Essay #6: Cause of the Civil War

Political tensions between the North and the South first began with the formulation of the first two political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. Later, other tensions also developed with the issue of slavery expansion. Many people say that the Civil War should have started in 1820, but it was delayed by the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while also forbidding slavery above the 36 30’ line. When the issue flared up again, the Compromise of 1850 was issued, giving many advantages to the free North while also creating a very harsh fugitive slave act. The final attempt at a solution came with the Kansas-Nebraska act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, angering many Northern abolitionists. The many attempts at compromise did not wok, however, and after Lincoln’s election, South Carolina seceded from the union, quickly followed by six other Southern states. The Civil War was caused the struggle between the North and the South for economic and political power. People in the North wanted to contain slavery because they thought its spread would hurt their industry economy, but Southerners felt that they needed slavery to spread in order to maintain political power. When Southern states eventually seceded and the North fought them, their actions were justified by the compact and contract theories respectively.

The conflict between the North and the South over the expansion of slavery was hugely significant before the Civil War. It became an important issue because of the potential impacts it could have on the economy. While the Southern economy was dependent on slavery and the plantation system, the North relied heavily on industry. Both wanted to expand their systems for separate reasons. The Northern industrial capitalists believed that expanding capitalism would benefit them greatly. Expansion of capitalism would lead to an expanded labor pool, which would lower the necessary wages for workers. Expansion of capitalism and industry, however, was impossible in slave states because the economy was already based on slavery and plantation. The people of the North believed that slavery’s expansion would hinder their potential prosperity. Therefore, they saw slavery expansion as a threat and fought against it, which in turn threatened the Southerners.

To the South, the expansion of slavery was necessary for their political survival. If there were more free states than slave states, then the free states would have control of Congress. The issue of slavery was up for debate in numerous territories and states. The South needed some of them to have slavery so that they could maintain equality in Congress and not lose power. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, they saw it as a sign that attempting to work with the union was no longer realistic. Abraham Lincoln had a very strong platform of slavery containment. With a President holding such views, the South recognized that they had very little chance of gaining slavery in any territory or state. This, they believed, would mean that free states and territories would be added, forcing the South to become more and more outnumbered in Congress until they held essentially no power. Eventually, South Carolina seceded because of its loss of political power.

Six other Southern states followed South Carolina in seceding from the union. These states believed that they had the right to do this because they believed in the compact theory. This theory, popular in the South, stated that the federal government was created by the states. Therefore, state laws were supreme when in conflict with federal laws and the states had the power to declare federal laws null and void. If this theory was taken to its extreme, the logical conclusion was secession, which is exactly what happened. The North, however, believed in the contract theory, which stated that the federal government was created by the people and not the states. Therefore, the federal government was supreme and its laws took precedence over state laws. The debate over these two theories had existed since they were created by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, but it was still nowhere near resolved. These two theories existed to give the power to the people who created them The South believed that their states could not be controlled by the federal government, so secession was within their power. The North believed that the job of the federal government was to control the states, so they were justified in attempting to stop the South from seceding. The North and South might not have started the Civil War had they not still been debating two political theories that justified their respective actions.

The Civil War was a result of power struggles between the North and the South. The North attempted to contain slavery because they believed that its expansion would hurt their industry economic power. The South wanted to spread slavery because they believed that containment would take away their political power. Lastly, the entire war started because both sides were justified by their respective theories. These two theories were created to deal with power and its distribution. Ultimately, all decisions made leading to the Civil War were made for political and economic power.