What were the major causes of the Civil War?

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What were the major causes of the Civil War?

The American Civil War of the 1860s remains a keenly debated topic amongst historians.

In March 1865 President Lincoln declared that slavery was 'somehow' the cause of the war.1 Civil War historian James Ford Rhodes clearly agreed with Lincoln though he went further when he declared in 1913 that, 'of the American Civil War it may be safely asserted that there was a single cause, slavery.'2 However many historians disagree with this assertion that slavery was the sole cause of the war. Different schools of thought have differing views as to the causes of the American Civil War. The progressive school argue that war arose from a clash of interest groups and classes and that war was not primarily a contest between slavery and freedom but a contest between plantation agriculture and industrialising capitalism. Thus the American Civil War was a contest between the industrialising north and the Agricultural South. In the 1940s the Revisionist school denied the claims that sectional conflicts between the North and South were genuinely divisive whether they be over slavery, state rights or industry versus agriculture. They argued instead that the North and South were in fact more united than divided as White Americans in both the North and South shared the same language, legal system, political culture, religious values and common heritage. Revisionist's claimed that both sides had similar racist views, both accepting without question that African Americans were inferior to the Whites. The revisionist school argued that the Civil War was brought on not by genuine issues but by extremists on both sides who whipped up emotions and hatreds for their own purposes. The passions aroused got out of hand and blundering politicians failed to compromise which resulted in a particularly tragic and overwhelmingly unnecessary war. Farmer argues that now that historiography has come full circle, most historians today agree with Lincoln's assertion that slavery was 'somehow' to blame, though not the sole cause, and that the progressive and revisionist views on the causes are now dormant if not dead.3 One would argue therefore that though slavery laid at the root of North/South antagonisms it was not the only issue that caused the divisions that led to war. This essay will attempt to analyse the long-term origins that led to the outbreak of the American Civil War, including the issue of slavery and western expansion and how these two key issues intertwined. It will focus upon the tensions and events of the 1850s, the secession of the 1860s and the short term crises that led to the outbreak of war. It will attempt to reach a conclusion as to what were the major causes of the American Civil War.

Debate surrounds the issue of at which point one can consider the starting point of the crises that eventually led to the Civil War. Some historians argue that the crises that led to the Civil war were rooted in the founding of the nation. Reid however argues that the American Revolution could be considered a starting point as it was during this period that the North states began the process of a gradual emancipation that led to the conflict between Free-Labour and Slave-Labour states and that during this revolutionary period there was a failure to commit the United States to universal freedom. 4 However one would argue that perhaps the origins are best looked for in the nineteenth century which witnessed a transformation of the USA with the growth of capitalism and nationalism. There was also a new sense of religious commitment amongst many Americans. Many of the newly invigorated anti-slavery movements did in fact grow out of this religious fervour of the early nineteenth century. Early anti-slavery groups were highly religious groups who saw Slavery as a sin rather than a social problem and called not for gradual emancipation but for an immediate end. They objected slavery as it was maintained by the use of violence and abolitionists were therefore reluctant to turn to the government as governments also relied upon the use of force. Political abolition did not make an appearance until the 1830s with the introduction of the Liberal party. It was from this point onwards that abolition took on a new political stance in the North. There were many reasons for the increased anti-slavery sentiment. Many in the North felt that slavery was incompatible with the American constitution and its ideals such as liberty. By 1840 there was no slavery in Northern States and many Northerner's saw slavery as a Southern culture that was alien to them. It has been argued that slaves were not anywhere near as important to the Northern economy, which surrounded industrialism and capitalism, as it was to the Southern economy. The Southern economy relied upon agriculture which in turn, at the time, relied upon slave labour rather then free labour. The abolition of the slave trade in 1808 when overseas slave trade was made illegal did not lead to a decline in slavery. Instead the value of slaves increased as supply from Africa ceased. Value increased from $300 in the 1790s to almost $2,000 by the 1850s.5 By 1860 there were 4 million slaves in the South, a combined market value of $3 billion dollars. Slave-Labour in the South made it possible for the US to grow 75% of the world' cotton.6 However one should be careful not to over-exaggerate. In fact the majority of Southerners were not actually slave holders, although most non slave-holding Southerners did accept and support slavery as the Southern way of life. Labour was not the sole purpose of slavery in the South. It was a means of maintaining White Supremacy and racial control. The existence of slaves served as a reminder to poorer Whites that there was a social class below them. This is why it was seen very much as part of the Southern way of life. Southerners argued that all great societies rested on coerced labour and maintained that slavery was part of the 'divine plan for the redemption of Africa'.7 Some Southerner's held that to war on slavery was, to war on god. When under threat, Southerners were provoked into defending their 'peculiar institution'. Therefore this was in itself a major cause of the civil war - the South's need to defend their way of life. Attacks upon slavery were seen as attacks on the South as a whole.
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In the nineteenth century the USA was an expanding nation. It was expanding westwards. Whilst few Northerners felt the need to abolish slavery altogether, tolerance did not extend to agreeing to the expansion of slavery into Western territories. For many years there had been an equal balance of slave states and Free states. For as long as there was a balance there was little perceived threat to the slave institution. In 1811 there were eleven Free states and eleven slave states in the Union. However this balance came under several threats in the nineteenth century. The first tensions ...

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