THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

"The tragic ‘fireball in the night’ imagined by Jefferson had finally

rung. The Missouri Compromise had failed. Proslavery and antislavery

civilians clashed in the streets and took up arms. Thousands of Northerners

were willing to die for their beliefs. The Civil War had begun. The states

were at war with each other." This dividing battle between the North and the

South was unavoidable. The Civil War was caused by economic, political and

moral problems. It all started by an alarming increase in a need for cotton,

which triggered the building of a barrier between two territories in a growing

nation.

New Machinery was changing the textile industry in New England and

Britain. These mills needed more and more cotton, creating a new demand in

the south. For this trade with Europe, after 1812, raw cotton accounted for

one-third all cotton exports of the United States. By 1830, it increased to half.

Cotton quickly became a big money-making cash crop for the South and

North economy alike. But the demand also revived the need for slaves. The

plantations had to be worked, and blacks were a cheap, efficient way to get

the cotton picked. To make their jobs easier, Eli Whitney took advantage of

the new idea, and invented the cotton gin(short for engine). It rapidly cleaned

the seeds from the short, sticky fibers of upland cotton, the variety that grew

all over the South. The process was simple: a roller carried raw cott...

THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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