Civil War Dbq Essay

What Caused the Civil War?
Slavery helped build the United States, but it did help disjoin it as well. The Civil War costed over 600,000 lives who were all fighting over one question. Should slavery exist or be abolished? After many years of compromise, one side had to finally be chosen. Men, sometimes brothers, fought against each other for four years, but the Union ended up winning and slavery was eradicated. Still, historians question the causes of the great American Civil War. The rising sectionalism between the North and South due to the opposing views on the morality of slavery and their contrasting economies strongly influenced the Civil War.
A motive of sectionalism which caused the Civil War is the contradicting opinions of slavery

Douglas, who is an African American, referred to the practice of slavery as a heartless and torturous practice and declared Americans as the worst sinners of the world (Document 4). The fact that Northerners were allowing a black man to express his opinions in public shown that they were not oppressive towards the African American race. Many Northerners agreed with him and concluded that slavery is a sin that must be ended immediately. However, Southerners, like George Fitzhugh, supported slavery. George, who represented the majority of the South, claimed that slavery was the greatest life an African American could lead. He believed that slaves enjoyed a carefree life without any hard labor (Document 5). His famous

The North was industrial with a better and more reliable economy than the South. All the South had was cotton which was massed produced. Many areas that were used for cotton production also contained dense slave populations. (Document 1). Since both sections had a very diverse means of making income, they began to separate more as time passed. The North was producing about $1.5 billion in manufactured goods in 1861 compared to the South’s mere $155 million (Document 2). With the North producing about ten times more in value, the South became inferior and struggled for power. Also, all of the products in the North was made without any slaves at all, while the South relied on 3.5 million slaves to produce about five million bales of cotton that year. (Document 2). When the North threatened to take away slavery and the South’s livelihood, the South started to become agitated. In general, the South was forced to get all of its bare necessities from the North which included material for railroads, canals, and steamships (Document 3). The South could never survive without the North and the North knew this. In effect, the sections spread further apart causing sectionalism to expand between them. Eventually, the South got angry and attacked leaving no option for the North, but to retaliate back. The distinct economies of the North and South helped influence their