Student’s Last Name 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Subject

DD MM YYYY

The American Civil War

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. Among many reasons, the issue of

slavery bitterly divided the nation. The Civil War bore out Lincoln’s words, “A house divided

against itself cannot stand.” From the Northern (Union) perspective, the war was fought to end

slavery and From the Southerner, it was a fight to preserve their constitutional and state’s rights

(Wells 287). These issues may seem distant to Americans today, but these literally divided not

only the nation but American families at the same time.

When the Civil War finally began on April 12, 1861, the United States was divided into

North and South. That is, the Northern part of the United States did not allow slavery (although

the North was hardly racist). The South, from its very beginnings, had committed loyal to

slavery. But, the Civil War did not just happen overnight. The issues dividing the nation had

been festering for decades. Long before the Southern states formed the Confederacy, there were

already two Americas. By 1860, the North and South, with their own distinctive populations and

cultures, were rapidly growing apart (Wells 290).

In addition to slavery, Northerners and Southerners were divided over American trade

policy regarding tariffs (Wells 291). A tariff is an import tax that must be paid at the time a

product is brought into the United States by a foreign nation. The purpose of the tariff is to

protect American producers against foreign competition. Tariffs affected the North and South

differently. But, the North produced very few products for export and these tariffs produced high
 Student’s Last Name 2

profits for the North. The South, however, produced many products for export. Cotton was the

dominant crop produced in the South and accounted for 57% of all American exports (Wells

295).

In retaliation for the high tariffs on foreign imports, foreign nations charged very high

taxes on American exports which affected the South disproportionately. This created resented

between the North and South. Basically, high tariffs financially benefitted the North but

punished the South. But, the main issue dividing the North and South was slavery. The first

slaves arrived in North America (at Jamestown) in 1619 and since that time there have been

vocal protests against this ancient practice (Wells 300). Abolitionist societies maintained a

presence in many American cities and states. Abolitionists were not just anti-slavery, they

wanted an immediate end to the practice. In an attempt to be practical, the early abolitionists

focused on limiting slavery to those territories where it was already in practice (Wells 301). As

the decades past, the abolitionist grew bolder.

The civil war had a number of effects on the people. The war led to the death of many

people including approximately 650,000 soldiers. As a result of the death of people, the labor

force was reduced since those who were to provide labor were dead (Khan). It also led to a

decline in America’s economy. In addition to that, the civil war led to the abolition of slavery.

More than 4million slaves were freed. In some states in the south, their infrastructure was

destroyed further leading to an economic crisis (Khan). Similarly, the war led to the displacement

of people. People migrated for fear of their lives during the war.

In conclusion, I support that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War. Amongst the

many issues that the North and South came across, slavery comes out to be the most reasonable

conflict between the two sides. Eventually, after all the war and bloodshed, in the end, it’s
 Student’s Last Name 3

always nice to say that the North came up on top victorious and abolishing slavery throughout

the nation.
 Student’s Last Name 4

Work Cited

Khan, B. Zorina. The Impact of War on Resource Allocation:'Creative Destruction and the

American Civil War. No. w20944. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2015.

Wells, Catharine Pierce. "Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and the American Civil War." Journal of

Supreme Court History 40.3 (2015): 282-313.