Causes of ACW
- slavery: central factor dividing the nation
- Missouri Compromise 1820
- Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
- Economic differences between North & South
- South relied on enslaved labour for plantation based agri economy
- North developed industrial economy with factory, cities, wage labour
- conflict over trade, taxation, labour policies
- States’ right & compact sovereignty
- fear of losing power among south
- Fugitive Slave Act 1850: required free states to return escaped slaves, creating resentment in north
- Republican Party 1850s to prevent expansion of slavery
- Abraham Lincoln’s election 1860
- North supported protective tariff to encourage industrial growth, while south relied on imported goods, slave labour, opposed them
- Division within south: not all slave holding states supported secession eg. West Virginia
ACW Impacts
- emergence of stronger union
- major constitutional changes
- citizenship, civil rights, equality
- 13th Amendment 1865 - abolished slavery
- 14th Amendment 1868 - extended suffrage to formerly enslaved men
- Southern economy collapsed as they dependent on slave labour; while north grew