Confederate Statue Controversy

Reasons for the Civil War

There are many reasons that people may argue that caused the Civil War. One of the arguments is that the civil war was not about the issue of slavery but it was an attack on the Southerner’s economy. The reason that the connection of the economy to the war is made is because there are situations where you are able to see where the North and the South were impacted economically. It was clear that in order for the Southern states to be economically stable they need the slaves to produce work. The North was no longer in need of the use of slaves in order to have a stable economy. The North saw that industrialization was going to change their lives because of the speed of production of resources that was going to be available.  This meant that passing legislations that would ban states from slavery would not have an effect on them. The South did not only feel an attack on their economy but they also felt that their culture was being attacked. Many Southerners saw that agriculture was their way of living was their identity and they felt insulted. This meant that the North was attempting to control the lives of the Southerners, this brought the interpretation that “that the men and women of the Confederacy fought for nothing less than the principle of liberty”[1] in the war.

Slaves on a plantation

 This idea that the war was because of a change in the economy and liberty of the South is still present because, “many historians interpret the Civil War as a watershed in American history because they believe it fundamentally changed the U.S. economy to one receptive to industrialization.” [2] Not only is this sometime that main focuses of the war but they also see the result to the Civil War as “the destruction of agrarianism with Confederate defeat "and “assured the triumph of business enterprise.”[3] There is evidence available that shows that there was an economic impact after the war but that must not over shadow the main reason that the war was fought. The economy factor does not take away the fact that many of the land owners and others who needed work done saw that the African Americans would be fit to do the job. They saw themselves as superiors to the African Americans. Their pride that came with their idea of their skin color and that they were also mentally superior. The felt that they were educated and for that reason they could have other humans that appeared differently be underneath them in every aspect of society.