The Civil War

A detailed Summary of The Civil War

Was Slavery the Main Cause of the Civil War?

Between the years of 1861 and 1865 the United States was gripped by the bloodiest war in it's history, there is much debate as to why this war occurred, it is generally concluded that Slavery was the main cause of the civil war, however, in this essay I will discuss why the deep economic, political and social differences between the southern and northern states, and of course discuss the issue of slavery, which encompasses all the above differences.

Propaganda along with Slavery is often considered one of the primary reasons the Civil War occurred. The abolitionists played a major role in shaping the views of many Northerners. These people were fully against slavery and its expansion and put together much literature to show the North the wrongs of Slavery. Some of the most famous abolitionists were William Lloyd Garrison of Boston, Wendell Phillips, who in 1836 gave up his law practice because

he couldn't support the United States Constitution, James G. Birney of Ohio who gathered all anti-slavery forces into one unit called the Liberty Party. Key Propagandists in the north and the south used the media at the time to exploit their cause, in the North, men such

The south's old fashioned, aristocratic way of life was competing with the north's industry and booming economy of the "self made man". These economic differences resulted in a greater sectional hate, the south, "a static, agrarian, debtor section, tied to an economy of staple crops" rejected the North's more capitalist enterprises "a dynamic, commercialised, industrialising, debtor section" to the south, and the stronger more prosperous North was exploiting them. The Union and Confederacy disagreed on the matter of internal improvements to the country that would benefit the economy of the country. The Union wanted federal government sponsored internal improvements such as more roads, railroads, and canals to improve transportation of goods, but the Confederacy did not want this fearing it would disrupt their way of life. The two sides could never agree on the wisdom of protective tariffs, which the North favoured as it would protect the Northern manufacturer; the south however rejected this because they felt that with a protective tariff it would stunt the south's economic growth, preventing them trading their cotton abroad. The North not only wanted protective tariffs, but navigation acts, shipping and fishing subsidies and national banks, the South did not want this because they believed that it would benefit the north more than the south and disrupt their economy which was based on slave labour.

The newly formed Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln on principles that opposed the further expansion of slavery. Now with Lincoln being elected the South felt that expansionism was being threatened, and because expansion was vital to the survival of slavery they also felt their way of life was being threatened. As slavery was such an important part of Southern society and vital to their economy the South felt that they could not survive without it. Now they felt there was nothing more they could do.

The propaganda was used was to distort public opinion, to make sure each side had the support of its citizens. In, And The War Came, Stampp; it is argued that there could not have been a civil war if there had not been this propaganda as it was this literature which moulded the mental attitudes of the south and the north, which created the sectional hatred and differences.

As with many of the issues at stake during the civil war, Slavery lay at the heart of the propaganda issue. Without the propaganda of the civil war era there could not have been any pro-slavery or anti-slavery agitators, therefore there would not have been the division that was seen over the question of the extension of the slave territory.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1904
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History