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Civil War

 

            
             Was the American Civil War caused by slavery or economics? Disagreements between the Nortrhern states and the Southern states had been evident for over thrity years prior to the war. There were many differences between the two sections of the United States, but these situations had always been negotiated through compromise. Ultimately conflicts arose that could not inevitably be resolved between the states. Some say simplistically that the Civil War was fought over slavery. Unfortunately, there is no "simple" reason for the cause of the war, but a series of events including opposing views of slavery, economic changes, and political changes.
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             Some opinions of the civil war say that problems started as early as 1787, when slavery was made legal by the United States only at the request of the Southern States. The Northern agreed to this decision because they believed that there was still a lot of money to be made from the slave trade industry, which would help the young, growing economy. As the south grew into a major agriculture industry, they needed more and more slaves to help produce their goods. With the northern and western states populations growing due to the mass migration, the southern states felt threatened at the thought of slavery being outlawed by the rest of the country. They found a way prevent this from occurring by creating the three-fifths compromise, which allowed for three of every five slaves to be counted as part of each states population. This would help account for the south's representation in congress. By this time, the northerners were quite opposed to the idea of people being considered property, and those people (property) being counted as part of the population. They believed that all southern slaves should be emancipated. .
             Another problem that may have played a cause in the civil war was the tariff law of 1828. This angered the south because they had to buy their goods from the north at a much higher price instead of from Europe, where items were much cheaper.


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