Although the term Civil War in most cases is not defined to which nation it refers, it is believed that civil war took place in the United States between 1861 and 1865. This war was so extreme among the American states at the beginning of 1863 when the war was at its climax. However, the tension and the struggle ceased at the end of 1864. In addition, the war left a lot of American causalities (Rozwenc & Edwin, 48). The war is depicted to be one of the most dangerous civil war to be ever fought in the U.S in the early 18th centuries.
One of the major causes of Civil war was the struggle for rights between the state government and the federal government. There has been an ongoing fight for rights since the revolution period, the federal camp was arguing that it need to take control of the both its branch and the state government (Rozwenc & Edwin, 56). The central government declared itself as being the most powerful branch and therefore had to control of each and every resources the state government held.
The American Revolution that was formed under the major confederation article called for unity among the states of America but an expected took place when a loose confederation consisting of thirteen states was formed to protest against the former federal government by then. However, the federal government was so weak and had no powers to effects the changes on the equal distribution of powers among the states and the central government (Rozwenc & Edwin, 88). Upon the birth of federal government, the states became more oppressed as their rights were not effectively represented in the federal government. The states claimed that their constitutional rights were being violated by the federal government. In order to curb the states “illegal” activities, the federal government ordered a direct denial to these rights. When the states realized none of their actions and nullification procedures was taken into serious consideration, secession took place.
In addition, the next major cause of civil war was the unfair taxation from the federal government. The south and the north states had very different opinions and economic activities. Industrialization took place in the north of America while the south largely relied on large scale production of cotton. The work force from the south greatly came from the slaves. The major market for this cotton was in Europe. However, the northern states started the production of cotton in their factories and their major target market was Europe. Therefore, as a result of stiff competition, the north state officials decided to impose heavy taxes on the goods being imported from the European nations. (Rozwenc & Edwin, 84) This cut the communication between the southerners and the European nations. In this regard, they were forced to buy products from the north thus creating an atmosphere of tension.
The next issue that led to the eruption of civil war was the debate over the use of slave to work in the farms. The northern states claimed that slavery was unethical while the south claimed that it was their only means of survival since they relied wholly on slaves for man power. The anti-slavery activists from the north accelerated the war between their neighboring states from the south (Rozwenc & Edwin, 92). The southern states posed a claim over the federal government that it was not fighting for their right in order to retain the slavery activities for maximum production in the farms. At the end of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the president. His election gave rise to new protest over his leadership from the southern states claiming that Lincoln had an interest on the northern states and that he was against the slavery activities.
The conflict could have been avoided if the federal government was well organized to fight against any case of intimidation within the states. In addition to this, the federal government should have avoided the biasness in favoring the northern states (Rozwenc & Edwin, 102). The federal government would have given the southern states an alternative to slaves rather than leaving the struggles for the two conflicting sided as this accelerated the hatred between them. There is power in negotiation and that is what the federal government should have done to avoid the conflicts.
The Union won the war since it had an organized troop, with high skilled soldiers ready to fight for their rights and freedom. Furthermore, as a result of industrialization, the soldiers had superior weapons when compared to the southerners (Rozwenc & Edwin, 128). The inclusion and formation of allies groups also contributed to their win against the southern states.
Works Cited
Rozwenc, Edwin C. The Causes of the American Civil War. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co, 1961. Print.
