Civil War Inevitable

The civil war was a war between the Northern Union, and the Southern Confederate states. It will forever be known as the bloodiest battle in American history and left scars on the country that will never fully be healed. On December 20th, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Northern Union. This was followed by many more states and they became known as the Confederacy. The political, social, economic differences between the North and the South, as well as the looming issue of slavery made the Civil War inevitable. The issue of slavery is often thought of as the number one cause of the Civil War. While this might be true, it is not for the reason that the North thought slavery was evil, and the South thought slavery was good. Much of the people …show more content…
In 1845, newspaper editor, John O’ Sullivan coined the term Manifest Destiny. This was the idea that it was America’s God-given right to expand across the continent. Both the Northern States and the Southern states wished to expand into the new westward territory. However, it soon came into question whether the new states would be free or slave states . The previous compromise stated that any states north of the Ohio River would be free and any states south of the Ohio River would remain slave states. Balance was maintained until 1819 with eleven states on each side. Conflict was once again averted in 1820 with the Missouri Compromise in which the North received Maine and the South received Missouri . This was then followed by the Mexican War, after which the North acquired the land of California . Also in this time, the Compromise of 1850 was enacted. This allowed any new states to decide for themselves whether to be a free or slave state. Again conflict was avoided between the North and South, but, in reality, it was merely postponed …show more content…
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, slavery was waning. Less slaves were being brought to the United States as the economy of the South declined. Most economic power was held in the hands of the much more industrialized North. Until, however, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 . This changed everything. The cotton gin was a machine that easily separated the cotton fibers from the seeds. The fibers were then used to make clothing. With this new invention, cotton soon became profitable again and slavery rose with it. In fact, slavery became so profitable and centralized to the South’s economy that the South would do anything to defend