Fought between 1861 and 1865, the American Civil War was an armed conflict that pitted the Union against the Secessionist. In this case, the Union refers to the nation’s government headed by the president Abraham Lincoln while the secessionists refer to the states that had withdrawn from this government or Union. The Union was therefore comprised of 23 American States and 5 Border States while the Secessionists, also known as the Confederate States of America, was made up 11 states of the south. The confederate states were bought together by one unifying factor that facilitated their secession, the governments call to do end slavery in the country. Therefore, the war was essentially between those against slavery and those for slavery. However, slavery was not the only factor that led to this war. This paper will therefore discuss the causes of the American Civil War, and the course it took until its conclusion in 1865.
Causes
As mentioned above, the main cause of the withdrawal of the 11 southern states and ultimately the war was slavery. In fact, most of the union soldiers who fought in the war were literally fighting to end slavery. Similarly, the opposing southern states were fighting to protect their way of life in which slavery played a significant role. According to them, the gradual eradication of slavery would not only heavily affect their economy, but was also violated the rights provided to them by the constitution. Over and above this, they were protecting their investments as they had made huge investments in slaves hence the sudden criminalization of their ownership would lead to grave losses on their part (Shelden). In the North, slavery was already criminalized by the time this conflict was brewing. The Border States too were slowly adopting this Northern law of slavery ban, bringing worries to the Southern states which feared that this law was going to catch up with them sooner or later. Moreover, the Southern districts were bound to be affected more severely by such a legislation since their economies heavily relied on the growing of cotton. The cotton growing industry was subsequently heavily dependent on slave labor without which its lucrative profits would significantly decline.
Apart from slavery, sectionalism was another factor that notably contributed to the American Civil War. By definition, sectionalism is the presence of dissimilar economic, social and political structures within a single country. During this period, America was divided in every aspect between the North and the South. For example, the law in the North did not permit slavery while slavery continued to be legal in the South. In terms of the economy, the North was highly industrialized and urbanized while the economy of the South still depended on large scale farming using slaves as the labor providers.