Out of the following reasons. which do you think was the main reason that created the civil war?

Question

Morality, Economics, or Politics?

Answer 1

I think the best place to look for what -exactly- caused the civil war is in the speeches and documents just after the split occurred. One of the prime examples is the 'Cornerstone Speech' given by Alexander Stephens, who was the vice president of the new Confederate States of America at the time.

In the speech, he cites a number of things that he considers makes the Confederate constitution superior to its predecessor. But more to the point, he says this:

"The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution - African slavery as it exists amongst us - the proper status of the ***** in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution."

This clearly states that as far as Stephens is concerned, slavery was the major cause. But this doesn't QUITE answer your question... one might ask whether it was the moral aspects of slavery, the economic ones, or the political ones that were primarily the cause. Allow me to quote some more:

"The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away."

"Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew. ... Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the ***** is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination to the superior race - is his natural and normal condition."

Thus we get to the actual cornerstone in the Cornerstone Speech. Stephens is asserting that the entirety of the Confederacy rests upon the idea that black people exist only to be slaves. This is not an economic argument, nor is it a political one. Stephens believes it is simply wrong to act as if blacks are no different from people of other races, much less to try and make afford them equality.

Hopefully, today we know a lot better. If the moral foundation of the Confederacy was that some races were completely inferior and required slavery then it would seem that it - and not the country from which it broke off - was the nation built on sand.

The link below is to as complete a text of the speech as is available.

Answer 2

The war came when the normal political institutions of the USA collapsed - but the pressures which caused that collapse had their origin in morality (anti-slavery) and economics ( south needed low tariffs, North needed high). The causes of the war is a complex subject, and to try and single out one cause does that tragic event an injustice. An equally difficult question to address is "why did the South loose".

Answer 3

Economics. It's hard to justify war on moral grounds, and that certainly had little to do with this conflict. Politics is a decent argument, but in politics it's usually smart to follow the money.

Answer 4

Black slavery. There were plenty of other reasons, such as tariffs and trade, manufacture versus import. But ***** slavery was the impetus. Politics kept theU.S. out of civil war as one compromise after another was negotiated, and one slave state after another free state was admitted. But...

Answer 5

You're teacher is a pretentious Marxist. SLAVERY IS AN IMMORAL FORM OF PROFITTING, PROVIDING POWER TO TYRANTS.

But keep it simple.

Answer 6

Do your own homework.