Causes of the American Civil War

Causes of the American Civil War The United States maintain their position of the world as the strongest, most influential country for many decades. Observing their history closely, we can see that they had gone through many ups and downs, and harsh yet necessary battles within the nation and with other countries. In order to examine the Civil War and reconstruction of the United States, we need to understand the causes of the war, what happened during the war, and the changes that the war had brought. I believe that the Civil War of 1861 played a significant role in building the stronger nation; likewise, I will discuss three major causes of the war – which are the slavery, the conflicts between the North and South states, and the Presidential election of 1860 – describe how dreadful the war was, and how the slavery, the relationship among the states, and the economic and political situation changed after the war. Moreover, I will present my own views on the Civil war. First, the slavery was one of t he greatest causes of the Civil War. The Slavery in all across North America has had existed for 168 years. Eventually, by 1804, most of the Northern states abolished slavery institution, but the invention of cotton gin in 1793 increased the use of slaves in the South and the slavery became very important for the South. Before the Civil War, the tension between the North and the South was invested in Slavery. The North was insisting that America should become free country and need to industrialize the South. On the other hand, the South was opposing the North by being pro-slavery for their agricultural industry. The U.S. Constitution was clearly permitting slavery even though the document did not include the words slaves and slavery. For example, in U.S. Constitution Section 2 of Article IV said â€Å"held to Service or Labor in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another† (Constitution On Slavery). It shows the fugitive slaves must be returned to their owners. M oreover, the Bill of Rights in 1791 did not mention about slavery, yet on the Fifth Amendment, it says â€Å"Be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law† (Constitution On Slavery). According to the Fifth Amendment, the slaveholders were given an absolute right to take their property with them. Since the slaves were equaled properties, they could take their slaves even to the free Northern states. It developed into negative conflicts between the North and the South. However, America gained huge part of the West from the victory in the War with Mexico, including California, Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory. In Addition, the amount of gold that was discovered in California was huge and it led the Gold Rush in America, which did not last for long. The issue of whether the new states in the West should be opened to slavery or should be free from the slavery brought a big political confusion. The state of California was extremely important for the b oth powers. The North was asserting completely opposite opinions from that of the South. Since California got so much richer quickly, if the slavery in California got abolished, the South states would significantly lose their political and economic power. In contrast, if the slavery got permitted and protected by the federal government, the South states would be able to gain more power. The South was saying that they would leave the Union if California becomes a free state. â€Å"Eventually, the issue drove the South to assert their opinion, which was to elect two different presidents between the North and the South†