The current debate over the Confederate battle flag has got to be driving historians crazy. If most of them had to list the causes of the Civil War, slavery would maybe be in the #7 or #8 slot; slavery may have been the final straw, but it was hardly the only thing going on. It's one of those things that while everyone used it in their speeches, it was a stand in for everything else was going on. It needs to be realized that this was a war that was more than 80 years in the offing, and it was going to come to a head at some point. Here's some of the "other reasons" why.
1) Industrial Revolution: The South was primarily agricultural; it relied pretty much on its agriculture to fuel its way of life. When the Industrial Revolution hit, The South resisted it with every fiber of its being, even when it came to using inventions that could have helped it. There were exceptions, such as the cotton gin, but in general The South was extremely resistant to change. There was just no reason for it change, and Southern society had pretty much calcified. This meant that The South would fall behind The North on pretty much every level, and it's lack of ability to adapt would keep it there.
2) On The Wane: It needs to be realized that the US Government hasn't always relied on taxes to raise funds. In the century after the Revolutionary War, the government was loathe to create any taxes, and although there were some taxes and other income such as tariffs, the whole thing was more like a high school club than an actual government. Because of this, the government relied on private donors in order to finance a lot of its endeavors (for the Louisiana Purchase, for example, the government only paid $3 million of the price, with over $8 million coming from bonds, although there were other sources).
This meant that a lot of the money for a lot of government spending came from private citizens, giving those citizens a number of dispensations, such as military commissions and favorable bills. Originally a lot of this money came from rich plantation owners, but as the North became more industrialized it was able to line political pockets. Combined with the gains in territory with its resultant gains in senators, representatives, and electoral votes, the South was losing political power even as the North gained.
3) Imports/Exports: The South had a few products, such as cotton, tobacco, and a variety of fruits and vegetable, and they did them well. However, they were limited to those products, and little else; they lacked a lot of mineral wealth. On the other hand, the North had forests, a wide variety of furred and feathered animals, room for cattle, and a lot of fertile plains, as well as easy access to metals ranging from iron to gold. This meant that the South was dependent on the North for a variety of products, while the North was virtually independent of the South. Overseas, this situation was magnified; the South imported a lot more than it exported, so it ended up with a trade deficit, while the North usually profited, As the South had to deal with the situation, as the majority of the imports were necessary for daily life, they were lucky that cotton and tobacco were so profitable.
These factors ensured that a war between the states was bound to happen. The South was in an untenable long-term situation and had to gain more territory at some point, but the North had already pretty much laid claim to all of that territory. Taking over islands or Latin America territory was problematical at best. This meant that southerners had to buy up northern territory, but they then had to deal with the slavery issue, which was not a favorite topic in the North.
In essence, the South was running on fumes but figured that they would be able to get more territory to feed their hunger for expensive items, and had to do so using an unpopular form of labor. Thus, while slavery was an issue, it was just the obvious one; The South was doomed to fall at some point and no one wanted to restructure out of pride.
Ultimately, slavery was just the final match that would eventually burn the house of straw that was the Old South....
1) Industrial Revolution: The South was primarily agricultural; it relied pretty much on its agriculture to fuel its way of life. When the Industrial Revolution hit, The South resisted it with every fiber of its being, even when it came to using inventions that could have helped it. There were exceptions, such as the cotton gin, but in general The South was extremely resistant to change. There was just no reason for it change, and Southern society had pretty much calcified. This meant that The South would fall behind The North on pretty much every level, and it's lack of ability to adapt would keep it there.
2) On The Wane: It needs to be realized that the US Government hasn't always relied on taxes to raise funds. In the century after the Revolutionary War, the government was loathe to create any taxes, and although there were some taxes and other income such as tariffs, the whole thing was more like a high school club than an actual government. Because of this, the government relied on private donors in order to finance a lot of its endeavors (for the Louisiana Purchase, for example, the government only paid $3 million of the price, with over $8 million coming from bonds, although there were other sources).
This meant that a lot of the money for a lot of government spending came from private citizens, giving those citizens a number of dispensations, such as military commissions and favorable bills. Originally a lot of this money came from rich plantation owners, but as the North became more industrialized it was able to line political pockets. Combined with the gains in territory with its resultant gains in senators, representatives, and electoral votes, the South was losing political power even as the North gained.
3) Imports/Exports: The South had a few products, such as cotton, tobacco, and a variety of fruits and vegetable, and they did them well. However, they were limited to those products, and little else; they lacked a lot of mineral wealth. On the other hand, the North had forests, a wide variety of furred and feathered animals, room for cattle, and a lot of fertile plains, as well as easy access to metals ranging from iron to gold. This meant that the South was dependent on the North for a variety of products, while the North was virtually independent of the South. Overseas, this situation was magnified; the South imported a lot more than it exported, so it ended up with a trade deficit, while the North usually profited, As the South had to deal with the situation, as the majority of the imports were necessary for daily life, they were lucky that cotton and tobacco were so profitable.
These factors ensured that a war between the states was bound to happen. The South was in an untenable long-term situation and had to gain more territory at some point, but the North had already pretty much laid claim to all of that territory. Taking over islands or Latin America territory was problematical at best. This meant that southerners had to buy up northern territory, but they then had to deal with the slavery issue, which was not a favorite topic in the North.
In essence, the South was running on fumes but figured that they would be able to get more territory to feed their hunger for expensive items, and had to do so using an unpopular form of labor. Thus, while slavery was an issue, it was just the obvious one; The South was doomed to fall at some point and no one wanted to restructure out of pride.
Ultimately, slavery was just the final match that would eventually burn the house of straw that was the Old South....
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