Clashing Causes of the Civil War essays

Clashing Causes of the Civil War essays When dissecting the causes of the American Civil War, so many historians try to simplify the driving forces that one cannot truly appreciate the powerful and complex reasons for this momentous struggle. The causes of the Civil War are many, and not easily defined, but broken up into the categories of economics, culture clash, the necessity of war itself, and morality. The economic causes of the conflict are far reaching. Charles Beard claims that the wars problems resulted not from slavery, as American voters shunned both the Liberty party and the Republican party when their primary platform was one of abolition, or even of states rights, because many times before in our nations history have individual states found major issue with national policy. Instead, he maintains that the Civil War was, in essence, a social battle between the growing industrial North and the diminishing plantations of the South. Since the industry in the Northeast was expanding, the agriculture in the Northwest was tied to the Northeast through transportation and manufacturing, and fertile lands available to farm in the South was steadily decreasing, the delicate balance of equality began to tip, and statesmen found it hard to hold onto the fragile peace. As a common saying of the time went, The planters were after all fighting against the census returns. Foreign trade with Northern industry expanded, the farming regions of the West complemented this booming industry, the flow of immigrants progressively increased, the Northern population rose, and the free labor system threatened to push south into the slavocracy. Large plantation owners couldnt handle the stress in their confined region working with slave labor on land which lost more nutrients each planting season. In response to this growing stress, Southerners began to blame Northerners. Jefferson Davis attacked the Free-Soil party of having no purpose in off...