How important was the issue of slavery in causing the American Civil war? Due to slavery America was divided into two halves, the North and the South, both had very different and in some cases radical views. Firstly the more industrialised North generally was through and through against slavery as many felt it was immoral but also realised that if you paid your workforce you would increase your means of production and efficiency which helped them become more industrialised. However the south was reluctant to give up their slaves and felt that they were doing the slaves a favour in keeping them, housing them and feeding them. They were like children and would not survive by themselves.
While there was no absolute even ground in the fairness of taxation in the rebellious states, Northerners realized their faults in tax legislation, thus developing a more lenient system capable of allowing the southern economy to strengthen and flourish. Until the Civil War in 1861, the United States federal government was financed by tariffs. There were continuing complaints from the rural states that the tariffs were helping protect the industries of the Northeast. Tariffs were reduced in 1846 and again in 1857, but raised once more in 1860. The solution to tariffs was obviously unconstitutional federal taxation of personal incomes, corporate income and inheritances; in addition to excises on manufactures, alcohol and tobacco, and creation of the Internal Revenue Service to commence collections in 1863 .
The North with all the industrial business had a total different way of life and can see how they totally disagreed with the way slaves were being used and treated. As said in political objective section Lincoln wanted a military victory prior to announcing the emancipation proclamation because he knew it would cause many more problems. Lincoln’s impatience and no military experience did render him from making better decisions which could have ended the war earlier and with less deaths and injuries. With the north controlling most of the railroads and weapons they had a huge advantage over the south, if he could have been a little more patient and trained his men properly could also have ended this much earlier. With the number of personnel the rebels had vs union was little to none, they held off the north by smart tactics of well-trained officers.
This in-turn upsetted the North. The North were against slavery: * Thought that slavery would threaten their values and sense of worth ethic. * Valued equality. * Couldn’t compete with slave labour and wanted a tariff on imported goods. (As the south was mainly agricultural, they heavily relied on imported goods that they couldn’t produce themselves) Missouri Compromise.
The idea of westward expansion was a good one because it would enable people to live in more room and to grow the population, however many northerners merely saw the idea of westward expansion to spread slavery. Polk’s ideas angered and worried the north and caused relations to break down further due to a lack of trust. At The very beginning of the Mexican war the north issued the Wilmot Doctrine that proposed that any territory gained from Mexico should exclude slavery. This was very unpopular in the south as they
Since the slave trade in the 1830’s, Africa didn’t impress the British. But the Britain’s imperialism in Africa changed dramatically, and for many reasons. The main reason the British annexed land in Africa was to prevent invaders from getting to India. In 1869, the French completed the Suez Canal, which was a quick route to India. If other countries were to seize control of the canal, the possibilities rose that they would cut Britain off, and seize India for themselves.
This is shown when, in the late nineteenth century, nations had negotiated military alliances with each other that called for mutual protection, as some countries had too many enemies, or feared of being attacked by other countries and their allies. Countries made alliances to have protection when war arises. Some of the alliances made had previously been foes with each other, but they came together because they shared a common opponent, which were larger and more powerful than themselves. Imperialism – Another cause of the Fist World War was the spread of Imperialism. European nations ruled less developed countries, they made these countries into colonies and they were able to get cheap raw
There was always a “backward” race dependence upon a “civilized” power as a colony or sphere of influence, Hobson stated. During competitive the scramble for land, the great European powers abused their colonies—politically and economically oppressed them—took their resources to produce goods only to sell it back to them and made many enemies in the process—foreign and domestic. Hobson suggested that powerful nations simply utilizing the natural, undeveloped resources of their colonies would be more acceptable than compelling its dwellers to utilize the resources themselves. It would be unfair to make someone who has done little labor and has a low standard of life to do more complex work although we don’t consider it so. He was not against the idea of imperialism, just the ruthless way that they were going about it at the time, for it was inhumane—they had no concern for the feelings or needs of the countries or the people they cruelly colonized and dominated.
It was crucial for the Royal Navy to protect British trade interests because even with Britain being an industrial power, it relied heavily on other countries for its agricultural production and thus, Britain would be at the mercy of France if its imports were restricted (in terms of having an internal revolution brew out due to famine, etc). Furthermore, the Royal Navy also engaged in direct combat and secured strategic as well as commercial victories in areas such as the West Indies and most importantly in Copenhagen. The defeat of the Danish in 1801 caused the league of Armed Neutrality to collapse whose main aim was to prevent Britain from using the Baltic. This showed the Navy’s muscle as well as that The Royal Navy’s most important victory came during a period deemed as potentially becoming Britain’s ‘darkest hour’. Napoleon had resumed the war by conquering Italy whilst invading the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Alexander was hopelessly out of touch with the emerging realities of a modern Russia. For example, agriculture was exploited as a source of export earnings; this helped cause a series of famines, especially in 1891. This made him hugely unpopular as he took grain from the people in an attempt to make money and improve the economy. Due to his slow intelligence and lack of experience, Alexander forgot the fundamental rule of keeping his people happy and instead chose to supress them. He did not realise that, following Alexander II’s emancipation of the serfs in 1861, he could not return to a state of rigid autocracy when the serfs had already had some freedom.