The difference in the attitude towards slavery can be seen as the root cause of the American Civil War. This had repercussions in the economic and political sphere too. The factors which led to the outbreak of the Civil War in America can be consolidated as below:
Economic Disparity between Northern and Southern States
Northern states were industrialized while southern states where primarily agricultural. Northern states wanted a tax on imports from Britain while southern states wanted tax-free trade with Britain.
The issue with the attitude towards slavery
Industrialized northern states preferred paid labourers while agricultural southern states which had large plantations were dependent on slave labour. Slavery was abolished in northern states in 1804 and they became ‘free states’.
Movement for the abolition of slavery
A strong movement for the abolition of slavery began in the north. It called for the repeal of the controversial Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (this act had mandated the return of runaway slaves to their masters).
The fear of reforms by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party
The immediate cause of the civil war was the American Presidential election in which the Republican Party candidate, Abraham Lincoln, won (1860). While Abraham Lincoln stood for freedom of slaves, the Democratic candidate Stephan Arnold Douglas wanted slavery to continue.
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