WHAT WERE THE MAIN CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR?
Why the American Civil War started is often oversimplified. Like many things in life, there are nuisances that shouldn’t be ignored, and conflicts begin for multiple reasons. In what would become the country’s deadliest conflict and set cultural divides still seen to some degree in modern times, here are the main causes of the Civil War. Learn more about one of our nation’s most influential moments in history.
1. Slavery Was One of the Main Causes of the Civil War
Make no mistake about it, you can’t look at the main causes of the Civil War without mentioning slavery and racism.However, here are a few other connected points not always mentioned. This furthered the idea of slavery as a core issue while also adding a level of complexity to how people viewed Blacks in America during this time:
- The North may have had more abolitionists than the South; however, that doesn’t mean everyone was against slavery or even saw Blacks as equal.
- The American Colonization Society (ACS) even had the idea of sending Black Americans “back to Africa.” This was a strange notion considering these people had never been there in the first place and were born in the United States.
- Furthermore, President Abraham Lincoln also had a plan to send Blacks to an island near Haiti known as Île à Vache or Cow Island. This further points to the complex feelings about slavery and Blacks on both sides at the center of the conflict.
- Slavery was important for the South’s economy. Sure, there were several people who didn’t view Blacks as equals but many were also looking to maintain their privileged lifestyle thanks to the free labor on plantations.
- For others, thankfully, morals were the key factor in going to war. Many abolitionists believed that the institution of slavery was evil and should no longer be allowed in the United States.
Ongoing Conflict Arises Between the North & the South
In Southern states, the economy was largely dependent upon agriculture. This is because longer growing seasons and fertile soils were the perfect environment for crops to flourish. Thus, the South's economy had been fueled by the plantations that white people owned, and depended upon the duties that enslaved people performed. Once the cotton gin was created, the South became a one-crop economy, depending upon cotton and the labor of enslaved individuals. In contrast, the North's economy was less dependent upon agriculture. Factories and industries in the North would purchase cotton from the South, turning it into goods to sell. The ability to turn cotton into finished goods, created a great economic disparity, which eventually led to a difference in societal and political views.
2. States’ Rights
Another example of the main causes of the American Civil War was each state's rights.In some cases, states’ rights have been used to gloss over the idea that slavery is why the conflict was started.However, the core right that states were looking at was the right to maintain slavery, specifically, Southern states who believed the federal government was overstepping its boundaries.Politics/cultures clashed and divided as a result. When President Lincoln was able to secure the role of POTUS after not winning a single electoral vote in the South, the Civil War became inevitable.As far as the main causes of the American Civil War go, you must account for state rights while also acknowledging its ties to slavery.
Free States vs Pro-Slavery States
With America's expansion imminent, the question arose as to whether the new states admitted to the Union would be free or pro-slavery states. Thus, an attempt was made to ensure that an equal number of free and slave states were admitted, but this quickly became difficult. The Missouri Compromise was soon passed in 1820, which established the rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase north of the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes. Shortly after, the Compromise of 1850 was created to protect the interests of both the North and the South. But, tensions around slavery began to rise as an act allowed new territories to use popular sovereignty to determine if they would be free or slavery states.
3. Expanding Territories and Slavery
While we’ve mentioned slavery as the main cause of the Civil War, it’s important to note that its potential in new territories is a similar, yet, different issue. There were several territories still figuring things out and not yet states, including:
- Colorado
- Dakota
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- The Indian Territory (Oklahoma)
- Utah
- Washington
As a result, there were many questions about how to go about keeping slavery away from these new states.Southern states were pro-slavery while the North was not. Despite this, many northern Americans simply wanted to keep all the jobs for whites only in these areas as the U.S. moved through the West.No matter where you look, the main causes of the Civil War have an attachment to slavery and whether Americans should maintain such practices at the state level. It is a perplexing choice in a country that may not be perfect but has still come a long way.Sources:When Abraham Lincoln Tried to Resettle Free Black Americans in the Caribbean, History. Accessed September 2024. https://www.history.com/news/abraham-lincoln-black-resettlement-haiti1860, The American Presidency Project. Accessed September 2024. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1860United States at the outbreak of the Civil War, 1861, Maps ETC. Accessed September 2024. https://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/800/809/809.htmSuggested reads: