Choose Your Own Adventure: Civil War Edition

Prologue: In the past, America suffered great losses and made great gains through the Revolutionary War in fighting for the country’s triumphant liberation from the British. Now, 78 years later, America has become divided once again however with a much more controversial issue, slavery. The Civil War which began in the year 1869 was caused by the the North and the South’s varying viewpoints on the issue of slavery. Slavery was more popular in the South due to having more plantations and therefore needed more slaves to work in harvesting the profitable cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar. On the other hand, slavery in the North was not as frequent because they owned smaller farms and focused mainly on manufacturing. Additionally, social, economic, and political standpoints led to the explosive beginning of the Civil War. Examples of social issues that led to the destructive Civil War were differing viewpoints caused by religion. Religion played a monumental and integral part of Americans’ opinions. Some believed that slavery was a sin, or that it was their calling from God to enslave or free slaves. Those who were against slavery were called abolitionists. Some abolitionists spread their beliefs through newspapers, speeches, books, and pamphlets. They were also conductors and stationmasters in the Underground railroad and lead the fugitive slaves to freedom.On the other hand, some people thought that slavery was for the slaves’ own benefit or that they were the only ones suitable for the dirty work. Thirdly, people didn’t know what would occur without the slaves to do their work, so they just accepted slavery as a societal norm. Finally, some thought that slavery would make the slaves better people overall, and therefore these philosophies cemented slavery’s stay in America. Those who justified slavery thought it was a necessary evil or it was just necessary in general to support the economy or to increase their profit.  These varying perspectives lead to disagreements that contributed to the frightful civil war.When looking at the causes of the Civil War, political factors affected tensions between the North and the South which in turn increased tempers on both sides. In 1819, there was a tentative balance between slave states and free states, each side wanting more representatives in Congress. Missouri applied for statehood however the Missouri Compromise was created to accept Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. This compromise also proposed the slavery would also be prohibited past the 36’30 latitude line and this held for 34 years before it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.The next influential law was the Compromise of 1850 which was when California applied for being a free state however the Fugitive Slave Act was implemented with this Compromise. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed citizens in free states to capture, arrest, and return slaves to their proper owners. This caused controversy between the North and the South and increased the strains between both sides. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was introduced where the citizens of the state would be allowed to vote whether the state would be a free or slave state. The Republican Party in 1854, first opposed this act and nominated Abraham Lincoln to become President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was a key leader in stopping the issue of slavery however because of this, the election and the acts previously having built on this tension sent the country into chaos. The Civil War was also affected by the South wanting to keep the slaves working because of the new invention, the cotton gin. The cotton gin made the slave’s job much easier when it came to weaving the cotton. The cotton gin made it possible to produce more cotton which led to increasing the profit on huge plantation fields. Large plantation fields meant more slaves. The United States produced two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply with the gin. Southerners’ economy depended on the success of cash crops including tobacco, cotton, and sugar. The South knew that with Abraham Lincoln being elected, slavery might be outlawed. So, the South decided to fight against outlawing slavery and the Civil War began.