Causes And Effects Of The Amer :: essays research papers

Causes and Effects of the American Civil War Introduction-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when General Pierre Beauregard opened fire with 50 cannons on Fort Sumter. This marked the beginning of one of the longest and bloodiest wars in American history. It was also the only war that took place fully on American soil. The entire war lasted four years and claimed over 620,000 American lives with many more injured. Causes-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people attribute the cause of this war to the abolishment of slavery and although that was one of the major catalysts in starting the war it was not the main cause behind the war starting. The main cause to the war starting was tat the south was â€Å"sick and tired† of the federal government meddling with the governing of individual states. The states thought that the government â€Å"meddled† too much in the affairs of individual states. The abolishment of slavery was just the excuse the south was looking for to secede from the union and form its own government placing the majority of the governing power in the states and not in a central government. An excellent metaphor for the cause of the war, which I found on the net, is to say that the causes were like a â€Å"Wagon Wheel.† The central hub of the problem being the problem of states rights. This was the central cause behind the war. The spokes of the wheel being either real or perc eived problems of the south such as unfair laws, injustices, etc. Now just having these problems doesn’t make a wheel i.e. a war, you still need the rim of the wheel. The rim in this case was slavery. The reason why this caused the south to secede was because the south’s economy was based upon the backs of slaves. The upper class politicians, the majority of whom were plantation owners, thought they would be devastated by having to pay the slaves. Effects-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The war had some major and long lasting effects. Not the least of all was the instatement of a nation wide ban on slavery setting all the slaves free. A good deal of the former slaves kept on working for the plantations, except this time they were paid. The plantation owners did not, for the most part, suffer as much as they thought they would as a result of this law.