What Caused The Civil War Essay

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Manfred Blum Instructor: Dr. David Haus History 205 12 December 2006 What Caused the Civil War If someone were to ask the average American citizen about the Civil War, many would probably bring up Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Gettysburg, Bull Run and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. All the aforementioned people, places, and events are all important nonetheless, but if the average American citizen were then asked what caused the Civil War, they would be likely to tell you that it was slavery and the North and South’s disagreement about it. Many people do not realize that slavery was not the direct cause for the succession of the Confederate States, or the Civil War itself. Both sides had their reasons for fighting the war. The South’s…show more content…
Years of frustration is what caused the eventual succession. Since the American Revolution, the topic of slavery was present in the minds of important men in both northern and southern states. The institution of slavery was allowed to continue in the United States, but it was when the Union started to expand that much of the frustration began. The government had passed regulations banning the spread of slavery into these new territories, and many southern states were outraged to the point where South Carolina threatened to succeed from the Union in 1821. Southern states believed that their way of life was being infringed, meaning that slavery was an important institution for their mainly agricultural based economy. The infringement of their way of life was what really caused the succession of the Confederate states and the Civil War. It has been said that the Civil War is the second American Revolution. In many ways, this statement is accurate. The American Revolution was fought because colonists felt the tyrannical government of Great Britain was abusing their authority, and directly affecting their way of life and happiness. The succession of the Confederate States was a peaceful way of saying to the United States that they felt they were using their power in an inappropriate way. The Confederate states were tired after years of regulations and acts that directly affected their way of life

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