Two Fundamental Reasons Why the American Civil War Occurred

One major reason that led to American Civil War was the economic differences between the North and the South (Trueman, 2015). The introduction of the cotton machine in the North led to a reliance on wage laborers and not slaves. However, the Southern farmers and planters relied mainly on slaves for cheap labor. The South made huge profits due to the low cost of producing cotton that resulted from cheap slave labor. The South fought the war in order to retain slaves, while the Northerners fought in order to free slaves. However, the cause of war goes beyond the agricultural economics and is attributed to other factors.

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            The other major cause of the American Civil war was the political differences between the North and the South (Trueman, 2015). There were turbulent politics in US that occurred after the 1850 compromise. Political, legal and physical confrontations ensued between the North and the South on whether to admit Kansas as a slave state, even though it had no cotton. The formation of the Republican Party in 1855 intensified the containment of slavery and political corruption in the administration of Buchanan. All these political differences led to the civil war. Given the circumstances of the conflict, I think the war could have been avoided had the South ceded to the abolition of the slavery, which was against the American dream as a leader in the protection of human rights. The North viewed slavery as against the human rights and that it was wrong on religious and ethical grounds. However, the south maintained that slaves were their properties and these differences caused the conflict between North and South.

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