Slavery

Slavery was a big issue before the Civil War because the North and the South had differing views on it. The North didn't use slavery, and was growing because of the Industrial Revolution and a majority of the people condemned slavery. However, slavery in the South grew because slavery made Southern economy strong. Plantation owners in the south made large profits from slaves who grew their crops and also from the domestic slave trade.

Slave owners defended slavery by saying that it was a positive good that allowed a civilized lifestyle for whites. Many of them lived extravagantly. For example, the textbook describes how James Henry Hammond built a Greek style mansion with a center hall that was 53 ft by 20 ft with Belgian tiles and Brussels carpets. While the elite slave owners and planters lived this way, their slaves lived in poverty and many were beaten and whipped by overseers.

I think that slavery was one of the major causes of the Civil War because the North and South had differing views of it. Although people in the North were racists towards African Americans, some wanted slavery abolished, which the South condemned. The South wanted to keep slavery because it helped their economy and they believed it was a just system. They also believed in States' rights. Southerners claimed that the government was prohibited by the 10th amendment to violate slave holders' right to take their "property" into new territory and that the government wasn't permitted to interfere with slavery in states where it already existed.