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Social Reasons For The Civil War

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The civil war was mainly sparked by tensions between the north and the south. Both sides rarely agreed on topics and could never make a compromise. Slavery was a big reason for the start of the civil war, but the causes don’t end there. Although some may say that political or economic reasons started the civil war between the north and the south, political reasons were the real cause. This is because of important decisions made by the government, and the south seceding. Some believe that social reasons were the cause of the civil war. One of the main social issues was between whites and blacks, and writer James Loewen explains: “...most white Southerners-and many Northerners, too-could not envisions life in black-majority states such as South carolina and Mississippi unless blacks were in chains. Georgia Supreme Court Justice Henry Benning, trying to persuade the Virginia Legislature to leave the Union, predicted race war if slavery was not protected.” (57-60 Five Myths). This means that most of the white settlers were uncomfortable with the blacks to begin with. Just as time went on, their views changed. It may be true that changing views on slavery created tensions, however, the views being changed was due to the government which had created political parties that separated the north and south with their beliefs on slavery. The south was a plantation based region. The main group of people there were farmers but not all were wealthy. In 1860, many subsistence farmers

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