The Civil War in the United States of America lasted from 1861 to 1865. It caused a death toll of over 618,000 people 1 . Historians have attributed these deadly skirmishes to many different tensions that formed early in the history of the country. Indeed the Civil War in America was caused by different factors whose combination increased feuds among people. These causes are still a subject of heated debate today. There are those who exclusively attribute this war to slavery. It is factual that when the soldiers for the North and South America were created, the reason was not to fight in support or against slavery. While acknowledging the fact that had there been no slavery there would have been no Civil War in America, it is important to recognize that the horrific skirmishes that pitted the South against the North in the United States of America Civil War were as a result of many causes that worked together to produce a situation of anger for war. The message in this paper is that the causes of the American Civil War are diverse and complex, with slavery being just part of these reasons.
Slavery
Slavery was the major issue that formed the basis of the Civil War. The big matter that caused disruption of the union of the South and the North was the debate regarding the future of slavery. The North was not willing to condone slavery anymore 2 . It was determined to stop this activity and eliminate it from the fabric of the American society. The political power brokers in Washington were inclined into abolishing slavery throughout the United States of America. For the people in the North, they did not need slavery because the economy of this region becoming highly industrial and did not rely on farming. In the 1860s, the North was industrializing at a very fast rate. Entrepreneurship was highly thriving in this region. States of the North abolished slavery 3 . Many immigrants started to flow to the North from the South in a bid to escape the brutal labor in the farms.
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However, the South had a sharply different look on this issue. They could not accept the abolition of slavery. The South was an agricultural region, where cotton and tobacco were major produces and the region’s economic backbone. Work on the large plantations in the South was done by the slaves, who were largely people of the African origin. Therefore, in this region slavery was viewed as a right and part of the way of life of the people. Any suggestion to stop slavery was taken as a plan to sabotage the economy of the people in the South America. Without this slavery, the economic power of the wealthy families in the South would be seriously affected. Since they viewed the end of slavery as a threat to their right and way of life, they were ready to rise up in arms against efforts to stop the activity.
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave that searched for citizenship through the American legal system. The case of Dred Scott ended up in the Supreme Court of U.S. In the year 1857, the famous Dred Scott decision was made in the Supreme Court, where his request was not granted on grounds that no person with African origin could become a legal citizen of the United States of America 4 . This decision made the African Americans to be disgruntled and increased tensions of civil war.
States’ Rights
The States’ Rights refers to the fight that was there between the federal and the states governments over political power. A war ensued between the federal government and the states on the issue of whether the former had power to regulate slavery and even abolish it within the states 5 . Mostly, it is the Southern states that protested the move by the federal government to control and even abolish slavery within each individual state. This fight widened the rift that existed between the North and the South even further hence increasing tensions that eventually led to the Civil War.
The Abolitionist Movement
A movement emerged, whose main agenda was to advocate and push for the abolition of slavery. The movement became quite powerful and influential within the United States of America. The common claim of this movement was that obedience to the higher law over the Constitution guaranteed that a fugitive in one states would be seen as a fugitive in all the states. The movement pushed for the enactment of the fugitive slave act, which enhanced the struggle for stopping slavery in the entire country. The activities of this movement were quite charged and fanned war emotions and increased tension in the entire nation.
The Election of Abraham Lincoln
The election of Abraham Lincoln, who was an ardent anti-slavery crusader, caught the people of South in the wrong way. The Republican Party on whose ticket Lincoln won the election was also against slavery. The people of the South felt that since Lincoln was against slavery, he was an opponent to their economy hence did not want them to prosper 6 . It was this election that made the tensions and emotions of a civil war to reach peak level.
The Southern Secession
A secession convention was held in South Carolina in the year 1860 after the election of Abraham Lincoln. The convention voted to dissolve the state’s partnership with the rest of the United States of America. Other states that agreed to be part of this move included Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. The Southern secessionists understood the emergency and strength of the Republican Party to mean their political power and influence in the national politics was weakening significantly. The bells of a civil war beckoned even harder when the Lincoln administration refused to recognize the legality of the South Carolina Convention’s secession vote. Moreover, Lincoln declined to accept the legitimacy of the Confederacy. Lincoln would later call for troops to force the south states not to secede. However, some of the south states such as Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee seceded 7 .
It must be noted that the southern people received these calls for secession with highly mixed reactions. In fact, the fact there was high division in the south on the action of seceding from the rest of the United States is what thwarted all the efforts made by the pro-secession states. It is also important to note that there were southern states that felt their slave rights would continue to be recognized by the U.S if they did not secede 8 . This whole issue of secession undoubtedly increased the atmosphere of conflict in the United States of America hence led to the Civil War.
Fort Sumter
Another direct cause of Civil War in America was the demand for surrender of the Fort Sumter by the Confederate forces in Charleston. The Confederate forces demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter because they knew resupplies were headed to the federal garrison from the North 9 . However, the commander of the Fort refused to surrender making the Confederate forces to open fire 10 . Later, the commander of Fort Sumter surrendered. This was the beginning of war in the United States of America.
While acknowledging the fact that had there been no slavery there would have been no Civil War in America, it is important to recognize that the horrific skirmishes that pitted the South against the North in the United States of America Civil War were as a result of many causes that worked together to produce a situation of anger for war. The message in this paper is that the causes of the American Civil War are diverse and complex, with slavery being just part of these reasons as explained above. This complexity and diversity is even enhanced by the fact that it is the politicians who used various matters of national importance to advance their interests through decisions that caused tension in the nation. Leaders through their utterances and actions convinced their followers to support them in the course for war in order to achieve their hard lined positions, particularly on the issue of slavery. Leaders justified the need for war by giving explanations that pointed to the fact that it was the only way to protect the interests of the common citizens.
As seen in this paper, the emergence of Civil War was occasioned by a chronology of diverse events and decisions, which got sharply differing views from the people in the North and those in the South. The weak point on the part of the leaders is that they did not show goodwill and make attempts of bringing in harmony. All the actions done by political leaders were had the outcome of increased war tensions. In nations across the world, such civil war normally comes from a combination of reasons whose lack of solutions leads the citizens to armed battles and skirmishes. Proactive solutions to issues can avert such deadly war in a nation.
References
Coclanis, Peter A., and Stanley L. Engerman. "Would Slavery Have Survived Without the Civil War?: Economic Factors in the American South During the Antebellum and Postbellum Eras." Southern Cultures 19, no. 2 (2013): 66-90.
May, Robert E. "The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War by Don H. Doyle (review)." Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 114, no. 1 (2016): 86-88.
Reid, Brian Holden. The Origins of the American Civil War . Abidgon: Routledge, 2014.
1 Reid, Brian Holden, The Origins of the American Civil War (Abidgon: Routledge, 2014), 23.
2 Ibid., 28
3 Ibid., 29
4 Ibid., 33
5 May, Robert E. "The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War by Don H. Doyle (review)," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 114, no. 1 (2016): 86.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., 87.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., 88
10 Coclanis, Peter A., and Stanley L. Engerman, "Would Slavery Have Survived Without the Civil War?: Economic Factors in the American South During the Antebellum and Postbellum Eras," Southern Cultures 19, no. 2 (2013): 76
