Civil War Slavery Causes

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While slavery was an important cause of the Civil War, it was not the only cause. Many Americans today, about 57 percent, believe that slavery was the cause of the civil war. Other causes of the Civil War were social and political differences which led to sectionalism. It is a common belief that slavery was the sole cause of the civil war. Slavery was the main divide between the northern and southern states. The debate was not only if slavery should continue but if it would be allowed to persist into the new Western territories. This debate ultimately led to the Southern states succeeding from the Union. This brought about a war in which the Northern and Western states and territories fought with the Southern states with a goal of preserving the American Union. The South sought to break away from the Union and establish its own Confederate States of America.…show more content…
The South was mostly agriculture-based where slaves were used to tend large cotton plantations owned by few wealthy white men. Prior to the Civil War, there were approximately 4 million African-American slaves working in the South. Slavery was an integral part of the Southern economy and culture. Slaves were treated as property and ownership of a multitude of slaves brought about respect. Most of the Southern economy at the time was tied up in land and slaves as opposed to liquid capital. The Northern states on the other hand were vastly different than their Southern counterparts. Each Northern state had outlawed slavery as there lacked a demand for labor due to immigrants. This steady flow of immigrants was caused by the potato famines of 1840 and 1850 which, for the most part, came from Germany and Ireland. This provided the North with the workers that it required to abolish
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