Why Did The South Seceded From The Union

6 Pages 1427 Words

There were many reasons why the South wanted to secede but the main reason had to do with the North's view on slavery.
There were a few reasons other then the slavery issue, that the South disagreed on and that persuaded them to ceded from the Union. The North favored a loose interpretation of the United States Constitution. They wanted to grant the federal government increased powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states. The North also wanted internal improvements sponsored by the federal government. This was more roads, railroads, and canals. The South, on the other hand, did not want these projects to be done at all. In addition, the North wanted to develop a tariff. With a high tariff, it protected the Northern manufacturer. It was bad for the South because a high tariff would not let the south trade its cotton for foreign goods.
Now the main reason for the South's secession was the Slavery issue. The South needed it for economic reasons and the North did not want it at all. The South was going to do anything they could to keep it. This issue 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 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 co...