Social Effects Of The Civil War

The one particular cause of the Civil War is unknown because multiple components led to the nation's downfall during some of America’s crucial times. The Civil War began in 1861 after the northern and southern states argued over the controversy of slavery, westward expansion, and individual state rights. But due to the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, many southern states left the union to preserve slavery and cause conflict between the northern and southern states. During the period of the Civil war, slavery was a distinguished ideology that helped the nation overall in the economy and politically, so this reasoned why the southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America which supported southern

Many white had less accessibility to jobs in the south due to slavery because plantation owners benefited financially by not paying for wages. According to the source, “ Shut out from much of the Deep South’s agricultural work, many poor white laborers spent the late-antebellum period experiencing long bouts of unemployment or underemployment.”( Merrit). This displays how the agricultural structure in the south is only formatted to benefit the wealthy white class and has enslaved people of color in the labor where their work heavily affects the agricultural work. From this, the quote displays how poor white men experienced unemployment and a lack of job opportunities due to the idea of “ free labor” which Was in favor of the wealthy class because they could benefit not only agriculturally from the goods being produced but economically because they didn’t want to pay for labor. Though poor white men did face disadvantages from unemployment, it is evident that “ Though impoverished whites were never subjected to the daily violence and degrading humiliations of racial slavery, they did suffer tangible socio-economic consequences as a result of living in a slave society.”. This shows that they were not degrading in their occupation through rough punishments but still faced socio-economical disadvantages like the slaves because they lived in an enslaved-labor-based society that was dedicated to the

This allowed tobacco and cotton to be produced by the majority of unpaid laborers which are slaves. But the idea of slavery was not popular in the North due to the climate conditions being colder and having access to more rivers and cities for the import and exportation of goods; making slaves redundant in their agriculture due to environmental differences. According to battlefields.org, “Because agriculture was so profitable, few Southerners saw a need for industrial development. Eighty percent of the labor force worked on a farm or plantation” ( Bierle 1). The evidence displays how Southerners found it redundant to develop more of an industrial economy due to the difference in agriculture. This can be implied because most of the products produced in the south are crops like tobacco, cotton, and corn; so to remove the majority of the labor force would demolish the economy in the South making the economy lack equilibrium. Therefore, slaves are needed for the southern economy to flourish which is problematic from an ethical standpoint. Though slave labor was crucial to the southern economy, in the North underpaid labor was done by immigrants. According to battlefields.org “Slave labor was replaced in the cities and factories by immigrant labor