Slavery in America started in the early 17th century, …show more content…
In the fifty years before the civil war the northern and southern states of America had grown apart from each other in more than a demographic sense. The north had trended more towards industry – and with little need of slaves, with majority of its population in large cities. The south, in contrast, had learned more towards agriculture – which depended heavily on slavery, with a majority of population residing in small towns and agricultural communities. Politically the difference could be seen by a variation in preferred party – north with the Republicans and Abraham Lincoln, and south with the Democratic Party. The issue of slavery also brought out social differences between north and south. In the north there was a large Abolitionist movement, which called for the end of slavery in all states. This movement had little traction in the south. Due to the type of economy in the north and south, economically the north would benefit from higher tariffs on imported goods, making those made in America the better option, boosting northern economy. In the south there was the opposite. With a reliance on cheap imported goods from Europe, higher import tariffs would make southern economy less viable, while also likely increasing import tariffs for other nations – hurting southern …show more content…
After the invention of the cotton mill by Eli Whitney in 1794, the souths economy started to run on cotton. The production of cotton required large amounts of cheap labor to be viable, making slavery vital to the cotton industry and economy of the south as a whole. While the south relied upon slavery to provide a work force, the heavily industrialized north did not. The loss of slavery would have had a massive impact to the south. Due to this, the election of Abraham Lincoln, who was a known abolitionist, was of great distress to the south.
Overall, slavery and the treatment of African-American people was a major driving factor and cause of the American Civil War that occurred in 1861 and lasted until the Southern Confederacy’s defeat in 1865. Slavery contributed to the war by creating a demographic, political, and social rift between northern and southern states. Economic differences fueled by slavery heighted these, eventually leading to the secession of eleven states. Slavery was a major factor of the war, as seen by its abolishment by the Thirteenth Amendment upon the wars