Essay Sample on Differences Between the North and South that Led to the Civil War

The North and the South had both economic and political differences in the 1860s, such as different opinions regarding slavery and a different interpretation of U.S. Constitution. The South relied on the use of slavery to give value to their economy, and believed that without slavery, their economy would become a total wasteland. As for the North, they believed slavery was “un-American”, therefore it should not be used at all. The North and South also had political differences when it came to the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, they couldn’t agree on whether all states should obey it. The South believed that states shouldn’t be forced to follow the constitution, instead they should give consent first, but the North believed that we should follow and respect the Constitution. Due to these differences, both the North and South were in great dispute and couldn’t find any common ground anymore. While the South wanted to expand the use of slavery, the North wanted to stop it. The disputes they had on this matter would later grow more and more fierce and in the end, they went to war with each other; the battle between them is known as the Civil War. 

As I said in my thesis, the South used slavery to give their economy value, through the massive use of slavery in the South, their economy grew so much and so reliant on slavery that they believed it shouldn’t be abolished. According to document 5, it states “Finally, by the 1840s, it was pouring into Texas.... Now in the Southwest, West, and South, slave owners insisted that slavery was absolutely essential to that story of progress. Without slavery, you could not have civilization, they said.”. This demonstrates how the slave owners in the South felt about the use of slavery and how it was necessary to keep. They believed it was necessary because their economy already couldn’t live without it, and they wanted the upper class to focus on literature, the arts, mechanical advancements, and inventions of all kinds. In document 5 it also stated “ Slavery freed the upper class from the need to do manual labor, freed them from actually settling and creating civilization, freed them from working on the land, to worry about economic day-to-day realities.... and therefore gave them the time and the intellectual ability to devote themselves to the arts and literature and mechanical advantages and inventions of all kinds”. This affirms how slavery made it so the upper class could focus on literature and mechanical advancements. The South wanted to expand slavery even more by annexing Texas and turning it into a slave state. In document 6 it states “every step that was taken to promote a revolution, and to establish temporarily a new government, was taken under the advice, and chiefly through the agency, of slave-holders belonging to the United States, who were intent upon defeating anti-slavery policies of the Mexican republic, and sought at the same time, through the accession of a vast slave-holding territory, to extend and perpetuate the power of the Slave states in this union”. This shows how it was primarily slave owners who wanted to annex Texas and make it a slave state and use its power for the economy. Due to the South using slavery so much for their economy, states like Virginia had become completely reliant on it, and because of cases like that, the South did not want to abolish slavery. In document 3, it states “It is, in truth, the slave labor in Virginia which gives value to the soil and to her economy. Take this away and you ruin her. Remove the slave population from the State and it is absolutely safe to say that on the day this happens, Virginia will become a “waste howling wilderness.” “. Document 3 indicates states had started to become too reliant of slavery, and without it, it would become a wasteland. By using slavery, the South added value to their economy and had become too reliant on it, they also believed that it brings great benefits to the upper class, and so they wanted to expand it. The disagreement was so great between the North and South that slavery and anti-slavery groups got into a violent battle on the territory of Kansas, this clash was known as Bleeding Kansas.  

The North used means of manufacturing to increase the value in their economy, they believed that by the Constitution, slavery was “un-American” and should be abolished, but the North thought the states should decide on their own whether they should follow the Constitution. According to document 1, the North had a great value in their production which is why their economy kept growing. In document 1 it also demonstrates how the North had many railroads, with these railroads it was easy for them to trade, which made it much easier for them to manufacture and increase the value of their manufacturing. In comparison to the South, they had the upper hand in the value of manufacturing and also railroads, these railroads would later on greatly help the North in the Civil war. Due to them having these variables helping their economy grow, they would obviously not think slavery was necessary, instead they thought it was “un-American”. According to document 2, it states “IN this way, by the force of truth, we expect to correct the common errors that prevail respecting slavery, and to produce a just public sentiment, which shall appeal both to the conscience and love of character, of our slave-holding fellow-citizens, and convince them that both their duty and their welfare require the immediate abolition of slavery…  Slavery is un-American. “. This document demonstrates how the Anti-Slavery society, formed in the North, felt about the use of slavery. The North felt as if it did not follow the constitution and therefore it should be abolished, but the South believed they shouldn’t be forced to follow the constitution. According to document 4, it states “The South maintained with the depth of religious conviction that the Union formed under the Constitution was a Union of consent and not of force “. This document shows how the South believed they shouldn’t be forced to follow the constitution, instead they thought the states should give consent to it first. While the North wanted the South to abolish slavery because it was unconstitutional, they disagreed and decided not to do so. Their disagreements on both the constitution and whether slavery should be expanded or not onto places like Texas was what ultimately led to them clashing. 

In conclusion, the North and the South both had major differences when it came to the constitution and the use of slavery. The North used slavery to increase the value in their economy and free the upper class of manual labor, while the South used manufacturing and railroads to increase the value of their economy. Both of them also had a different set of opinions regarding the constitution, the South believed that their states weren’t forced to follow the constitution, while the North believed that they should and what they were doing was “un-American”. Their economic and political differences was what started the Civil War of the United States.