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The Causes Of The Civil War Essay

, Research Paper


"The tragic ?fireball


in the night? imagined by Jefferson had finally rung. The


Missouri Compromise had failed. Proslavery and


antislavery civilians clashed in the streets and took up arms.


Thousands of Northerners were willing to die for their


beliefs. The Civil War had begun. The states were at war


with each other." This dividing battle between the North


and the South was unavoidable. The Civil War was caused


by economic, political and moral problems. It all started by


an alarming increase in a need for cotton, which triggered


the building of a barrier between two territories in a


growing nation. New Machinery was changing the textile


industry in New England and Britain. These mills needed


more and more cotton, creating a new demand in the south.


For this trade with Europe, after 1812, raw cotton


accounted for one-third all cotton exports of the United


States. By 1830, it increased to half. Cotton quickly


became a big money-making cash crop for the South and


North economy alike. But the demand also revived the


need for slaves. The plantations had to be worked, and


blacks were a cheap, efficient way to get the cotton


picked. To make their jobs easier, Eli Whitney took


advantage of the new idea, and invented the cotton


gin(short for engine). It rapidly cleaned the seeds from the


short, sticky fibers of upland cotton, the variety that grew


all over the South. The process was simple: a roller carried


raw cotton along wooden slats. Sharp metal teeth thrust


through the slats and quickly pulled the fibers from the


seeds. In 1794, he obtained a patent. Whitney still earned


little because it was simple enough for manufacturers to


copy. Even though the machine made attaining cotton


faster, slaves were still pushed to work harder and produce


more. Blacks under captivity certainly led a harsh, unfair


life. But that is where the white southerners believed blacks


belonged. Northerners knew better. Harriet


Beecher-Stowe, a female, black abolitionist was aware of


these conditions. She wrote Uncle Tom?s Cabin, which


was published in 1852, and described the incredible cruelty


and horrors of slavery. Stowe wanted to "write something


that would make the whole nation feel what an accursed


thing slavery is." Her novel became widely popular, and


within a year, readers had bought 300,000 copies.


Wherever it went, it carried it?s powerful message of the


evils of slavery. She hoped the novel would bring a


peaceful end to slavery, but instead it seemed to bring the


nation closer to war. Of course, not all Southerners


supported slavery, nor did all Northerners oppose it. Yet


antislavery feelings were on the rise in the North?few


white Southerners went to extremes. Their concern lay in


maintaining the plantation system as it existed. With her


book she was able to gain many Northerners support in the


antislavery race, yet at the same time she outraged the


Southerners. Harriet?s novel was one of the many things


that sparred mistrust between the North and South. The


North didn?t trust the South bec

ause they refused to help


Southern plantation owners capture slaves. North


depended on the South for making money, and the South


depended on the slaves to pick their cotton. This created


the Northern fear of Competition. The North was afraid


that South would gain power of crops and put them out of


business. This meant that slavery would double. The North


was torn between giving the slaves their rightful choices, or


keeping the economy balanced. It was a matter of moral


standards. The South wanted to break away from the


union, while the North still wanted the two territories to


stick together. This conflict was the main cause of the Civil


War. The South argued about their state?s rights. They said


a state could nullify a federal law it did not consider


constitutional. Southern states based their right to leave the


union, on the fact the original 13 states had existed


separately before they formed together for the United


States. The South could break their allegiance to the union


because they were not part of the original U.S. If they


could form there own confederacy, the South could


continue the use of slaves while also keeping their reign on


the cotton industry. The political issues that caused the Civil


War, revolved around matters that involved territorial


subjects and slavery acts. In 1820, the Missouri


Compromise was worked out and gained congressional


approval. Missouri was to be admitted as a slave state, and


Maine would enter the union as a free state. The


compromise also prohibited slavery in other American


territories west of the Mississippi river and North of


Missouri?s southern boundary. Stephen A. Douglas


introduced a bill called the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It


proposed to divide the area into two territories: that of


Kansas and that of Nebraska. It was implied that Kansas


would become a slave state, and Nebraska would be free


of slavery. Popular sovereignty was also put into effect.


This act gave the voters, in each territory, the right to


decide whether to become a free state or a slave state.


Together, they rendered the Missouri Compromise


meaningless. As the South?s dependence on slavery


increased between 1790 and 1860, the gap between the


Southern cotton economy and industrial economy of the


North widened. The opposing goals and needs of the


North and South created a deeper conflict- a conflict that


eventually lead to war. Basically, the North fought to keep


the union together, and give black slaves freedom, while the


South fought for their lifestyle, homes, and to keep things


together economically. The northerners had high moral


issues while the Southerners wanted to keep their


plantations and cotton production. They weren?t willing to


give up there slaves. There were too many conflicts


between the two territories, so they fought to resolve them.


John Brown, a vengeful abolitionist put it best, "the crimes


of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with


blood". The north won the war, and ties were broken. The


barrier they had started to build so long ago finally


crumbled.

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