Causes of the Civil War

The South, which was known as the Confederate States of America, seceded from the

North, which was also known as the Union, for many different reasons. The

reason they wanted to succeed was because there was four decades of great sectional

conflict between the two. Between the North and South there were deep economic,

social, and political differences. The South wanted to become an independent

nation. There were many reasons why the South wanted to succeed but the main

reason had to do with the North's view on slavery. All of this was basically

a different interpretation of the United States Constitution on both sides.

In the end all of these disagreements on both sides led to the Civil War,

in which the North won.

There were a few reasons other then the slavery

issue, that the South disagreed on and that persuaded them to succeed from

the Union. Basically the North favored a loose interpretation of the United

States Constitution. They wanted to grant the federal government increased

powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual

states. The North also wanted internal improvements sponsored by the federal

government. This was more roads, railroads, and canals. The South, on the

other hand, did not want these projects to be done at all. Also the North wanted

to develop a tariff. With a high tariff, it protected the Northern manufacturer.

It was bad for the South because a high tariff would not let the south trade

its cotton for foreign goods.

The North also wanted a good banking and currency

system and federal subsidies for shipping and internal improvements. The South

felt these were discriminatory and that they favored Northern commercial interests.

Now the main reason for the South's secession was the Slavery issue. Basically

the South wanted and needed it and the North did not want it at all. The South

was going to do anything they could to keep it. This was the issue that overshadowed

all others. At this time the labor force in the South had about 4 million

slaves. These slaves were very valuable to the slaveholding planter class.

They were a huge investment to Southerners and if taken away, could mean massive

losses to everyone. Slaves were used in the South as helpers in the fields

in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo, as well as many other jobs.

The South especially needed more slaves at this time because they were now

growing more cotton then ever because of the invention of the cotton gin.

Cotton production with slaves jumped from 178,000 bales in 1810 to over 3,841,000

bales in 1860. Within that time period of 50 years the number of slaves also

rose from about 1,190,000 to over 4,000,000. The plantation owners in the

South

could not understand why the North wanted slavery abolished that bad.

Southerners compared it with the wage-slave system of the North. They said

that the slaves were better cared for then the free factory workers in the

North. Southerners said that slaveowners provided shelter, food, care, and

regulation for a race unable to compete in the modern world without proper

training. Many Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in

the Bible. But after the American Revolution slavery really died it the North,

just