Dbq Essay On The Civil War

To start, The Civil war was a pivotal moment in American history. The civil war continues to shape our nation to this day. Although the war had many causes, the issue of slavery was the biggest reason for the civil war. The north and the south had different viewpoints on slavery. These different perspectives led to the American civil war.

First, in the north, they viewed slavery as evil, and they were trying to end it, “in document 5 the picture represents Lincon is chopping slavery of ending it”. Abolitionists in the north saw slavery as a violation of human rights. Many northerners believed that the institution of slavery was holding back the progress of the country and preventing the expansion of free labor. In document 6 Phineas Hager wrote “after this war is over, This whole country will undergo a change for the better.” Northern politicians argued that the federal government had a duty to prevent the spread of slavery into new territories and states. Some northerners wanted slavery and did not want to end it.

Southerners argued that slavery was needed for the south's economics. The south's economy was mainly based on agriculture, that is why they thought slavery was needed, the south thought slavery was needed to harvest the crops and do other jobs, mostly the slaves harvested cotton, but some worked in the house. Many southerners believed that without slavery the south would not be able to economically compete with the north. They also said that they were able to secede from the union. The defenders for slavery said that the end to slavery would badly affect the economics in the south because the slaves did most of the