Causes of the American Civil War
The American Civil War:
Causes, Victor, and Validity
Keagan Koerber
History 205
Professor Childress
December 9, 2014
The slightest mention of the American Civil War is enough to bring graphic and often horrifying images into one’s head: mountains of dead soldiers, amputations without anesthesia, and diseases running rampant. The Civil War was a war that no one wished for, it resulted in the deaths of several hundred thousand American lives, but it is often justified by its end result, which was the abolition of slavery. But could the Civil War have been avoided? The tensions between the North and South started with their divergent socioeconomic standings. The North was more industrial, with its economy relying on factories and railroads; while the South was primarily agricultural, relying on cotton and slave labor. This separation of cultures led to a clear division, which grew based on pro-slavery and anti-slavery faction and as time passed, tore the nation apart, eventually leading to the Civil War. The general populous thinks that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War but as this paper will explain there are many other underlying causes, including: the increasing tensions between political parties, US Supreme Court case decisions, and various rebellions and uprisings. These causes were the result of growing political differences between the North and the South were the result of a series of bills that allowed for the possibility of slavery to spread beyond the South. These coupled with the demise of the Whig Party and the emergence of the Republican Party in the North caused Congress to vote regionally rather than with their party.
The unconditional surrender of the South at Appomattox Courthouse resulted in the end of the war, but it did not signal an end to the suffering. Reconstruction started with the end of the war and rebuild the state governments of the South with the help of carpet-baggers, scalawags, and freedmen. With
Causes, Victor, and Validity
Keagan Koerber
History 205
Professor Childress
December 9, 2014
The slightest mention of the American Civil War is enough to bring graphic and often horrifying images into one’s head: mountains of dead soldiers, amputations without anesthesia, and diseases running rampant. The Civil War was a war that no one wished for, it resulted in the deaths of several hundred thousand American lives, but it is often justified by its end result, which was the abolition of slavery. But could the Civil War have been avoided? The tensions between the North and South started with their divergent socioeconomic standings. The North was more industrial, with its economy relying on factories and railroads; while the South was primarily agricultural, relying on cotton and slave labor. This separation of cultures led to a clear division, which grew based on pro-slavery and anti-slavery faction and as time passed, tore the nation apart, eventually leading to the Civil War. The general populous thinks that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War but as this paper will explain there are many other underlying causes, including: the increasing tensions between political parties, US Supreme Court case decisions, and various rebellions and uprisings. These causes were the result of growing political differences between the North and the South were the result of a series of bills that allowed for the possibility of slavery to spread beyond the South. These coupled with the demise of the Whig Party and the emergence of the Republican Party in the North caused Congress to vote regionally rather than with their party.
The unconditional surrender of the South at Appomattox Courthouse resulted in the end of the war, but it did not signal an end to the suffering. Reconstruction started with the end of the war and rebuild the state governments of the South with the help of carpet-baggers, scalawags, and freedmen. With
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