CausesPrior to the war, the North and the South had been divided for decades over the issue of slavery. Measures such as the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 had failed to settle the issue. Show
The Southern economy was based largely on plantation agriculture, and African American slaves did most of the work on the plantations. The Northern economy, on the other hand, relied more on manufacturing. By the 1850s abolitionism was growing in the North, causing the Southern states to fear that the federal government would attempt to end slavery. The Southern states believed that the U.S. government did not have the right to decide whether slavery should be allowed in a state. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the explicitly antislavery Republican Party, won the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln was intent on preserving the Union. When he became president, he took care to avoid threats of force, but he promised to protect “the property and places” in the South belonging to the federal government. One of those places was Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Disregarding Lincoln’s vow, Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. This marked the beginning of the American Civil War. EffectsIn September 1862 Lincoln called on the seceded states to return to the Union or have their slaves declared free. When no state returned, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The edict provided moral inspiration for the North and discouraged European countries from supporting the South. It also had the practical effect of permitting recruitment of African Americans for the Union army. Despite a string of early Confederate victories, the Union forces ultimately prevailed in the war. The triumph of the North, above and beyond its superior forces and industrial and financial resources, was partly due to the statesmanship of Lincoln. By 1864 he had become a masterful political and war leader. The enormous casualties suffered on both sides during the American Civil War have never ceased to astound scholars and military historians. Roughly 2 percent of the 1860 population of the United States died in the war. The war remains the bloodiest conflict in American history.  The South was devastated by the war, but the Union was preserved, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery in the entire country. After the war the defeated states were gradually allowed back into the United States. The period after the war in which attempts were made to solve the political, social, and economic problems arising from the readmission to the Union of the former Confederate states is known as Reconstruction (1865–77). Top Questions What caused the American Civil War?Who won the American Civil War?How many people died during the Civil War?Who were the most important figures in the American Civil War?Why are Confederate symbols controversial?American Civil War, also called War Between the States, four-year war (1861–65) between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Prelude to warThe secession of the Southern states (in chronological order, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) in 1860–61 and the ensuing outbreak of armed hostilities were the culmination of decades of growing sectional friction over slavery. Between 1815 and 1861 the economy of the Northern states was rapidly modernizing and diversifying. Although agriculture—mostly smaller farms that relied on free labour—remained the dominant sector in the North, industrialization had taken root there. Moreover, Northerners had invested heavily in an expansive and varied transportation system that included canals, roads, steamboats, and railroads; in financial industries such as banking and insurance; and in a large communications network that featured inexpensive, widely available newspapers, magazines, and books, along with the telegraph. By contrast, the Southern economy was based principally on large farms (plantations) that produced commercial crops such as cotton and that relied on slaves as the main labour force. Rather than invest in factories or railroads as Northerners had done, Southerners invested their money in slaves—even more than in land; by 1860, 84 percent of the capital invested in manufacturing was invested in the free (nonslaveholding) states. Yet, to Southerners, as late as 1860, this appeared to be a sound business decision. The price of cotton, the South’s defining crop, had skyrocketed in the 1850s, and the value of slaves—who were, after all, property—rose commensurately. By 1860 the per capita wealth of Southern whites was twice that of Northerners, and three-fifths of the wealthiest individuals in the country were Southerners. The extension of slavery into new territories and states had been an issue as far back as the Northwest Ordinance of 1784. When the slave territory of Missouri sought statehood in 1818, Congress debated for two years before arriving upon the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This was the first of a series of political deals that resulted from arguments between pro-slavery and antislavery forces over the expansion of the “peculiar institution,” as it was known, into the West. The end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 and the roughly 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) of new territory that the United States gained as a result of it added a new sense of urgency to the dispute. More and more Northerners, driven by a sense of morality or an interest in protecting free labour, came to believe, in the 1850s, that bondage needed to be eradicated. White Southerners feared that limiting the expansion of slavery would consign the institution to certain death. Over the course of the decade, the two sides became increasingly polarized and politicians less able to contain the dispute through compromise. When Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the explicitly antislavery Republican Party, won the 1860 presidential election, seven Southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) carried out their threat and seceded, organizing as the Confederate States of America. Britannica Quiz A History of War You may have heard of D-Day, the Battle of Hastings, and Waterloo, but do you know their historical significance? Embark upon a historical journey of warfare in this quiz. In the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, rebels opened fire on Fort Sumter, at the entrance to the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina. Curiously, this first encounter of what would be the bloodiest war in the history of the United States claimed no victims. After a 34-hour bombardment, Maj. Robert Anderson surrendered his command of about 85 soldiers to some 5,500 besieging Confederate troops under P.G.T. Beauregard. Within weeks, four more Southern states (Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) left the Union to join the Confederacy. With war upon the land, President Lincoln called for 75,000 militiamen to serve for three months. He proclaimed a naval blockade of the Confederate states, although he insisted that they did not legally constitute a sovereign country but were instead states in rebellion. He also directed the secretary of the treasury to advance $2 million to assist in the raising of troops, and he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, first along the East Coast and ultimately throughout the country. The Confederate government had previously authorized a call for 100,000 soldiers for at least six months’ service, and this figure was soon increased to 400,000. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Jennifer L. WeberWhat was the conflict between the North and South about?The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states' rights and westward expansion.
What were the different views on slavery between the North and South?The North wanted to block the spread of slavery. They were also concerned that an extra slave state would give the South a political advantage. The South thought new states should be free to allow slavery if they wanted.
How did slavery cause tension between the North and South?The issue of slavery caused tension between the North and South. Some Northern workers and immigrants opposed slavery because it was an economic threat to them; they feared slaves would replace them in the workplace.
What was the cultural difference between the North and South?Since colonial times the United States had been divided into two completely different parts. The Northern states were mostly free states who believed slavery should be put to end. On the other hand, the Southernern states were slaves states, meaning they were pro-slavery.
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