The American Civil War was a brutal conflict which took place in the United States of America between 1861 and 1865 and still has serious repercussions to this day.
To understand why this break up of the Union occurred and how it led to a bloody struggle for four years that pitted family member against family member, here follows a brief summery of the polarised opinions that divided the economic and political attitudes in the USA as the 1850′s drew to a close.
The Southern States of America, who are often referred to as Dixie were monopolised by powerful plantation owners whose feudal and archaic views were predominant throughout the society. The source of their wealth came from the tobacco and cotton crops which were the mainstay of the Southern citizens.
At that time, the demand for cotton and lint throughout the world was immense and guaranteed the Southern States prosperity, as long as the crops could be farmed economically. In order to do this, the plantation owners relied heavily on ‘free labour’ that was provided by the slaves who worked the fields. The South’s riches were deeply rooted in slavery.
By the 1850′s slavery was only practised in the South. It had been prohibited in the North which considered it morally offensive and uncivilised.
This issue however, was not the only difference between the North and South. Because of it’s agricultural success and wealth, the South had no motivation to develop any industry other than the production of cotton and tobacco. On the other hand, the North was industrially advanced and was attracting vast numbers of European immigrants who further enriched the North with their array of skills, talent and knowledge. People in the North were developing rapidly and were keen to expand into the New Territories.
The animosity between the North and South could be seen in the dispute over the New Territories. As the soil was being exhausted by the unrelenting cotton farming, Southern plantation owners were planning on spreading into the newly discovered Western Territories taking cotton and slavery with them. While most Northerners, except a handful of extremists, were prepared to tolerate slavery in the Southern States, they were extremely determined to prevent it from being introduced in the Western Territories that would eventually be admitted into the Union.
