The Ideological Roots of the American Civil War and the Effects of Reconstruction

The questions that are almost always raised following any civil war is whether it was inevitable and could it have been avoided. Certainly that question is applicable to the situation in Iraq today. The American Civil War may not necessarily have been inevitable, but it certainly can't be said to have come as a surprise, either. Simple geography had mandated that a divide in economic interest would exist as the North moved toward an industrial base while the South maintained its agricultural interests. The manner in which economic interests dictated ideological differences could ultimately only be settled through war since neither side since the south was unwilling to make the ultimate compromise. The differing economic needs between the two regions extended to include issues ranging from protective tariffs to the use of slavery.

In order to protect their economic interests, this ideological difference expanded to political differences manifested in opposing views of the very fabric of the union, claiming that there was no constitutional mandate against a state deciding to secede. The future of the union depended greatly upon which view new western states took, and with the expansion of the railroad, these states became dependent upon northern economic interests, leading to the inevitable conclusion amongst southern states that they would soon find themselves a minority section of the union, subject to the political domination of the north and the west.