What Caused the Civil War

What Caused the Civil War?

By the end of the American Civil War, the combined casualties for both sides peaked at nearly one and a half million. This war between the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South) pitted brother against brother in a series of bloody battles lasting just over four years (1861-1865). In the end, the Union emerged victorious because they had more troops, more supplies, and a faster transportation system. We know when and where it takes place, but what sparked the civil war? The three main causes of the Civil War between the North and the South were due to the issue of slavery, their two differing economies, and failure of politics.

The first main cause of the Civil War was conflict between the North and the South about the issue of slavery. According to Frederick Douglass’ speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the American Negro,” it is pointless for the Negro to celebrate a holiday of freedom when he is not free, and Americans who support or tolerate slavery are hypocrites (Doc 4). They praise the idea that all men are entitled to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, yet they deny an entire race of their freedom based off the color of their skin. Frederick Douglass, an African-American Abolitionist, believes that the Negro has no freedom, while others would dare to disagree. George Fitzhugh, a sociologist from North Carolina, describes the Negro slaves of the South as, “The happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world.” He also mentions that children and the elderly do not work and the average workday is no more than nine hours (Doc 5). Mr. Fitzhugh, who is pro-slavery, is trying to make the idea of slavery less harsh than it really is. One can infer from these two documents that the North and the South felt equally opposed to each other’s opinion on slavery. While the North felt that slavery was a moral issue and to allow the continuation of it would be a sin, some southerners disagree by declaring that slaves are just as free as white men are. The topic of slavery helped cause the Civil War because of the difference in opinions between the Abolitionist North and the Pro-slavery South.

Another important cause of the Civil War was conflict between the North and the South about their two differing economies. The North developed its own industrial economy compiled of hundreds of factories and more than 10,000 miles of railroad tracks. In the North, men, women, and children worked in the factories, so there was no need for slaves. On the other hand, the South had an agricultural based economy with many slaves working for them. According to the second graph on Document 1, the population of slaves and the amount of cotton produced had a positive correlation between each other. If an area produced a large amount of cotton, that area would also contain a higher density of slaves. The fact that the North wanted to get rid of slavery was appalling to the South because if so, they would lose potentially half of their workforce. The contrasting economies dividing the North and South helped cause the Civil War because the diverging path of economic development led to a deeper division between the two regions.

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