Causes of the Civil War

Expert Information
Many different viewpoints and events resulted in the Civil War. However, many of these were
related to the concept of sectionalism, loyalty to a specific section of the country rather than to
the nation as a whole. Other related causes included disagreements on states rights, tariffs, and
slavery.
By 1819, different sections of the United States began to pull apart and support
sectionalism. Sectionalism is defined as a strong sense of loyalty to a state or section instead of
to the whole country. This happened because of westward expansion, the rise of King Cotton in
the South, the growing industrial North, and conflicting economic and political interests between
the North and the South. Each section of the country wanted national laws favoring its section
of the country. Conflicts arose when one law was made to help one section, but harm another.
So what did each section want? The Southerners developed an agricultural society based on the
plantation system growing cotton using slave labor. Southerners saw themselves as gentlemen
farmers or the gentry (lords of the manor with a high social standing in the community). The
Southern planter wanted low land prices to expand slavery and cotton farming. Southerners also
wanted low tariffs in order to export raw farm products on favorable terms, and to keep down
the cost of buying manufactured goods from Europe.
Southerners traded with Europe and wanted low tariffs so
they could make more profit.

In contrast, the Northerners developed an industrial society based on manufactured

goods and free labor. The Northern industrialist wanted high land prices to discourage the
westward migration of their labor force. The Northern industrialist wanted a high tariff to
protect U.S. goods from foreign competition.
States rights is the right of the states to limit the power of the federal government.
Most people living in the southern part of the United States believed in state sovereignty
state power. Southern states felt that a state had the power to cancel a federal law that it
considered unconstitutional. The idea of a state declaring a federal law illegal is called
nullification. In the 1820s, and 1830s, this idea was put to the test.
In 1828, and 1832, the United States passed two tariffs. These tariffs (or taxes) were
designed to help Northern manufacturers fight against foreign competition. The tariffs made
European goods more expensive and difficult to acquire. Southerners traded cotton for goods
made in Europe, and the tariffs hurt the Souths ability to trade and save money. Southerners
protested by declaring these tariffs illegal. The idea of a state declaring a federal law illegal is
called nullification. For this reason, the tariff dispute added fuel to the fire.

Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina led the fight to get rid of the tariffs. He
said, The Union - next to our liberty, most dear. To him, the liberty of a state was more
important than saving the Union. Daniel Webster, a senator from Massachusetts, disagreed with
Calhoun and stated, Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable. President Andrew
Jackson agreed with Webster and said, Our Federal Union it must be preserved. Calhoun
continued to challenge the Union even threatening to secede or withdraw South Carolina from the
United States. President Jackson was ready to send in federal troops when South Carolina
decided to remain in the Union. However, this only put off the Civil War temporarily.
The issue of slavery had been debated since the creation of the U.S. Constitution. To
many Northerners the institution of slavery was an evil one. To Southerners, slavery was an
economic necessity. All told, only about one-fourth of white southerners owned slaves. More
than half of all slaveholding families owned fewer than four slaves. In contrast, two percent of
slave owners owned more than fifty slaves each. A tiny slaveholding elite held a majority of slave
property in the South. The great majority of white southerners owned no slaves at all. To keep
this issue from ripping the nation apart, several compromises were created.
The question of slavery was very important when new states were considering entering the
Union. Both the North and the South wanted to keep the number of slave states and non-slave
states equal. This would keep the balance of power in the United States Congress even. But as
the debate over the spread of slavery (especially to the west) grew, so did the need for
compromise. Unfortunately, several events took place that made compromise impossible.
These sectional views caused a political power struggle between the free labor states of
the North and the slave labor states of the South. The section controlling the federal
government established economic policies, such as tariffs, that affected the very livelihood of
the other. Political power, then, became crucial to economic interests. By 1861 the political
power struggle between the North and South resulted in the Civil War.

