Have Historians over Emphasised the Slavery Issue as a Cause of the Civil War?

The American Civil War has caused many debates amongst a wide range of historians resulting in many different views being formed on all aspects of the War. The argument whether slavery has been overemphasised is one of great debate. Some historians like Michael F. Holt concur that the slavery issue was nearly the only reason and cause of the American civil war. Others disagree, Joel H. Silbey agrees that this is a reason but not the only one other ideas to need to be looked at to the cause of the outbreak of war in America. I will look at this issue and others which caused the beginning of the civil war.

The civil war dominates American history from the Jackson age and up to the end of the civil war in 1861. Many scholars have tried to identify the different issues and trends that would affect the causes and outcomes of the civil war. Historians would have gathered a wide range of information from various sections of the area of study. Diaries, memoirs, political writings, newspapers and official documents would have been looked at to gather their information and to formulate their opinion. New historians have applied the techniques of modern day in analysis of voting patterns and election returns.

We should treat this complex question in relation not only to the political events, important though these are, but also other factors like social and cultural forces must also be contributors to the situation which occurred. Thus close attention must be paid to all immediate origins of the conflict.

The slavery issue is one of mass debate throughout historians and many differing views have been created. It came to the forefront in 1819 after when some Northern congressmen proposed that slavery be banned from the states being carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. The debate continued, a compromise arose and in 1821 a line was drawn that preserved the balance between free and slave states. That prohibited slavery north of the 36 degree latitude. This curbed the slavery debate for