American Civil War Term Paper

Civil War

Between 1861 and 1865, the United States was engaged in a Civil War between the states in the North, and the Southern states who seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy. The war, also known as the War between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War of Secession, and the War for Southern Independence, is widely believed to have been fought due to differences in the treatment of slaves, and the legal issues of those slaves. In reality, the Civil War was a result of a combination of causes, including political unrest, economic hardships, and social issues ("The American Civil War," 1993). The end result was a situation that was unable to be resolved through traditional means.

One of the causes for the Civil War was the economic properties of both the North and the South. In the years before the war, both the Northern States and those in the South were prosperous. In the South, the agricultural business was booming, making up 57% of the exports of the United States. The North concentrated on industry during this time, and continued to look to the south to buy those goods. In reality, however, it was often more cost effective for the Southern states to purchase those goods from abroad. This caused great stress in the relations between the divided country (Golden, 2003).

In reaction, President Jackson soon increased tariffs on many of the imports, in an attempt to protect the Northern states, and force the Southern states to purchase those goods from Northern factories. By 1832, South Carolina had refused to collect those tariffs, and threatened to withdraw from the Union. Jackson sent troops to Charleston, but before a crisis could ensue, Congress revised the…