American Civil War

The secession of the Southern states in 1860–61 (in chronological order, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) and the subsequent outbreak of armed hostilities were the culmination of decades of growing sectional friction over slavery. The Southern states that seceded were: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina. The economies of the Northern states underwent a period of rapid modernization and diversification between the years 1815 and 1861. Despite the fact that agriculture, particularly on smaller farms that relied on unpaid labour, continued to be the most important industry in the North, industrialization had taken root there. 

Which Side Won Which Battles During the American Civil War

In contrast, the economy of the South was predominantly built on vast agricultural estates known as plantations. These plantations grew cash crops like cotton and relied heavily on indentured servants as their primary source of labour. Even more than in land, Southerners invested their money in slaves; by 1860, 84 percent of the capital invested in manufacturing was invested in the free states, which were states that did not hold slaves. Northerners had invested their money in factories and railroads. Southerners invested their money in slaves. Nonetheless, residents of the South believed that this was a sensible choice to make even as late as the year 1860. In the 1850s, the price of cotton, which was the most important crop in the South, had skyrocketed, and the value of slaves, who were, after all, property, had also increased proportionately. By the year 1860, the average wealth of white Southerners was twice as high as that of their Northern counterparts, and three-fifths of the wealthiest people in the country were located in the South.

Since the Northwest Ordinance of 1784, the question of whether or not slavery should be allowed to expand into new territories and states has been a contentious one. After the slave territory of Missouri submitted its application for statehood in 1818, Congress spent the next two years debating various options before finally settling on the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Arguments between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces over the expansion of the “peculiar institution,” as it was known, into the West resulted in a series of political deals, the first of which was this one. These deals were reached as a result of the expansion of slavery into the western states. The conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848 and the roughly 500,000 square mile (1.3 million square km) of new territory that the United States gained as a result of it added a new sense of urgency to the dispute. As a result of the war, the United States gained approximately 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square km). In the 1850s, a growing number of Northerners, motivated either by a strong sense of morality or by a desire to ensure the continued existence of free labour, came to the conclusion that bondage should be abolished. White people in the South were concerned that putting restrictions on the growth of slavery would eventually lead to the institution’s extinction. Over the course of the decade, the two camps continued to grow more irreconcilable, making it harder for politicians to bring the conflict under control through negotiation and compromise. Seven southern states, including South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, carried out their threat to secede and form the Confederate States of America after Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the explicitly antislavery Republican Party, won the presidential election in 1860.

1860 Presidential Campaign

This lithograph, titled “The Undecided Political Prize Fight,” depicts the presidential campaign that took place in 1860 and features Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas as the main character.

The Library of Congress in Washington, District of Columbia (LC-USZ62-7877)

In the early hours of the morning of April 12, 1861, rebel forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, which is located at the entrance to the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina. Strangely, there were no casualties on either side during the initial conflict of what would turn out to be the bloodiest war in the annals of United States history. After a 34-hour bombardment, Major Robert Anderson, commanding approximately 85 soldiers, surrendered his command to approximately 5,500 Confederate troops under the command of P.G.T. Beauregard who were besieging the city. Within a matter of weeks, four additional Southern states—Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina—joined the Confederacy after seceding from the Union.

Conclusion 

The study found that the opportunity-based explanation offered by James Fearon and David Laitin in their article published in the 2003 issue of the American Political Science Review was the most influential explanation for the beginning of the civil war. In addition, Northerners had made significant investments in a vast and varied transportation system that included canals, roads, steamboats, and railroads; in financial industries such as banking and insurance; and in a large communications network that featured inexpensive and widely available newspapers, magazines, and books, in addition to the telegraph. These investments had resulted in the Northern states having a significant economic advantage over the Southern states.