The American Civil War was a combination of four decades of intense social conflict and reflected economic, social and political differences between the Northern and the Southern states. Through the four years of bitter conflict and sacrifice, America would emerge a stronger and unified nation. This essay will examine the major causes and aftermath of the war.
Slavery vs. Freedom
At the root of the Civil War was the issue of slavery. The South was based on one crop-cotton-and the labour of the 4 million slaves who wee needed to grow it. The slave became an ever more important element of the southern economy, and so the debate about slavery, for the southerner, gradually evolved into an economically based question of money and power, and ceased to be a theoretical question at all. It became an institution that southerners felt bound to protect.
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