Was the American Civil War over slavery or high tariffs?

Question

So basically, was the South fighting to keep their slaves or was it a conflict between the two clashing economies of the north and the south?

Please make sure to sight your sources or at least explain why you think your answer is correct. Thanks =)

Answer 1

It depends on whose version of history you read.

But, more than anything it was over state's rights to govern as they saw fit. Even today, states clash with the federal gov. on this very issue.

The two very dif. economic engines that drove the economy of the North (Industry) and the South (Cotton) were also factors. Tariffs placed on cotton were a means to control the Southern states by limiting their wealth and therefore their political pull. Grant allowed Radical Reconstruction to run its course in the South as a form of punishment and also to keep the South in its place.

Other factors were social classes, rich vs. poor and ethnic diversity. Southerner's were seen as a class of rich land owners. Many, immigrants new to America, resented them because they had spent their lives as poor workers under the "boot" of the upper classes in Europe. They compared themselves to the slaves and emphasized with them. A great number of the Northern volunteers were fresh off the boats.

Literally 1000's of reasons and factors could be argued about the true nature of the war.

Even sentimentality played a role in the form of a book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this highly inflaming book having never set foot in the South. Her "View" of slavery was based on meeting a couple of escaped slaves. Not that slavery was, is or ever will be moral, but Mrs. Beecher made up what she did not know. Yes, there were beaten slaves and families separated. But, if you paid thousands of dollars for a worker, would you then disable it? Why did so many former slaves take the name of their owners after the war and continue to work for them after they were free? And, if the South was so bad, why didn't all slaves go north?
And, while the South is guilty of its share of violence against blacks, explain why most major riots, claims of racism and other crimes against blacks take place outside the South.

GA in particular, was one of the first states to make sure blacks played a key role in gov. Read about Jimmy Carter's time as Gov. of GA.

Anyone who argues that slavery was the MAIN cause of the war should explain why Lincoln, in the Emancipation Proclamation, freed only slaves in the southern states and why slavery went on for years after the war in the North.

Answer 2

Slavery was the catalyst that caused the war to happen when it did but it was not THE cause of the war. Certainly in the 20-years or so leading up to the war it was slavery that caused the most obvious conflicts between the southern and northern states. BUT SLAVERY DID NOT CAUSE THE WAR. See, I can use capitals too.... The war was caused by geography and was, I believe, inevitable. The early United States was divided by geography into relatively small, mountainous northern states and larger, flat southern states. Each developed in very different ways...... The industrial revolution caught on fast in the north because there were ample fast-flowing rivers that offered power and, later, good communication routes for the new railways. The north became an industrialised, city-based country, where foreign trade in manufactured goods was crucial. These states became outward-looking and desired a strong central federal government. The southern states were always perfectly suited to agriculture. The lack of fast flowing rivers was a barrier to industrialisation and the sheer size of the states made communication difficult. Most southerners had never been outside their own state before the war. The invention of the "cotton-gin" made the south a single crop area which was exported to long-standing customers (chiefly England and France). Apart from cotton, foreign trade was almost non-existent because there were almost no manufactured goods to trade. These states became inward-looking and saw no need for a centralised federal government. It was this divide in the development of the country that really caused the war. All that was needed was a spark to ignite the deep differences between go-ahead northerners and stay-as-we-are southerners. Slavery was that spark. Nothing more.

Answer 3

I believe that slavery was, in fact, an issue that helped aid the war effort. Despite this, I do not believe it was the main cause. The main issue between the North and the South was the political difference of the two areas. The North believed in benefitting wealthy factory owners and The South believed in benefitting slave-owning whites (farmers). Many other differences existed and when it came time to wage war on each other, The North, used slavery as a front to destroy the South's economy. Without slaves, the South would be severly crippled and the North hoped to play off this by practically inviting slaves to move North.

Answer 4

Lincoln was speaking against slavery before he was elected to Congress. A grass roots movement against slavery already existed before he became president. Slavery was the foundation of the South's economy.

The slavery issue was turned into an argument about who had the most authority, the States or the Union. As the disagreement worsened, a couple of the states stopped sending in their share of federal tariffs saying that they had the right to overrule anything that the Union attempted to impose on them. Lincoln appealed to the Northern states to provide a militia. A few of the Southern states promptly succeeded starting the confrontation.

Lincoln never intended to free the slaves all at once. He envisioned it being done one state at a time with the Federal government compensating the owners for their freed slaves. In fact, the emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in those states in rebellion against the Union. It did not effect the slaves in the slave states that remained a part of the Union or those that the Union had already recaptured. Lincoln said something like, "If I could save the Union by freeing all the slaves, I would. If I could do it by freeing some of the slaves, I would. If I could do it by freeing none of the slaves, I would."

What happened was that an argument over slavery turned into an argument over states rights turned into an argument over federal tariffs.

Answer 5

Today Southerners like to make you think that the real cause of the Civil War was economics and trade policy. At a recent Civil War reenactment, a participant from Virginia said to me that the South wasn't morally wrong, they "just lost the war and the victors write the history."

The case that slavery was the underlying cause can be found by reading about US history in the decades before the war, the Missouri Comprise, the Dread Scott Decision etc. Of course, the abolishment of slavery would impact the economy of the South. But to claim the cause was purely economic is to try to white wash history.

Answer 6

The South was definitely fighting to keep their slaves, but the industries in the North couldn't compete with the free labor of the slaves. We like to think it was a moral issue, and it was for some individuals. That certainly was the face they put on it, but you know the government doesn't do anything that dramatic unless it's for money. War is for profit. Same as it ever was.

Answer 7

The war was fought over the concept of State's rights. The southern states had a different interpretation than the north. As Wikpedia notes "States' rights refers to the idea that U.S. states possess certain rights and political powers in the politics of the United States and constitutional law. These rights are guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, under the United States Bill of Rights. The states' rights concept is usually used to defend a state law that the federal government of the United States seeks to override, or a perceived violation of the bounds of federal authority."

Slavery was wrapped into this because several states felt it was their right to maintain it and others did not.

Answer 8

It was over states right vs the federal government. That the states wanted to keep slaves while the feds were against it played a large part. It's was the final straw for the underdeveloped states.

Answer 9

Abe Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery, and the Confederacy wanted to keep the slaves, then the tariffs came, so it was a combination of both.

Answer 10

i believe the slavery issue was brought early in the war but was not the main reason the south wanted out of the union