The American Civil War - 1654 Words

The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865. And since the end of the war historians have been trying to figure out what caused the bloodiest war in American history. What would cause brother to fight against brother? Could it be the Emancipation Proclamation, which was an executive order given by President Lincoln that freed the slaves in the states that had seceded. Was it the election of Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860 trigger the desire to secede from the nation? Or was it the tariffs, such as the tariff of 1816 and the Tariff of Abomination, which caused the South, thought they were being treated unfairly economically? The main cause of the American Civil War was economic reasons. This is because the South felt like they were being†¦show more content†¦This made it so there was more competition for the cotton, but with the tariff the South had to trade with the north due to the tax that was imposed by the tariff. This ended up giving the North a better deal on cotton, w hich hurt the South, because they could not sell it for as much due to the lack of a foreign market for it. Another tariff that the South didn’t like was the Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abomination. This lead to the Nullification Crisis by South Carolina, because they did not want the tariff, and the point of the tariff was to benefit northern industrialists. In document E it says, â€Å"’Nullification’ movement in South Carolina was entirely directed against the tariff.† This is because it hurt South Carolina and the South. The Southern State believed in a state sovereignty and because of that South Carolina believed that they had the right to nullify this tariff and could even threaten to secede. This starts to show how Southern states will secede if they believe that they are being treated unfairly, and that laws are made to benefit the only the North. The South was against the Tariff of Abomination, and because of that they felt like t hat they were being treated unfairly. Document G is a speech by Jefferson Davis where he says that a state has the right to go against the government if they feel that they are justified. This is because he believed in state sovereignty, which South