Causes And Effects Of Civil War

The civil war, known for its positive effects on African Americans equal opportunities, opened trade, communication and opportunities in America to create a more industrialized nation. Therefore, the federal government gained power over the government of the state and ended the Union split. Because of this, the United States flourished in economic power. But what caused all of this? What made the Civil war happen and what were the exact effects of it? This Essay will tell you all there is to it about the civil war.

Lets begin with one of the main reason why the war started: Slavery. Slavery helped to deliver cotton sales in the South, which was the entire foundation of the economy of the Old South. At the time, the south believed that slavery kept blacks fed, clothed and occupied, whereas the northerners saw blacks as whites, doubting the generosity of slavery. It’s ironic, though, because slavery has helped fuel the growth of North textile mills, insurance companies, and other businesses. This debate about the inferiority of African Americans has made abolitionists in the north more violent.

In addition, Abolitionists were also playing a key part of causing the civil war as well. During the abolition movement, abolitionists claimed that African Americans deserved the same liberty as whites, so they worked to end discrimination and segregation, with the goal of emancipating all slaves immediately. The movement made sure that bills would be passed so that the west wouldn’t be able to own slaves. This led to five bills being created to unite Northern and Southern states included the 1850 compromise. The reasoning behind the writing of the Compromise was the discussion on whether or not slavery should be legal. It admitted California as a free state, creating territories in Utah and New Mexico with slavery being an option, settling Texas and New Mexico boundaries, ending slave trade in Washington, D.C., and making it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves. Speaking of fugitive slaves, that was also another bill that passed called the Fugitive slave act: The Fugitive Slave Act compelled citizens to assist in seizing escaped slaves and encouraged them to return the to the runaway slaves. It gave punishment not only to the escaped slaves, but also to those of the people that helped them escape. They made this act because ​In the 1850s, many slaves escaped through networks such as the Underground Railroad connecting a number of safe houses. Because of the Fugitive slave act, many people from the north backlashes at the law due to the fact that they knew it was unethical and it was wrong for them to do. However, this led to people forming a group called the Know-Nothing party. Which was a party that helped fugitive slaves escape, but when they were later to be questioned, all they would answer by saying “I know nothing”.

Tension has been going on around the 1850s to where they began to get aggressive towards slave owners and the abolitionists to the point where it started to cause casualties. In 1856, The John Brown Incident happened. John Brown was an abolitionist leading an attack on the Pottawatomie River settlement. Together with his group, five pro-slavery settlers were brutally killed in the settlement. This causes slave owners to restrict their slave’s freedoms while at the same time demonstrating to slaves that they have the power to go against their masters. From there, things were to go downhill with the south. The Panic of 1857 went into play once the european finished fighting a war and they no longer want to buy crops from America, State Register agreed that John Brown; however the abolitionist movement still acted violently afterwards, and on top of all of that, Abraham Lincoln became president and wanted to focus on restoring unity for the country even if he had to abolish slavery. This was the last straw for the south when he ruled in inauguration, and thus the civil war had started.

From the battle of Fort Sumter all the way through Gettysburg, the northern economy increased because of the war due to war increasing business when it came to factories and bonds. On the other hand, since the south lost exports to sell cotton, their economy went all the way down. Societies took a great change too. For example in the north, all the men went out to fight in the war; leaving the women to do all their work and kept the economy booming while they were out fighting. They also helped fight the war too, nursing wounded men from injuries and creating medical supplies. The southern society had a lot of trouble on their end, since the southern railway was damaged, exports and shipment towards food were low which made things difficult. Most of the military white male went to fight the war, leaving farms to be emptied out and political powers were to be shifted to small farmers.

During the war, President Abraham Lincoln decided to free slavery by passing the law of Emancipation Proclamation. This was what the abolitionists and slaves have been fighting for a long time. Lincoln proposed the Proclamation of Emancipation to enforce the slaves liberation. This law helped prevent the participation of foreign countries like Britain and France helping in civil war. This also led to the complete abolition of slavery in the U.S. However, this was not the end of the war, and the south continued to fight. The real tragedy was that slaves did not know anything about the proclamation since they can not read at all. In fact, most of the owner forced the slaves to fight for them without them knowing they were supposed to be free.

In April 9th, 1865; after the battle gettysburg, Confederate Robert E. Lee finally surrendered the last Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant. Grant offered to help the agricultural economy of the south. The Union’s victory in war finally led to the abolition of slavery and create the thirteenth amendment, which was to give all African American freedom. Slavery was completely abolished unless there’s a citizen who is in prison or in jail. This led to America’s economy to increase all around, gain complete unity of all the states, and have a much bigger federal power. However, there’s still a lot civil rights issue that African Americans have to go through, because after the war they would have to deal with black codes and laws that would be used to systematically oppress them throughout the years.

In Conclusion, the civil war was caused by a lot of reasons, some were smaller than other, and some were major key reasons why. During the war, a lot of laws and civil rights began to play, such as women fighting alongside with men, economy rising due to business bonds, and even laws passing to free slaves. The effects of the wars helped to free slaves, and give a whole new hope for the African Americans, but a lot more rights to fight for such as the rights to live with whites and the rights to vote.