Zeke Kolb
Ms. Rachel Browdy
APUSH
11/11/24
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the Civil War was primarily an
economic conflict. Support your argument by providing specific evidence to
justify your answer.
The Civil War was the outcome of many cultural and societal tensions
that were accumulating up until that point. Differences between the North
and the South built up the already stressed country. The most impactful
divide between these two sides was the economic differences and societal
views on slavery, which was crucial to the economy of the time. Economic
differences were the tipping point for the South and most powerful
differences that divided the country, ending up in a civil war.
The geographical location and climate of the North allowed for it to
become more industrialized then the South. The large influx of immigrants
provided the North with a greater population to work. This led the South to
rely on slave labor and become a more agrarial society. When slavery came
into question by the North, the South’s whole system of economy was
threatened. Southern farmers and land owners needed slaves to work the
large plots of land and cultivate cash-crops for economic growth. When the
morality of slave labor was brought to the table, Southern economists
became on edge due to the vitality of slavery.
As the South grew weary of the North’s oppinions on slavery, the
industrial Northern factories began charging Southerners for Northern goods.
With the passing of the Morril Tariff in 1861, tariffs began impacting the
Southern economy by forcing them to pay for Northern goods. This also led
to decreased imports and trade with foreigners. Britain reduced it’s cotten
imports left the South without imports of their cash-crop. This, along with the
Tariffs from the North, hurt the Southern economy in an already distinctly
hostile period.
Finally, after the economic exploitation of slaves was brought up, the whole
institution of slavery was ready to fight over. Abraham Lincoln was an avid
abolitionist of slavery, so when he took office, the Southern states began to
run. Succession of the South was a major chasm that arose out of the debate
of slavery and the election of 1860. This led to two sides already formed and
a battleground between them over the issue of slavery, the bane of one side,
and the backbone of another.
Economic issues such as slavery, slave labor, and tariffs were the pinacle
disagreements and issues that the Civil War was fought over. These divides
provided violent ground for the Civil War to spring out of.
