[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Civil War
The American Civil War was long in coming. The question at issue was a simple one, secession, the separation of a state from the Union of States, a subject on which the Constitution was silent.Secession became a divisive issue in American society because there developed significant social, cultural and economic differences between the Southern states and the rest of the nation. The South, rural, agricultural and aristocratic, saw its interests threatened as the rest of the nation became increasingly urban, industrial and democratic.
This divergence of interests between the South and the rest of the country existed even before the Revolution, and the differences increased into the early nineteenth century. There were disputes over tariffs, over government sponsored internal improvements and over the distribution of public land, all of which the Northerners and Westerners favored, and the Southerners opposed, since they were of little benefit to its primarily agricultural economy. Complicating the issue was the fact that the population of the North and the West grew at a rate faster than did that of the South, a development itself largely a result of the divergent character of the regions. This trend led to a decline in Southern influence in the Congress, as the House of Representatives took on an increasingly Northern character.
Then Southern influence in the Senate began to be threatened as new states tended towards a Northern or Western socio-economic pattern. Even without further complicating factors, the differences between the sections would have been sufficient to raise tensions, though it is hardly likely that these tensions would have led to an open break. Throughout history the "right of rebellion" has been morally justifiable and, given the differences between North and South, an argument could be made in favor of secession on this basis.Slavery was the cause of the differences between the South and the rest of the Union.......
