Civil War Unfinished Business American Revolution

The Civil War was caused by a constellation of factors. This text will focus on the social and religious factors that led to the Civil War. In so doing it well highlight the role that Abraham’s Lincoln’s election (a political factor) and the issue of slavery (a social factor) played on this front. From the onset, it would be prudent to note that there were numerous differences between the Southern states and the Northern states. One such difference was in relation to the issue of slavery. To a large extent, most Southern states were hugely reliant upon slavery to power labor in farms. The Northern states were, however, abolitionists and had the perspective that slavery was immoral. Most wealthy landowners started feeling threatened by campaigns against slavery by the likes of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

From a political perspective, the Southern states were keen on maintaining their right to keep slaves (as well as the abolishment of a number of other laws they were not in favor of) – an objective which could only be achieved if they asserted their power over the federal government. This objective was complicated by the growing prominence of the Republican Party and the subsequent election of Abraham Lincoln – a Republican. The fear of exclusion from the political system and concern that President Lincoln would implement policies that would be harsh to their interests triggered the move towards succession, and hence civil war.