Causes of the Civil War.
Meaning of the Constitution.
THE most general cause of the civil war in the United States was the different construction put upon the Constitution by the people of the North and of the South. A difference of opinion existed as to how that instrument was to be understood. One party held that the Union of the States is indissoluble; that the States are subordinate to the central government; that the acts of Congress are binding on the States; and that all attempts at nullification and disunion are disloyal and treasonable. The other party held that the national Constitution is a compact between sovereign States; that for certain reasons the Union may be dissolved; that the sovereignty of the nation belongs to the individual States; that a State may annul an act of Congress; that the highest allegiance of the citizen is due to his own State; and that nullification and disunion are justifiable and honorable.
2. This question struck into the very heart of the government. It threatened to undo the whole civil structure of the United States. In the earlier history of the country the doctrine of State sovereignty was most advocated in New England. Afterwards the people of that section passed over to the advocacy of national sovereignty, while the people of the South took up the doctrine of State rights. As early as 1831 the right of nullifying an act of Congress was openly advocated in South Carolina. Thus it happened that the belief in State sovereignty became more prevalent in the South than in the North.
Systems of Labor.
3. A second cause of the civil war was the different system of labor in the North and in the South. In the former section the laborers were freemen; in the latter, slaves. In the South the theory was that capital should own labor; in the North that both labor and capital are free. In the beginning all the colonies had been slaveholding. In the Eastern and Middle States the system of slave-labor had been abolished. In the Northwestern Territory slavery was excluded from the beginning. Thus there came to be a dividing line drawn through the Union. Whenever the question of slavery was agitated, a sectional division would arise between the North and the South. The danger arising from this source was increased by several subordinate causes.
4. The first of these was the invention of the Cotton Gin to replace hand-labor in separating the fiber from the seeds of the cotton plant. It was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, and through its immediate adoption cotton suddenly became the most profitable of all the staples. In proportion to the increased profitableness of cotton, slave-labor grew in demand and slavery became an important and deep-rooted institution.
5. From this time onward, there was constant danger of disunion. In the Missouri Agitation of 1820-21, threats of dissolving the Union were freely made in both the North and the South. When the Missouri Compromise was enacted, it was the hope of Mr. Clay and his fellow-statesmen to save the Union by removing the slavery question from politics.
6. Next came the Nullification Acts of South Carolina. The Southern States had become cotton-producing; the Eastern States had given themselves to manufacturing. The tariff measures favored manufacturers at the expense of producers. Mr. Calhoun proposed to remedy the evil by annulling the laws of Congress; and another compromise was found necessary in order to allay the animosities which had been awakened.
7. The Annexation of Texas led to a renewal of the agitation. Those who opposed the Mexican War did so because of the fact that thereby slavery would be extended. Whether the territory acquired should be made into free or slaveholding States was the question next agitated. This led to the Omnibus Bill, by which the excitement was again allayed.
8. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Bill opened the question anew. Meanwhile, the character of the Northern and the Southern people had become quite different. In population and wealth the North had far outgrown the South. In 1860 Mr. Lincoln was elected by the votes of the Northern States. The people of the South were exasperated at the choice of a chief-magistrate whom they regarded as hostile to their interests.
Sectional Estrangement.
9. The third general cause of the war was the want of intercourse between the people of the North and the South. The great railroads ran east and west. Between the North and the South there was little travel. From want of acquaintance the people became estranged, jealous, and suspicious.
10. A fourth cause was the publication of sectional books. During the twenty years preceding the war, many works were published whose popularity depended on the animosity existing between the two sections. In such books the manners and customs of one section were held up to the contempt of the people of the other section. In the North the belief was fostered that the South was given up to inhumanity; while in the South the opinion prevailed that the Northern people were a mean race of cowardly Yankees.
Influence of Demagogues.
11. The evil influence of demagogues may be cited as the fifth general cause of the war. From 1850 to 1860, American statesmanship and patriotism were at a low ebb. Ambitious and scheming politicians had obtained control of the political parties. The welfare of the country was put aside as of little value. In order to gain power, many unprincipled men in the South were anxious to destroy the Union, while others in the North were willing to abuse the Union for the same purpose.
12. Added to all these causes was a growing public opinion in the North against the institution of slavery itself; a belief that slavery was wrong and ought to be destroyed. This opinion, comparatively feeble at the beginning of the war, was rapidly developed, and had much to do in determining the final character of the conflict.