Causes Of The American Civil War

8 Pages 2004 Words

uld to keep
it. This was the issue that overshadowed all others. At this time the
labor force in the South had about 4 million slaves. These slaves were
very valuable to the slaveholding planter class. They were a huge
investment to Southerners and if taken away, could mean massive
losses to everyone. Slaves were used in the South as helpers in the
fields in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo, as well as
many other jobs. The South especially needed more slaves at this time
because they were now growing more cotton then ever because of the
invention of the cotton gin. Cotton production with slaves jumped from
178,000 bales in 1810 to over 3,841,000 bales in 1860. Within that
time period of 50 years the number of slaves also rose from about
1,190,000 to over 4,000,000. The plantation owners in the South
could not understand why the North wanted slavery abolished that bad.
Southerners compared it with the wage-slave system of the North. They
said that the slaves were better cared for then the free factory
workers in the North. Southerners said that slaveowners provided
shelter, food, care, and regulation for a race unable to compete in
the modern world without proper training. Many Southern preachers
proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. But after the
American Revolution slavery really died it the North, just as it was
becoming more popular in the South. By the time of 1804 seven of the
northern most states had abolished slavery. During this time a surge
of democratic reform swept the North and West. There were demands for
political equality and economic and social advances. The Northerners
goals we...