3 causes of the US Civil War?

Answer 1

The root cause was slavery. The preciitating factor was States Rights. The ignition point was the firing on Fort Sumter. The fugitive slave act divided the country, and led to Bleeding Kansas and the attempt to balance things out by entering states into the Union on the basis equality on the slave ownership issue. This was a quid per quo attempt to keep the question of slavery in balance and wait it out (perhaps a single generation or so would see the practice die because of changing economic conditions.) This failed. Strong Northern abolinist opposition to any form of compromise and stronger Southern resistance to the abolitionist movement insured a rupture of the Nation. John Brown and Jim Crow were faced with violent opposition. The delayed "indenpence" of the "Decleration of Indepence" and the "rights" in the "Bill of Rights" were finally placed front and center on the alter of justice. Delay in the basic question of Human Rights had required almost 100 years to come to a head. It also has taken mor than 100 years to bring equality and social justice to where we are today.

Answer 2

The same reasons as for the American Revolution, plus tarrifs that protected the north and harmed the south. The south was heavily outnumbered by population, money, and congressional representation. In order to protect states rights, the south wanted to seceed and form their own country. In 1860 slavery was a minor issue. Revisionist history has blown it all out of proportion.

Answer 3

1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South.

With Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. This machine was able to reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. However, at the same time the increase in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor, i.e. slaves. Thus, the southern economy became mostly a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. This disparity between the two set up major differences in economic attitudes. The South was based on a rural economy, while the North was based on a manufacturing economy and a more urban lifestyle. Although the Northern economy was based on manufaturing and industry, machinery to supplant the labor-intensive farming and plantation practices of the South had not yet been invented. Thus, the South continued to be dependent upon a labor intensive agrarian economy and the social order which that fostered. These fundamental differences between the two economies and social orders meant that society evolved differently in the two geographic areas of the nation.

2. States versus federal rights.

Since the time of the Revolution, two factions emerged: those arguing for greater states rights and those arguing that the federal government needed to have more centralized control. The first organized government in the US after the American Revolution was under the Articles of Confederation. The thirteen states formed a loose confederation with a very weak federal government. However, when problems arose, the weakness of this form of government caused the leaders of the time to come together at the Constitutional Convention and create the US Constitution. Strong proponents of states rights like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were not present at this meeting. Many felt that the new constitution ignored the rights of states to continue to act independently. They felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea of nullification, whereby the states would have the right to rule certain federal acts non-applicable to their state. The federal government denied states this right. However, proponents such as John C. Calhoun fought vehemently for nullification. When their right to nullify failed to be recognized the states felt that they were no longer respected, and they moved towards secession.

3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents.

As America began to expand, first with the lands gained from the Louisiana Purchase and later with the Mexican War, in order to keep equally balanced representation in Congress between slave-holding states and 'free' states the question of whether new states admitted to the union would be slave or free arose. The Missouri Compromise passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri. During the Mexican War, conflict started about what would happen with the new territories that the US expected to gain upon victory. David Wilmot proposed the Wilmot Proviso in 1846 which would ban slavery in the new lands. However, this was shot down to much debate. The Compromise of 1850 was created by Henry Clay and others to deal with the balance between slave and free states, northern and southern interests. One of the provisions was the fugitive slave act that was discussed in number one above. Another issue that further increased tensions was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It created two new territories that would allow the states to use popular sovereignty to determine whether they would be free or slave. The real issue occurred in Kansas where proslavery Missourians began to pour into the state to help force it to be slave. They were called "Border Ruffians." Problems came to a head in violence at Lawrence Kansas. The fighting that occurred caused it to be called "Bleeding Kansas." The fight even erupted on the floor of the senate when antislavery proponent Charles Sumner was beat over the head by South Carolina's Senator Preston Brooks.

4. Growth of the Abolition Movement.

Increasingly, the northerners became more polarized against slavery. Sympathies began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders. This occurred especially after some major events including: the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dred Scott Case, John Brown's Raid, and the passage of the fugitive slave act that held individuals responsible for harboring fugitive slaves even if they were located in non-slave states.

5. The election of Abraham Lincoln.

Even though things were already coming to a head, when Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its "Declaration of the Causes of Secession." They believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of Northern interests. Before Lincoln was even inaugurated, seven states seceded from the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Theres the top five for ya.....

Answer 4

There are a number of reasons for the US Civil War. But the three main reasons include: social and economic reasons between the south and the north, federal vs state rights and the fight between non-slave and slave state proponents.

Answer 5

- Reform, (anti-slavery, public education, temperance, asylums, etc.)

- Slavery. . .

- The south wanted the states to have more power, north wanted federal goverment to have more.

- North had more political Power

All this and their differences is called: sectionalism

Answer 6

There were many reasons for the cause of the US Civil War. If to narrow these reasons to three, then the reasons mentioned below can certainly be cited as three causes. It should be noted, however, this summary is not meant to be all inclusive as other reasons also came into play.

A. There was the concern that not only would slavery be curtailed in the nation's westward expansion, but there was the possibility that slavery in the South could be abolished by an amendment to the US Constitution;

B. The act of secession by 11 Southern States is another cause; and

C. The armed conflicts between the seceded States, forming the "Confederacy", and the States that remained loyal to the Union.

Answer 7

The US Civil War was the result of powerful Southern leaders believing that the political power of the Southern slave states was being marginalized. The South was already outnumbered in the US House of Representatives. The more states entered the US as free states, the US Senate would also find the South in an uncomfortable position.The main conflict between the North and the South was over the expansion of slavery westward. The South believed that the North and the new Republican Party would oppose the expansion of slavery.

Finally, the South believed that its problems could be solved by seceding from the Union, and believed it could support its departure with its own military power.

The South made the error of being prepared for a war with the North.