Slavery's Effect On A Nation

Essay by jonocketHigh School, 12th gradeA+, March 2006

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The Civil War was definitely one of the worst wars America has ever fought. Not only because of the tremendous loss of lives but because it set brother against brother, father against son, blood against blood. Many people often think that the war was fought only for the freedom of slaves. Although slavery played a major role, and was the main reason in why the Civil War was fought, it was not the only factor. If they would look a little closer Americans would find there was much more behind one of the worst wars in out nation's history. For instance, regional economics, constitutional opinions, and moral judgments did play a role in starting a war. Yet slavery remains the foundational cause of the division in the country which led to the Civil War.

The differing regional economies were an important part of life in the early 1800's. The Northern states were very trade and business centered.

They prospered on a variety of commerce and factory merchandise. The southern states however were no so fortunate. Because of the geography there were only three main products coming from the South. The largest and most profitable product was cotton. It wasn't always the most advantageous however until April 1793. In Georgia a man named Eli Whitney noticed that it took a single slave a whole day to pick the seeds out of one pound of cotton. That's when he set his mind to inventing a machine that "seeded" the cotton itself. This made cotton plantations more and more successful. This obviously fueled the slavery market since a cotton plantation could only be run by labor. Without anyone realizing what had happened the South became a cotton producing machine in constant need of slaves.

Constitutional opinions were another issue pulling towards the...