The Causes of the Civil War

From the source article, four main factors are the supposed causes of the civil war. The first is disagreement over federal and state powers, second is competing economies and cultures, the third is the westward expansion, and last but not least is slavery. We will at this moment discuss the individual causes to see how it contributed to the making of the civil war.

            In the making of the constitution, delegates differed on who should have more power; the states or the federal government. Representatives from the south believed that the state was the way to go, but they eventually accepted the federal government. However, the root issue was to protect their properties, which were their slaves. The northern delegates differed on who should have more power, and this caused friction in the country. Also, the north and the south were divided by culture, but they were brought together by economics. The north was industrialized, while the south mainly practiced agriculture, using the slaves. As such, people from either side despised the other because of how they viewed slavery.

            Further, there was a flood of people who were moving into the new territory as immigrants, and this is termed as the western expansion. As a result, the balance that existed before between the north and the south was compromised. Finally, there is slavery as a cause of the civil war. There are those who wanted an end to slavery, but there were those who supported slavery because they gained substantial wealth from it. As such, in the election of 1860, slavery was the main issue.

            Following all the first three causes, they all seem to converge at the topic of slavery. Thus, slavery tends to explain the civil war best. Expansion of the west, however, does not justify the civil war coherently as compared to the other mentioned causes.

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