The causes of the Civil War are well documented but should obviously start with a study of the regionalism that developed in USA prior to the 1860s. The South developed an economy based on slavery and agriculture, specifically cotton. The production of cotton tied the South tightly with England since Manchester was a great world center for textile production. This relationship helped insure the institutionalization of a slave based agriculural economy and planter and planter-wanna-be culture. The Northern economy was dominated by factory production and free, wage labor. This made sense due to the fact that the north was subject to a shorter growing season which also limited the use of slaves. The main issue on this point was how to keep slaves productively occupied during the winter months.
Nice post thanks for it. I think the south took it as there only means to survive (slavery) and became threatened by the north. Just my basic opinion of the tension.
Their choice to develop a slave based system was probably more along the lines of a costs/benefits analysis. In the context of international trade and profit making, climate and attitudes of the times, it just made sense. Karl Marx saw it as a natural outcome of agricultural capitalism, considering what he termed the logic of capitalism, which meant make profit at all costs, even human lives. This is another reason 19th century history records extensive arguments on the "humaness" of indigenous people and black Africans. If you can dehumanize them, it makes them easier to exploit. In light of modern human rights, this sort of thinking is racist, brutal, and inhuman, but it was a different place and time. A different world compared to our present reality.
I think there are numerous events that lead up to the secession of southern states and civil war... Protager pretty much covered the majority of them, and too add on to what he said, the southern states felt their industry would be impacted by the abolishment of slavery. Because of this, the seceded from the union causing the two belligerents to fight... Slightly off topic, but if the sotuh had a more industrialized economy, they could have changed the outcome of the war...
Completely agree with this. I've wondered if the South could have sustained itself without slaves, would they have been opposed to the abolishment of slavery? Another thing we will never know.
