Was the Civil War about Slavery or Cotton?

Question

All my life I was taught that the Civil War was about freeing the slaves. Now college professors are saying the war was about the price of cotton, and the unwillingness of the Southern states to sell it at a reasonable price to the North. So is the Slavery thing just a nice benefit of the war, or was it the main purpose of the war? If cotton was the MAIN reason for the war, how do you feel about being lied to all these years in school?

Answer 1

To be honest Im not exactly sure how that makes me feel, especially since I'm Black. Thats crazy, but I do admit its very believable. We probably learn what the government wants us to learn. I believe the government has many secrets and ur college might have figured one out that wanted to be covered to make the Civil War seem like a good vs. evil type of war.

Answer 2

Actually, it was a many things but the biggest reason was states' rights. The south believed that the states should have the right to determine whether it was slave or free and whether it had the right to secede from the union. The cotton issue and slavery issue are related, but not the main thing. And the schools lie to us about a lot of things. I just got used to it and started doing the research for myself.

Answer 3

Neither ... at first it was about either holding the Union together (north) or states' rights (south). Lincoln changed the language half-way through so that it was about slavery, although the South never went along with that. Cotton was "king" in the south but it had nothing really to do with the Civil War.

Answer 4

Actually....the MAIN motivating factor for the Civil was nothing less than State sovreignty and their right to govern themselves. The civil was was a conflict over where those rights of the states ended and where the authority of the natinal government began. Slavery, prices of goods sold and things of that nature were all a part of those disputes, but it was the Rights of the states themselves that was the MAIN factor. That was why the Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, in order to make those decisions for themselves.

Answer 5

the reason was cotton- or rather the taxes levied on exports and imports. Slavery was a side issue. Nevertheless it was not "politically correct" to wage war for money- so the issue of slavery became the "official" version

Answer 6

No, It was about the South wanting State Rights. Even today, the Govt. wants to control all the States, along with all of us. The Govt. is slowly and methodically diminishing our rights. History has shown every democracy will fall.
Hopefully, the citizens of this country will wake up in time and push back. The States have right to govern themselves, and we as free people have a right to govern our own life with the principles, freedoms that are our guarntee under the Bill of Rights, who govt. no longer respects, because the govt wants control of us as a people, why, because the Govt. wants this to be a Socialist country. Which means you do as your told. So we are regressing back to a form of slavery.

Answer 7

Slaves are who picked the cotton (and slaves are not paid) .
Sounds like either you were 1/2 listening in class or the professor was 1/2 focused on teaching .

I wasn't lied to , I know it was about slaves (people working by force & duress ) picking cotton .

Answer 8

I was always told it was about slavery in school. But as I became older I was told it was really about some of the southern states NOT wanting to join the UNION.

Answer 9

The Civil conflict did in actuality abolish slavery. on an identical time as the conflict exchange into initially approximately secession and the protection of the union, the conflict escalated into an entire conflict, and at that factor slavery exchange into portion of the equation...because of the fact the South in effect grew to alter into unfastened States as a effect of being conquered by the North. Slavery, even nevertheless, exchange into no longer thoroughly abolished. In Brazil, the enterprise continued into the 1870's and a few ex-Confederates settled there and conventional plantations. in the islamic international and areas of Africa, some slavery and slave commerce continued. Even today in some distant areas of Africa on an exceedingly small scale - there continues to be a slave commerce. on the tip of the conflict the CSA had already formally proposed to the united kingdom that it would abolish slavery in replace for reputation as an indep. u . s . - even nevertheless it exchange into too late. CSA Sen.Duncan Kenner exchange into dispatched to the united kingdom to make that supply. Judah Benjamin, the CSA Sec. of State had proposed a Southern emancipation in replace for the protection rigidity carrier of slaves then dwelling in the South...even nevertheless it exchange into too late in the sport. one ought to argue that slavery benefited the Southern conflict effor in the preliminary first 2 years of the conflict, yet then grew to alter right into a predicament to that conflict attempt. on an identical time as the Emancipation Proclamation in ordinary terms freed slaves outdoors the administration of the Union, it did sign to Europe that the conflict exchange into approximately 'slavery' - and that it must be very messy if Europe exchange into to intrude. Freedmen filled the ranks of the Union military in the final 2 years of the conflict - and the abolition of slavery exchange into their top motivation for being in the combat. The enterprise of feudal serfdom exchange into abolished in Russia an identical year the emancipation proclamation exchange into issued in the u . s . a ..

Answer 10

cotton had to do with some slavery and I was told it was about slavery