons the Civil War occurred. The abolitionists played a major role in shaping the views of many Northerners. These people were fully against slavery and its expansion and put together much literature to show the North the wrongs of Slavery. Some of the most famous abolitionists were William Lloyd Garrison of Boston, Wendell Phillips, who in 1836 gave up his law practice because he couldn't support the United States Constitution, James G. Birney of Ohio who gathered all anti-slavery forces into one unit called the Liberty Party. Key Propagandists in the north and the south used the media at the time to exploit their cause, in the North, men such
For the North this was not the case, they were not fighting to save their way of life, they were fighting the war to free slaves and to keep the south in the Union. Now they felt there was nothing more they could do. At this time the labour force in the South had around 4 million slaves. idea of this confederacy is equality of states. The Union wanted federal government sponsored internal improvements such as more roads, railroads, and canals to improve transportation of goods, but the Confederacy did not want this fearing it would disrupt their way of life. The southern states defence of slavery develops directly from their agrarian roots and the economies dependence on slavery, the planters were concerned for profits and capital investments. The South knew that to exist as they did, within a larger free society there needed to be a community aspect within Slavery to ensure that the Slaves stayed loyal to the slaveholders. The south's old fashioned, aristocratic way of life was competing with the north's industry and booming economy of the "self made man". The newly formed Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln on principles that opposed the further expansion of slavery. The North not only wanted protective tariffs, but navigation acts, shipping and fishing subsidies and national banks, the South did not want this because they believed that it would benefit the north more than the south and disrupt their economy which was based on slave labour. As slavery was such an important part of Southern society and vital to their economy the South felt that they could not survive without it. Slavery and the economy in the south were strongly linked, The South's economy was based on the slave labour and they rejected anything that may possibly mean the end of slave labour.
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