To what extent was the American Civil War caused by northerners moral distaste

for slavery

The question of slavery in the southern states is considered by many to be the main catalyst
that sparked the American Civil War, making the Union forces fighters for freedom and human
rights. Question of slavery in the United States was brought up by Emancipation Proclamation on
January 1, 1863. which changed legal status of about 3.5 million African American, making them
no longer enslaved. This changed the economy in the States, because revenue from slave trading
and slave related business was at a high level, especially in the South, where plantation owners
relied upon slaves as cheap labor. By the late 1850s the South seemed stronger than ever and its
economic power and influence was so great that it could not be ignored, and its cotton exports
were more valuable than all other U.S. exports combined. At the time, slaves made big impact on
U.S. economy that there was even talk about changing or overriding the 1807. Act that forbade
international slave trade. However, industrial north didn’t suffer much by the Proclamation,
because changing status for the black community didn’t changed their economic status. They were
still considered cheap workforce with no political power, making them perfect laborers in the eyes
of the rising industrial magnates, but the Southerners were making a case that slavery as a social
system provided unique benefits, both for the slaves and the masters, looking for justifications in
the Bible and scientific studies. Based on industrial path the economy of the world was taking,
many historians argue that institution of slavery was economically doomed and would have died
a natural death within a reasonable time.
Many historians now disagree with the economic determinism proposed by Charles Beard in the
1920s, emphasizing that two economies were largely complementary while being socially
different. Proclamation was not limited only on current territories of the United States, but it was
meant to extend to western states, making those areas out of the control of the South.
Additional territories gained from the U.S. – Mexican War of 1846–1848 heightened the slavery
debate. Abolitionists fought to have slavery declared illegal in those territories, as the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787 had done in the territory that became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan and Wisconsin.
Advocates of slavery feared that if the institution were prohibited in any states carved out of the
new territories the political power of slaveholding states would be diminished, possibly to the point
of slavery being outlawed everywhere within the United States. Pro and anti-slavery groups rushed
to populate the new territories.
Propaganda at the time was inclined toward anti-slavery and it was formed around newspapers
such as ‘Liberator’ and Anti – Slavery Society which was founded around 1830s and it endorsed
nonviolence and condemned racial prejudice, prefiguring the Civil rights movement during the
20th century. Novels such as ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabins’ by Harriet Beecher Stowe which was published
in serial form in anti-slavery newspaper in 1851 and in book format in 1852 had vital role in moral
education of the literate people in U.S. Depicting the evils of slavery, it offered a vision of slavery
that few in the nation had seen before. The book eventually succeeded at its goal, which was to
start a wave of anti-slavery sentiment across the nation.
The moral distaste for slavery in the North did in fact exist, but the need for reshaping of the United
States as new industrial power was in my belief the main reason for abolishing slavery. The Civil
War was a result of growing conflict between centralism and federalism from political to
economical standpoint. Politically, the right of leaving the Union was one of the points where two
sides had disagreement. President Buchanan believed that right to secede was against the will and
idea of the Founding Fathers, making the South virtually under the supreme control of the central
government. The conflict was at rise after the war with United Kingdom in 1812. and the Hartford
Convention, which erased federalist movement in the South as major political force in the States.
There are no historical facts that can prove that slavery started American Civil War, but it did
caused the secession of the South, resulting inevitably in war. The Corwin amendment which in
somewhat shields domestic institutions from interference form Congress, shows the willingness of
the Congress to keep the South in fold by making some concessions regarding the slave trade.
From economical standpoint, slave owners relied on low-cost manual labor with no mechanization
and free trade, a complete opposite from Northern manufacturing interests which supported tariffs
and protectionism. The secession of the southern state was real possibility even before the
Proclamation of Emancipation, when the South Carolina threatened to leave the U.S. during the
presidency of Andrew Jackson over a tariff that benefited Northern manufactures but increased the
cost of goods in the South, the compromise prevented the military action that North was willing to
take.
Economical, cultural and political differences made the two sides take different approach in terms
of nationalism.
Slave owning states moved towards a Southern nationalism, grouping around the idea of
federalism and greater rights for their respective states, on the other hand, leaders in the North
were becoming more nationally minded and rejected any notion of splitting the Union, warning
that the disunion will be considered treason.
Many see the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of United States as a final step towards
secession and Civil War.
Before mentioned effort at compromise such as Corwin Amendment, had failed which compelled
southern leaders to fear that Lincoln would lead the way towards extinction of slavery. The slave
states were already a minority in the House of Representatives and were facing the possibility of
being minority in the Senate comparing to increasingly powerful North.
With the losing of political power in the Congress and possibility of losing economical edge over
the northern states, secession was the solution to many problems.