The North and South had undergone significant diversification throughout the nineteenth century, which concluded with the famous Civil War from 1861-65. The conflict resulting to the Civil War resulted from the differences between these two regions (Linderman, 2008).
First, economic differences were the primary cause of the conflict between the North and the South. The two areas depended on entirely different factors for economic sustainability. There was significant diversification in the North, featuring small farms owned individually and an industrial base. By contrast, the South depended on agriculture, as the primary source of economic stability in the region. They had both large-scale plantations and individually owned farms. The South sustained their economy through the growth of cash crops including tobacco and cotton, which called for a massive availability of workforce. Thus the economy in the North was industrialized while the South was dependent on agrarian activities. Considering the economics of these two regions, the North was more densely populated compared to the South, where the population was much smaller and greatly spread out. With this in mind, it is evident that there was an economic conflict where the South snatched their labor from the North, thus placing the Northern livelihood at risk (Guha, & Alier, 2013).
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Second, another way to look at the conflict between the North and the South is to consider the political aspect. In some way, this conflict can is a result of issues of political power. The South was in pursuit of equality on the federal level, which was done based on representation. Bearing in mind that the population in the North was much higher compared to that in the South, this only meant that the North had an upper hand in general representation. In a bid to bring equity, the South was pushing to have their slave population to be put into consideration for representation purposes.
However, when it came to taxation, which was also dependent on the community, the South wanted the exemption of slave population and emphasis to be put only on the population that owned land. While attempting to have a consensus regarding this issue, there was an establishment of the three-fifths compromise where, for every five slaves, the government would consider three for the purpose of both taxation and representation (Guha, & Alier, 2013).
Third, another way to look at the motivation behind the conflict between the North and the South was the moral aspect where the two differed in their opinions regarding slavery and free labor. The South heavily relied on slavery as a source of cheap and sometimes free labor for their vast cotton and tobacco plantations. The North was strongly against slavery and viewed it as a degradation of the morals of the society and lack of value for human life. The issue of slavery was the most prevalent of all the issues that surrounded this conflict. Not only is slavery a moral issue, but it also has a political and economic problem. Politically, slavery results form an individual wanting to have power over his subjects. Economically, slavery is just an indication of selfish plantation owners looking to get cheap or free labor (Guha, & Alier, 2013).
In summary, the primary cause of the North-South conflict was power differences, political differences, economic differences and the moral factor. It is evident that all these conflicts have a standard drive, slavery. It is, therefore, justified to conclude that the main driving force behind this dispute was the moral aspects surrounding it, and in this case, slavery.
References
Guha, R., & Alier, J. M. (2013). Varieties of environmentalism: essays North and South . Routledge.
Linderman, G. (2008). Embattled courage: The experience of combat in the American Civil War . Simon and Schuster.
