Analysis: The Clash Was Not Over Slavery As A Moral Institution

Howard Zinn once wrote that “The clash was not over slavery as a moral institution, rather the war was brought on by Northern and Southern elites who recognize the incompatibility of two distinct economic systems.” In this statement Zinn is referencing to the Civil War and stating that the war was started over the contrasting economic systems of the North and South. I disagree with this statement and instead believe that the peculiar institution, slavery, was the major factor that led to the conflicts of the Union and Confederates. The differing morals of these two distinct regions sparked the beginning of the war and the position of slavery as a moral institution and the rate of its growth was an underlying issue of the war. The Civil War …show more content…
It was mentioned in a newspaper written in South Carolina that “an ultimate dissolution of the Union is inevitable...then let it come now; the better for the South that it should be today; she cannot afford to wait.” In other words, the South is better off on their own because they have a substantial economy to support themselves and it’s better for them to split from the Union now then to wait for it to collapse. The Southern states cared more for their economy and the preservation of slavery than the preservation of the Union, so they had problem seceding from it. In another newspaper it was written that “If the cotton states shall decide that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace.” The North believed that the Southern states can leave the Union if they wish and that they should let them go in peace. Since the North knew that the South’s economy is well off they are afraid that they will be overpowered by the South and forced into the same way of labor, slavery which pushed them into war to save their way of life. A Southern senator once stated “I firmly believe that the slaveholding South is now the controlling power of the world-that no other power would face us in hostility.” The South was believed to have the strongest economy at the time in America and no one would dare try to take that away …show more content…
It helped to progress in the movement for African-American rights and showed the Southern states that blacks were indeed fit for living amongst the predominantly white society. The statement written by Howard Zinn states that the cause of the Civil War was over the incompatibility of two distinct economic systems and not over the morality of slavery. I disagree with this statement because factors such as the racist ideas formulated against African Americans helped to justify the South’s slavery and the North’s obligation to preserve the Union and prevent the expansion of slavery Westward made the two parties clash over the morality of slavery and ignited the war. This was inevitable because the differing ideals about the peculiar institution and race were drastic issues that affected political decisions made long before and after the Civil