The American Civil War

The American Civil War

Introduction

The American civil war is one of the most outstanding parts of the American history. The war was caused conflicting principles and dissimilarities of beliefs between North and South America. The major conflict causes were over the freedom of slaves and westward expansion. The United states was experiencing tremendous economic growth with the North and the South having different economic activities. The North had a well-established manufacturing and industry system and agriculture was limited to small-scale farmers. On the other hand, the South still practiced large-scale farming that depended fully on labor of black slaves. Since the North did not need slaves in their economic activities, they campaigned for the freedom of the slaves because they claimed that it was not right to treat other people as slaves and objects. The South on the other hand saw that abolition of slavery would endanger the backbone of their economy and they opposed the North. In the case of westward expansion, there was a major conflict between the North and the South on whether to make the newly acquired states slave or slave free states. The North was driven by a sense of morality and they were determined to eradicate slavery while the South was ready to defend slavery since it was the backbone of their major income. These conflicts of interest were the major causes of the American civil war.

Reasons why the war was inevitable

The American civil war was inevitable since the two sides had sharply contrasting beliefs. North America had undergone a high level of industrialization and their economic activities were not dependent on slaves. The few farmers in the north practiced small-scale farming and it did not require slave labor. Although the industries in the north also required some level of manual labor, immigrants from Europe and Asia provided labor and although it was expensive and highly mobile, it was active. Therefore, the north did not need slaves and since they knew how invaluable human labor was, they campaigned for the abolition of slavery because according to them, it was immoral to use fellow human as objects.

The south on the other hand still depended hugely on large-scale farming of cotton. The plantations required a lot of work which was provided by the black slaves. Therefore, their economy was entirely dependent of slave labor. Abolition of paying slavery meant that they would have to pay for labor and since there was a lot of work, all their profit would go into for labor. This would endanger their economy and make them poorer than the north.

When United states acquired new states mostly through quests, they were divided between the north and the south. However, the westward expansion was creating a conflict of interest between the two sides. The north wanted the newly acquired states to be slave free while the south wanted to expand slavery into the new states. Since the north was advocating for abolition of slavery, allowing the south to expand slavery would make the war against slavery hard. However, the south sought to increase expand their economic base by introducing slavery to the new states. Due to the high immigration from Europe and Asia, there were few immigrants who rose and took up administrative ranks and they supported the north. This placed the south at risk because their leaders would be blocked at the House of Representatives. The south was angered because the north seemed to be taking full control national economy and politics and this was a threat to their economy and political future.

At what point did the war become inevitable

The war became inevitable when violence erupted in Kansas. The event called ‘Bleeding Kansas’ was marked by violence when dividing the newly acquired Kansas state. The south wanted to expand slavery to Kansas in order to continue large-scale cotton farming. This was opposed by the north who wanted Kansas to be a slave-free state. Violence erupted because both sides wanted control and none was willing to step down. Although the supreme court had ruled in favor of the south and legalized slavery in Kansas, the north was still determined to abolish slavery in America.

The tension increased when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Abraham Lincoln was from the north which was against slave trade. During the election, Abraham was not on the ballot in the south but he was still elected regardless of this fact. This made the south see that the north had no regards for federal authority and as such, they too were determined to keep their slaves no matter what law was passed. Lincoln was at the forefront in the war against slavery and having him as the president placed the south at a disadvantage since their agenda to uphold slavery was likely to be voted out. These two events triggered the war and violence was seen as the only way to solve the dispute.

The civil war ended and the north was victorious since slavery was abolished. All slaves in the south attained their freedom and America was faced with the task of rebuilding the nation. Former slaves gained freedom and they were free to engage in paid labor. However, this was not the case in the south where they passed laws that were known as “black codes”. These laws restricted former slaves from engaging in many economic activities; this move was to ensure their availability as labor force in the cotton plantations. Freedom of slaves was further opposed by movements such as the Ku Klux Klan that attacked blacks and their leaders who challenged white authority. Since the end of the civil war, African-Americans have continuously fought for political, economic and social equality.

If the war was avoidable, how would it have been avoided

There is an argument that the civil war was avoidable. The argument is that the south felt that real reason for the north pushing for the abolition of slavery was not because of morality but because of economic reasons. The two sides engaged in different economic activities that were not dependent on each other. Since the north wanted to gain and maintain economic dominance, they chose to attack the backbone of the southern economy.

To avoid the war, the two sides should have chosen an equal number of delegates to discuss the matter about slavery and come up with better ways of treating the slaves. This would have avoided violence which later grew into the civil war. Passing bills transparently would have been a peaceful way of abolishing slavery and the two sides co-exist peacefully.

Conclusion

The American civil war was inevitable because the north was threatening the economic backbone of the south. The fact that the north disregarded federal authority angered the south. Furthermore, when Lincoln was elected the president even without appearing on the ballot in the south made the southerners very adamant in retaining slavery. The two sides had different ideologies and neither was willing to change their stand and this made the war inevitable.