Why did the South secede from the Union during or before the Civil War in the U.S.?

Question

i know that the south had like farms and plantations and needed the slaves while the north didnt because they had factories, but i need more than just this, as in more than one reason and i'm having trouble figuring this out. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

because the union was not satisfying its needs.

they felt they were being ignored and that they could be better off alone

Answer 2

Southerners were convinced that they needed slaves to compete with the North. Their "peculiar institution", an euphemism for slavery had run its course, and they did not still recognize it. Most of the countries in the world at that time had abolished slavery, the United States was one of the last countries to abolish it and it required a Civil War to do it. There was also the prevalent feeling that whites were superior to blacks and they used to Bible to justify it (Noah's sons). The reason that most Southerners will give you and quite a bit of Northerners also, is over the question of states rights. The Southern states had the belief that joining the Union was a voidable contract. A state had the right to withdraw from the Union since it joined it voluntarily in the first place. What sometimes is lost in that argument is that the "state right" that caused the withdrawal from the Union was the issue of slavery. Since the beginning of the Republic, slavery was the main issue of contention between Northern and Southern states. Several compromises were reached during the early to mid 1800's that postponed the eventual Civil War, that everybody knew was going to happen at some point in the history of the U.S. So in a nutshell, the Confederacy believed strongly that they could secede from the Union for whatever reason, the U. S. said, no, you cannot. Therefore a Civil War settled the question. Once you join the Union, you are in it for the duration of the Republic.

Answer 3

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis.

See more details in the reference below under "causes of the war"

The main reason however, a reason typically not stated in historic references, it is that the southern leadership did not foresee the value coming from the industrial revolution.

Specifically all previous democratic societies (Rome, Greece) and feudal societies (kingdoms in Europe, France, England, Spain) were built on the backs of either slaves or vassals that had no voting or any other rights especially the say so in the government of the land.

Experience prior to the industrial revolution thus simply stated that one can not have a viable economy for the society without vassals or slaves. Since the States in the union just made up their mind that they are not willing to be vassals to king George or anybody else - bringing in slaves was seen as the only viable option for an economically viable society.

Answer 4

First it is a myth that the North was full of factories. Ohio and the rest of what we know as the Midwest was full of farms as well. Cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis, were not very big. All gaining size post Civil War.

Second is about slavery. Yes this did divide the states, but the south did not secede because of it. They seceded because, of high taxes. They were getting next to nothing for the cash crops (cotton, and tobacco), and yet paying huge prices for goods made in the northeast factories. Only a small percent of southerns owned slaves.

The states that seceded did so in two waves. Wave one started with South Carolina, and was mainly made up of the deep souther states. This was over high taxes. The second wave started with Virgina and the rest of the states that did seceded and this was over federal troops being raised to go to Charleston SC.


Hoped I helped

Answer 5

States rights were being shifted lower in importance all the time.

The country was pretty balanced in slave states vs. non slave states, then it was determined that no new slave states would enter-that would have killed all power for the slave states to influence gov't in a few years.

Urban vs. rural living gave the north greater power in most elections.

Basically, all the power of the south was being taken away at the federal level. Some of it was natural changes in worldwide economics and technology, some was specifically targetted to stop their influence.

Since they saw the US as a voluntary grouping (as did the North when they threatened to seceed many times before, the South just gave in to their demands), they pulled out and determined to start a gov't where they were still alowed representation and would be in the future.

Answer 6

John C. Calhoun coined the term "state's rights". In fact a common sentiment at the time was, "we should have freed the damn slaves, then seceded". Southern states did not like the Federal policies of the time, so they thought they had a right to secede from the union. They wanted to preserve their way of life and many thought secession was the answer.

Answer 7

Basically slavery was no longer needed in the north because they had an abundance of Irish, jewish, and Italian immigrants that could be worked to death much cheaper than buying and maintaining slaves which could be quite expensive................the south had very little immigrants and so they still thought they needed slaves to pick cotton for the 1percent of southerners that were wealthy plantation owners

Answer 8

The Civil conflict replaced into no longer approximately Slavery undergo in strategies! i may be in the Confederacy simply by fact Im against a critical Federal government and that i help States Rights :) i do no longer help slavery :)

Answer 9

They felt that states' rights was in jeopardy, particularly because Lincoln entered office. (Also, the North did need slaves. They (indirectly) made money off of Southern agriculture.)

Answer 10

Southern politicians feared the policies of the north, after the election of Lincoln and the other memberes of the Republican party.