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CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR: A SUMMARY

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR: A SUMMARY. The Civil War officially began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederate Army. Though this act “ignited” the Civil War, historians have accepted 5 main causes of the civil war. They include: State’s Rights; Economic Differences;

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CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR: A SUMMARY

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  1. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR: A SUMMARY

  2. The Civil War officially began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederate Army. • Though this act “ignited” the Civil War, historians have accepted 5 main causes of the civil war. They include: • State’s Rights; • Economic Differences; • Westward Expansion; • Slaveholders vs. Abolitionists; • Lincoln’s Election. THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE

  3. State sovereignty (the idea that every state had the right to decide what was best for itself) vs. federalism (the good of the whole country was more important than that of any individual state; • Conflict arose again during Andrew Jackson’s presidency when John Calhoun pushed the idea of NULLIFICATION – that each state had the right to disregard any federal law with which it disagreed. • Idea was declared treasonous, but resurfaced in the years leading up to the civil war; • Southern states feared the North would force them to free their slaves • In the years prior to the civil war, the Northern states had more representation in Congress, so this was a valid fear. Cause 1: States’ Rights

  4. The United States vs. the States United; • South - separate individual states form the union • since states formed the union they can opt out • North - the union created the states by the constitution • If the union is dissolved there is nothing • Lincoln was a federalist & constitutionalist • LINCOLN WAS FIGHTING TO SAVE THE UNION NOT TO FREE THE SLAVES (a political move)

  5. North: • Urban and industrial society; • Immigrants provided North with a cheap source of labour; • Northern society was more diverse and less conservative than the South; • North wanted to protect their products by imposing tariffs on any imports; Cause 2: Economic Differences

  6. South: • Economy was mostly rural and agrarian and centered on COTTON, which was profitable because the labour to plant and harvest it was FREE (slave labour); • South faced reciprocal tariffs when they exported their agricultural products; • These tariffs were put in place by Congress, where the North held the majority: 19 free states to 15 slave states; • The South resented the control of the North in Congress, as well as any acceptance of change due to the Industrial Revolution (while the North was able to adapt well).

  7. South had 4 million slaves • Slave owners 25% • 17 % 1-9 slaves • 7% 10-99 slaves • .1% 100+ • very few had large plantations • small minority of whites controlled southern society • Labor intensive agricultural society • slaves imported because can't get enough whites to do the labour

  8. Should new states be slave or free states? • Conflict continued; compromises were made to maintain a balance between free and slave states and give both sides equal representation in the Senate; • By 1860, the balance had shifted to 19 free and 15 slave states; • Compromises not working; • Southerners feared the Senate majority was giving the North the power to control the way people lived in the rest of the country. Cause 3: Westward Expansion

  9. Abolition movement growing strength; South concerned; • South knew that many abolitionists supported John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry; • They also knew that abolitionists were making it difficult to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act in Northern cities • These two things were evidence to the South that the North would use any means available – including breaking the law and violence – to impose its will on the South. Cause 4: Slaveholders vs. Abolitionists

  10. Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the presidential election in 1860 was the immediate cause of the Civil War. • As a Republican, one part of his party’s platform was that “the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom”; • After the raid on Harper’s Ferry, some Southern politicians vowed to secede if a Republican was ever elected president; • Though not an abolitionist, Lincoln strongly opposed extending slavery to the territories – which threatened the South. IT WAS ONLY A QUESTION OF TIME AS TO WHEN THE WAR WOULD BEGIN! Cause 5: Lincoln’s Election

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