Reasons For The Civil War - 1483 Words

Reason for a Civil War There have been many theories as to why the American Civil War was fought. The North had its reasons and so did the South, but the politically correct reason of slavery is not the only factor. The war also was fought for economic reasons that effected both side of this conflict. Secretary of State William Seward said in 1858, â€Å"On one side are those who believe the war had fundamental causes, that the North and South faced an irrepressible conflict, The Northern Industrialists wanted a war to use as an excuse to get the South’s resources for pennies on the dollar, which would increase their profits when they sold the finished products to the South. They began a campaign about 1830 that would†¦show more content†¦President Lincoln was elected by promising that he would raise the tariffs if elected to 40 present, which would increase revenue to North and the Federal system. This promise was also in the best interest of the North and the ma nufacturing base economy. When Eli Whitney’s invented the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable for the South. This machine reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. The cotton gin increased in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton which increased the need for a large amount of cheap labor, in other words, slaves. The southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and slavery. The South s Cotton became the cash-cow for the southern economy. The southern states produced two-thirds of the world s supply of cotton, the South had little manufacturing capability, about 29 percent of the railroad tracks, and only 13 percent of the nation s banks. The South did experiment with using slave labor in manufacturing, but for the most part it was well satisfied with its agricultural economy (Arrington, 2015). On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. The northern ind ustries would purchase the Southern cotton and produce it into the finished product. This differences