(History: Slavery and the American civil war)
The United States of America has experienced a lot of changes and challenges throughout the past centuries, before finally attaining its democracy in 1776. The seventeenth and the eighteen centuries saw a lot of radical changes take place in the country’s political administration, leading to its stabilization and acquisition of sovereign power. At the same time, becoming a sovereign state presented new, unexpected challenges to the country, and some of these included the fact that there was the American slavery, that has been introduced and started by Britain, American former colonizers.
The American Civil War, which took place in 1861, is one of the challenges that the country faced, and one of the setbacks that the country experienced in the nineteenth century, and it is one of the aspects that brought about a lot of speculations, especially from a political perspective, since there are various aspects and reasons that led to the development of the war. In order to understand the relationship between the American Civil War and slave trade, it is necessary to start by understanding the situation prior to the war, as well as during and after the war. Prior to the American Civil War, slavery was still taking place in the southern states of the United States. However, slave trade had long quit, whereby no more slaves were being brought from other countries, especially Africa, into the United States of America. However, considering the fact that the southern states of the United States were involved in factories, manufacturing and large scale plantation activities, slavery still existed in the region, whereby the slaves, especially from the African American community, were forced to work in the plantations and factories as well as in their masters’ houses, for minimal or no wages.
Considering the fact that various southern states were strongly condoning and supporting slavery, based on their financial and economic impacts on the states, tension started erupting, especially, considering the fact that the practice was slowly being supported and spreading to some of the western states. As a result, the southern countries came together and formed a confederacy. However, the American government was strongly against the formation of the confederacy, and this led to war eruption, considering the fact that the American government looked at the formation of the confederacy as political rebellion.
At the same time, after Abraham Lincoln became America’s president in 1860, his government sought to end slave trade. Considering the fact that the cotton-based states in the southern United States did not agree to secede as part of the American states, but rather continued to unite in favor of the Confederacy, this led to political unrests in the country. However, Lincoln’s government insisted that it was not willing to go into civil war in order to end slavery in the southern United States’ region, but nevertheless, violence still broke out on April 12nd 1861, whereby the confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter. This led to the initiation of a civil war, which would last for four years from the time it broke out, and that left 750,000 people, both from the American army as well as civilians, dead.
There are various aspects that should be noted from the starting of the war, as well as the progression of the same. One of these aspects includes the fact that the southern states, which has formed the Confederate, were not willing to secede to the American government. This took place almost a century after the establishment of the United States as a sovereign state, through the acquisition of independence. The southern states, however, were not willing to secede and join the American government, based on several factors. Firstly, joining the American government would mean that they would have to set aside slavery, which was one of the aspects that the sovereign government of the United States was up against and that it sought to end. Since these states were cotton-producing states and that were also involved in other large scale activities such as the sisal and manufacturing industry as their economy’s backbone and foundation, seceding to the American government would, therefore, lead to ending of slavery, which would consequently, severely affect their economic activities in the plantations and industries, leading to poor economic conditions. In this case, therefore, it is evident that slavery is the main issue that led to the southern states attacking the northern states, which led to the emergence of a civil war.
At the same time, however, it is also necessary to note the fact that there are other factors and aspects related to the outcome of the same. For instance, there were minimal development activities that the American government was involved in, in developing the southern states. For instance, considering the fact that David Buchanan’s government which led the country prior to president Lincoln’s government had done so little to develop the southern states, for example through the development of infrastructure as well as the economy, there were less chances of Lincoln’s government developing the states, especially, due to the fact that it was a Republican government, affiliated to the northern kingdom. Seceding to the Democratic government’ therefore, would lead to ending of slavery, which would further suppress the southern states’ economy. At the same time, considering the fact that the American government advocated for the establishment of citizenship, which would mean that the slaves would have to be recognized as American citizens and consequently accorded work for wages (according to the 13th Amendment), the Confederacy felt that the slaves would move to the northern states and serve the northern states’ masters. The northern states were more developed, especially from economical as well as political perspectives, and this would provide a good platform for the movement of the slaves from the southern to the northern states.
In conclusion, from this analysis, it is evident that slavery was the root cause of the American Civil war, since it led to differences, especially from a constitutional perspective, since ending of slavery in the United States of America would lead to negative economic impacts on the southern states, which would impact negatively on their rate and level of development, as well as infrastructure and growth. The southern states, therefore, defended the maintenance of slavery, for the sake of their own development and economy, something that had been abandoned by America’s Federal government. At the same time, considering the fact that racism had grown to a national level, the Federal Government did not approve of slavery, and this did not work in the southern states’ nature, who had long established the confederacy. Slavery is, therefore, the root cause that led to America Civil War.
Works cited
Johnson, Paul. Civil War America: 1850-1870. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
Gienapp, William. Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography. New York: Harvard University Press, 2002. Print.
Goldfield, David. America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation. New Jersey: Wiley, 2012. Print.