Events That Led to the Civil War

Expert Information: Events in history can force people to make difficult decisions. From 1803,
to the late 1840s, the borders of the United States reached to the Pacific Ocean. The citizens
had to decide whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories. At first, compromise
seemed possible. But as the debate and violence increased, Americans came to understand that
the issue of slavery increased sectionalism. In the end, this led to war.
One of the first events that led to the Civil War was in 1820. That year, the Missouri
territory wanted to become a state. The problem was that the admission of Missouri as a slave
state would upset the balance of power in the United States Senate. If Missouri joined the
United States as a slave state, the South would have a majority in the Senate. Determined not
to lose power, Northerners fought against letting Missouri enter the Union. The debate lasted
for months when Senator Henry Clay (who was called the Great Compromiser), suggested a
compromise called The Missouri Compromise (1820). Clay, although a Southerner, said, I know no
South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe my allegiance. During the debate Maine
had applied for statehood. In Clays plan, Maine would be admitted as a free state and Missouri
would be admitted as a slave state. As part of the compromise, Congress drew an imaginary line
across the southern border of Missouri. Slavery would be permitted in the part of the Louisiana
Purchase south of that line, but north of that line slavery was banned. Missouri was the only
exception. The issue of slavery seemed to be solved, at least until something else happened!

Missouri Slave
Maine - Free

Free States
Slave States

In 1848, the United States had acquired vast amounts of land in the west when Mexico
was defeated in the Mexican War (1846-1848). The problem was that the Missouri Compromise
only pertained to the Louisiana Purchase. Once again, the question of slavery in the territories
arose and made the sectional issues between the North and South grow stronger.

Manifest Destiny had been achieved!

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Southerners supported allowing slavery in the new territories, but Northerners were
opposed to the spread of slavery. To settle the debate Henry Clay once again proposed a
compromise. In the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state, a harsher
Fugitive Slave Law was enacted, and the Mexican Cession was divided into the territories of New
Mexico and Utah. In each territory, voters would decide the slavery question according to
popular sovereignty (control by the people).
In 1852, Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote a book called Uncle Toms Cabin. This novel
dramatized the cruelties of slavery, touched readers emotionally, and created widespread
antislavery support among Northerners. One of the most influential books ever written it sold
300,000 copies the first year. To Northerners this novel represented everything that was evil
about slavery, but to Southerners the novel was abolitionist propaganda.
By the mid 1850s, there was a widespread feeling in the country that the slavery question
should be settled in the courts. Congress had tried compromises, but there were still so many
people who disagreed on how to solve the problem. A court case concerning a slave named Dred
Scott made its way from the local court of Missouri, to the state court of Missouri, and finally to
the Supreme Court of the United States. Scott moved with his owner from a slave state to a
free state. Then his owner died and Scott sued for his freedom. In the case of Dred Scott v.
Sanford, the court made the following decisions.
1. Slaves were not citizens, so they could not bring suit in court.
2. Slaves were property
3. Congress could not ban slavery from the territories.
4. The Missouri Compromise, which had banned slavery in certain areas, was
unconstitutional.
Dred Scott Decision declared Missouri Compromise unconstitutional!
In 1854, two new territories were created from the Louisiana Purchase: Kansas and
Nebraska. Once again there was a debate on letting slavery spread to the west. Stephen Douglas
a senator from Illinois proposed a solution. In the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, Kansas and
Nebraska would use popular sovereignty to answer the question of slavery. The act pleased
Southerners but outraged many Northerners because it repealed the Missouri Compromise, which
had prohibited slavery in this area by declaring the Louisiana Purchase free of slaves north of
the southern boundary of Missouri.
Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise!
Popular sovereignty caused a small-scale civil war in Kansas. In 1856, violence raged
between proslavery settlers and antislavery settlers. This event was known as Bleeding Kansas.
John Brown an antislavery supporter, led one of the most violent campaigns to end slavery. The
Kansas conflict proved a dark forecast of things to come.
For the first time, sectional political parties developed as the North and South divided
over the slavery issue. In 1856, Northerners committed to stop the expansion of slavery in the
west created the Republican Party. In 1860, the first Republican president was elected
Abraham Lincoln. The Southerners believed Lincoln was an abolitionist who would destroy the
Souths way of life. Feeling threatened by Lincoln, Southern states began to secede from the
Union.
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