Central Question: Was economic difference—manufacturing in the North and slave-driven agriculture in the South—the primary cause of the Civil War?
What Textbooks Say
Textbooks have traditionally taught that incompatibility between northern and southern economies caused the Civil War. Everything else was tied to that economic difference, anchored by cotton.
[...] »
What Historians Say
The Civil War was fought for many reasons, not solely or even primarily because of the growing importance of cotton on southern farms. Moving away from economic differences and cotton as simplistic causes leads to a more accurate, and far more interesting, understanding of the causes of the Civil War.
[...] »
What Sources Say
Census data from 1860 shows farms, manufacturing, and cities in the North and the South, as well as the location of slaves and cotton in southern states, all of which challenge the notion of a purely agricultural South and industrialized North.
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Abstract
For years, textbook authors have contended that economic difference between North and South was the primary cause of the Civil War. The northern economy relied on manufacturing and the agricultural southern economy depended on the production of cotton. The desire of southerners for unpaid workers to pick the valuable cotton strengthened their need for slavery. The industrial revolution in the North did not require slave labor and so people there opposed it. The clash brought on the war.
Economic divergence is certainly one of the reasons for the Civil War, but neither the major one nor the only one. Many factors brought about the war. Focusing only on different economies would be like arguing that one professional football team will always win because it has taller players.
The true causes of the Civil War are downright intriguing and just as complex as the conflict itself.
Read the full essay and explore the sources. »
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journal article
Slavery and Southern Economic GrowthSouthern Economic Journal
Vol. 45, No. 4 (Apr., 1979)
, pp. 1007-1022 (17 pages)
Published By: Southern Economic Association
//doi.org/10.2307/1056952
//www.jstor.org/stable/1056952
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Journal Information
The Southern Economic Journal features original, refereed scholarly articles in all areas of economics as well as contributions on the pedagogy of economics. The journal also contains occasional invited papers such as the Distinguished Guest Lecture, and the Presidential Address from the annual conference of the Southern Economic Association (SEA). In addition, the journal serves members of SEA and other readers interested in economics through the publication of book reviews, and announcements. The Southern Economic Journal has been published quarterly by the Southern Economic Association since its inception in 1933, and currently contains approximately 1,000 printed pages per year.
Publisher Information
The Southern Economic Association (SEA) was founded in 1927 to further the education of scholars and the public in economic affairs. Toward this end, the organization seeks to stimulate interest in and disseminate results of recent research in theory, policy making, business practices, and regulation. Currently, SEA has approximately 1,000 members worldwide, and more than 1,000 additional institutional subscribers to the journal. The Association holds its annual conference meetings in November, and publishes quarterly the Southern Economic Journal.
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