Introduction
The American Civil War that spurred from 1861 to 1865 marked a critical turning point in United States’ history due to its long-lasting impacts. Before the war, the United States were plagued by slavery, unresolved issues from constitutional amendments, and a great divide between the Northerners and Southerners. However, the war’s aftermath established the US as a global leader with a single, unified, and indivisible agenda of peace, justice, and equality rather than a vague collection of independent states. Many individuals suggest that slavery, set in motion after a Dutch trader offloaded a cargo full of slaves at Jamestown in 1619, was the main reason the Civil War broke out. Nonetheless, several events took place over the 250 years after the shipping of the first slaves into the US, allowing the situation to escalate into a Civil War. Thus, the following discussion describes who started the American Civil War and the political events during the preceding decade.
Main Parties Involved in the Civil War
The American Civil War was a conflict that sparked between the Unionists, consisting of states under the United States of America, and the Confederate States, constituting 11 Southern States that left the Union between 1860 and 1861. The North and Southern regions of the US developed along different social and economic lines. While the Southern regions were predominantly agrarian, the Northern areas became more industrialized, introducing different cultures and political ideologies (Edwards et al., 2015). Consequently, these differences led to heated arguments and debates on internal improvements, tariffs, taxes, internal improvements, and federal vs. states’ rights. Above all, the war revolved around the abolition of slavery as the Southerners depended on slaves for their economy and did not agree with totally abolishing slavery. On the other hand, Northerners had a steady flow of labor for their industries from other nations, allowing them to focus on mechanization and industrial advancement.
Causes of the Civil War
The most controversial issue that led to aggravated disagreements between the Union is slavery abolition. The abolition of slavery propelled a war where Northerners fought to preserve the principles of the Union, while the Southerners fought for their independence as self-ruling states under their constitutions. Just before the Civil War, more than four million slaves worked in the southern regions with their descendants and families (Reynolds, 2020). The existence of slaves in the South was supported by the extensive plantations that formed the backbone of their economy. Although slaves were more concentrated in the South, only a handful of wealthy individuals owned slaves as property. Thus, owners used slaves to pay off debts or obtain income by renting slave labor. As a result, owning several slaves contributed to being associated with a higher social class and bestowed respect on the owners. As such, slaves represented a symbol of wealth, especially after cotton and land prices decreased as the price of slaves increased. Therefore, robbing the South of its slaves would mean crippling their economy.
On the other hand, most states in the North had gradually abolished slavery and slave trade within their jurisdictions by the time the Civil War erupted. As a result, more individuals in the North became polarized about slavery, allowing the abolitionist movement to grow. During the late 19th century, the Northern states received a steady flow of immigrants from Germany and Ireland due to potato famine in these nations (Ransom, 2018). As a result, Northern states had a reliable supply of labor, thus diminishing their dependence on slaves. Subsequently, Northern states heavily invested in expanding and advancing their transport systems, including steamboats, railroads, roads, and canals. Similarly, the developed service industries like insurance and banking, and advanced a large communication network featuring cheap and widely available books, magazines, and newspapers (Edwards et al., 2015). Nonetheless, political debates heated up as White Southerners sought to expand slavery to the West in an attempt to grab the new territory obtained from the US-Mexican War in 1848. However, Northerners were driven by their sense of morality, encouraging them to believe that slavery was a vice that should be eradicated, thus sparking the war.
The election of Lincoln as the US president and the secession of Southern States in 1860 are other reasons the conflict between the Northerners and Southerners escalated into a war. Most leaders who opposed slavery anticipated the death of the old Whig party, encouraging them to depart and form the Republican Party. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, a Republican Party candidate, won the election, hence spreading fear among the Southerners that he would aid in the abolition of slavery (Reynolds, 2020). However, President Lincoln protested that he would not interfere with the issue of slavery as long as it remained concentrated in the South and did not spread to other States. Nonetheless, more people in the North and South gradually believed that the institution was inhuman, creating major differences along political and social lines (Rockenbach, 2018). Moreover, Northerners and Southerners often engaged in debates over who yielded more power as Southerners held that the government had no constitutional power to impose taxes, expand to the West without the consent of state governments, or end slavery. Consequently, no party was willing to agree on a compromise, encouraging the secession of eleven states that left the Union following the 1860 South Carolina secession convention.
The final event that ignited the American Civil War is the attack on Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor in South Carolina on April 10th, 1861. The Confederate army learned of supplies received by the federal garrison and thus demanded the fort to surrender. However, the commander at the time, Major Robert Anderson, declined to surrender, pushing the Confederates to open heavy fire using cannons. The battle that started at 2:30 PM ended the following day when the port’s commander surrendered (Reynolds, 2020). However, the event marked the beginning of a four-year-long Civil War. President Lincoln immediately called for volunteers to help put down the southern rebellion, but some states, including Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina, refused to join in the war as they felt that the president had overstepped. Hence, they voted for the secession and reversed their standing (Rockenbach, 2018). The events that followed were characterized by bloodshed, suffering, disease, hunger, famine, and the loss of millions of American lives. Nonetheless, these events ensured that all people in the US enjoy equal human rights regardless of their color, origin, or physical attributes.
Conclusion
The American Civil War was a tragic event that resulted from long-standing indifferences between states in the North and Southern parts of the US due to issues not fully resolved by the 1789 ratified constitution. However, the main reasons why the war broke out are state rights and the issue of slavery. While the Northerners formed abolitionist groups fuelled by their respect for humanity and morality, the South fought to protect their livelihood and economy. Subsequently, President Lincoln’s election, the secession of Southern States, and the attack on Fort Sumter created the need for these opposing sides to take up arms against each other, leading to a war. Despite the tragic events following the war’s aftermath, it helped redefine the US as a collection of humanitarian, independent states.
References
Edwards, R., Hinderaker, E., Self, R. O., & Henretta, J. A. (2015). America’s History, Value Edition, Volume 2 (Vol. 2). Macmillan Higher Education.
Ransom, R. (2018). The Civil War in American Economic History.”. The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History, Vol. 1.
Reynolds, D. (2020). The Civil War. Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC.
Rockenbach, S. (2018). No Simple Answers: Sectionalism and Political Division on the Eve of the Civil War. Ohio Valley History, 18(4), 85-89.