What is the main cause for the American Civil War?
- Thread starter Bill3000
- Start date
Abaddon
Deity
Rasism
Ulyaoth
Emperor
Just general childishness and nonsense.
QuoVadisNation
keeping your angel alive
In a nut shell
1: the federalism - state question: southern states believed strongly that federalism and the federal gov't should be limited to its appointed constitutional tasks. Southern states had always been afaird that the federal gov't wanted to expand beyond its limits so trust was rare to come by back then. The federal - state balance was NOT as stable as it is now.
2: fear of encourchment - southern states believed northern states were encourching on their automony with their northern rules and ideas despite the Southern custom (this is pretty much our reason for the american revolution btw)
3: slavery - both sides probably couldn't cared less about slavery itself. northern states were just as racist, but southern states felt that because the northern states didn't need them, they would erode southern autonomy and declare slavery illegal. Its possible the vocal minority in the north influenced the opinion of the south.
4: propaganda - past decade since 1840s saw rise in conspirancies of aggression by north making southern states more sensitive to encourchment. see: Kansas Massacre where mid-west and southern settlers in the state of Kansas literally were shotting at each other to determine whether Kansas should be a slave state.
5: politics - inreasing populations in northern states with immigration was making southern states feel they couldn't stop northern states from doing whatever they wanted. Northern states had same fear about south in the Senate - see: when Texas wasn't allowed into the country until a northern state could be created to balance the senate between slave and non-slave (southern and northern)
6: cultural - they had different cultures. Northerners felt southerners were backwards and southerners were friecely protective of their own (not necessarily a bad thing, fyi)
7: economic: northern states were growing and growing, and the southern states were left in the tracks. Northern states were placing increasing pressure on the country which made the southern states feel uneasy. They were afaird of becoming vassals without any serious state automony to do anything.
8: economic: its not unfair to say Southern political elite were adversely affected by national policies that made sense to the north (gold and cattle and banking), but were not optimal for cotton traders.
9: lincoln: lincoln being elected was appriorately the last straw because the election results show southern states everything they feared. The fact that their political weight is so irrelevant that even though not one southern state voted for lincoln, he still won via electroral college.
10: classic divisions - civil war was more do-able back then because people, especially southerners, considered themselves citizens of their states first. This is a hallmark from independence. National identity was only seriously hashed out after reconstruction and 20th century nationalism. (this is the bead rock and the lich pin behind the American civil war)
11: finally, if I'm missing something. It's only because I'm typing all this on the top of my head.
12: rasism
1: the federalism - state question: southern states believed strongly that federalism and the federal gov't should be limited to its appointed constitutional tasks. Southern states had always been afaird that the federal gov't wanted to expand beyond its limits so trust was rare to come by back then. The federal - state balance was NOT as stable as it is now.
2: fear of encourchment - southern states believed northern states were encourching on their automony with their northern rules and ideas despite the Southern custom (this is pretty much our reason for the american revolution btw)
3: slavery - both sides probably couldn't cared less about slavery itself. northern states were just as racist, but southern states felt that because the northern states didn't need them, they would erode southern autonomy and declare slavery illegal. Its possible the vocal minority in the north influenced the opinion of the south.
4: propaganda - past decade since 1840s saw rise in conspirancies of aggression by north making southern states more sensitive to encourchment. see: Kansas Massacre where mid-west and southern settlers in the state of Kansas literally were shotting at each other to determine whether Kansas should be a slave state.
5: politics - inreasing populations in northern states with immigration was making southern states feel they couldn't stop northern states from doing whatever they wanted. Northern states had same fear about south in the Senate - see: when Texas wasn't allowed into the country until a northern state could be created to balance the senate between slave and non-slave (southern and northern)
6: cultural - they had different cultures. Northerners felt southerners were backwards and southerners were friecely protective of their own (not necessarily a bad thing, fyi)
7: economic: northern states were growing and growing, and the southern states were left in the tracks. Northern states were placing increasing pressure on the country which made the southern states feel uneasy. They were afaird of becoming vassals without any serious state automony to do anything.
8: economic: its not unfair to say Southern political elite were adversely affected by national policies that made sense to the north (gold and cattle and banking), but were not optimal for cotton traders.
9: lincoln: lincoln being elected was appriorately the last straw because the election results show southern states everything they feared. The fact that their political weight is so irrelevant that even though not one southern state voted for lincoln, he still won via electroral college.
10: classic divisions - civil war was more do-able back then because people, especially southerners, considered themselves citizens of their states first. This is a hallmark from independence. National identity was only seriously hashed out after reconstruction and 20th century nationalism. (this is the bead rock and the lich pin behind the American civil war)
11: finally, if I'm missing something. It's only because I'm typing all this on the top of my head.
12: rasism
Miles Teg
Nuclear Powered Mentat
The argument for a primarily non-slavery cause doesn't fit the facts. The tipping factor in the southern rebellion was Lincoln's election, running on an anti-slavery platform (not abolitionist, but more radical than his predecessor's). Slavery is universally cited as the casus beli, not taxes or tariffs. Alleging that slavery wasn't the issue seems to be most popular with southern sympathizers who like to paint a prettier picture of the Confederacy than real life shows.
Huayna Capac357
Deity
The expansion of the US into Mexican Territory brought the issue of slavery expansion to the forefront, which caused the Civil War to happen when it did. Though I guess you could go back to the establishment of slavery, the soil, the creation of the planet, and the Big Bang if you wanted to.
Mowque
Hypermodernist
Slavery...what else? Everything else was merely additional stuff, but slavery was the catalyst that made it war-worthy.
QuoVadisNation
keeping your angel alive
Slavery is the answer, but only if you understand exactly what the slavery issue was about. Most people don't.
Kennigit
proud 2 boxer
As the North became industrialized, they began to consolidate education. They realized they needed new stuff for the history textbooks. So, they decided that a nice new war might spice it up. And whats better than a war against yourself? That way it would be 100% American made history.
Imperialmajesty
Emperor
Shouldn't this be in the history forum?
QuoVadisNation
keeping your angel alive
You're under arrest
Slavery
Probably
Imperialmajesty
Emperor
:Insert random Mises link that nobody will read:
Just kidding, the main cause of the Civil War was the Southern fear of having there slaves taken away.
Just kidding, the main cause of the Civil War was the Southern fear of having there slaves taken away.
Perfection
The Great Head.
The Big Bang.
Perfection
The Great Head.
Dude, I say lots of things.
Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
Federal troops invading Virginia in the spring of 1861 seems to have ignited the actaul war.
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