Civil War Economic Factors

The American Civil War is one of the main events in American history, and maybe the most important one after the revolution of 1776 which created the United States. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 and we can say that in some way it determined the kind of nation that the United States would be. Out of the existing 34 states at the time, approximately 10 of them had withdrawn from the United States and formed the Confederacy. The Confederate States of America, or the “South”, consisted of slave states, were slavery was legal. The remaining states, or the “North”, formed the Union. The Civil War was fought between the North and the South, and its purpose was to resolve precisely this problem of slavery. Although the economic, political as well as social factors all contributed to the war, in my opinion the economic factors had the most influence on the bringing about of the Civil War.

At the time the population of the US was only around 30 million. These immigrants arrived in the Northern cities, mostly New York. The North and South were divided over the Fugitive State Laws. The presidential election 1852 brought about the end for the Whig party. As the Whig party started falling apart Americans began creating new political arrangements. The Northern Whigs joined the newly formed Republican Party whilst the Southern Whigs moved into the Democratic Party.
In 1854, the Republican Party was formed, as a result to a resistance to compromise with the South. The economic interests of the North and Mid-West comprised of supporting higher tariffs, subsidies for railroad expansion, and strongly opposing to the expansion of slavery in the territories. The differences between the North and the South over railroad policy, the tariff, and the expansion of slavery into the territories became more and more serious with every