The Civil War was one of America’s biggest conflicts that broke out all the way back in the 1860s. It involved a major dispute between the Northern Union and Southern Confederates. The two sides’ different opinions on the use of slavery would eventually become the main cause of the war as the South supported slavery while the North opposed the idea of it. The South ultimately seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy. On April 12, 1861, the Confederates attacked the Union base, Fort Sumter, marking the start of the Civil War. Now, that is the basic outline of what started the war as many would know. However, the root causes of the conflict stem all the way into the depths of uncharted territory — one that can not be merely controlled by man; one that’s beyond the reach of our hands; one in which its fate was sealed by Mother Nature eons ago since the creation of our planet… In actuality, differences between the climate and geography of both regions were the root factors that eventually culminated in The Civil War.
The cogs that turned the Civil War are prevalent deep in the roots of the air and land itself as climate and geography largely caused the conflict. Let’s draw some evidence of that point from “Causes of the American Civil War” by Mike Kubic (2016). Kubic explained how “In the lower half of our continent…. The region had good soil and almost year-round growing seasons, and it could produce abundant harvests of such crops as rice, cotton, and tobacco.” This piece of evidence shows how the climate and environment itself affected the lifestyle of the South. They turned to a more agricultural-based industry for their source of wealth. This then led to the “necessity” of slavery for Southerners to support their economy, as Kubic has also stated, “to grow these staples required large fields and plenty of workers who were cheap and, in the description of one South Carolina planter, of ‘inferior’ race ‘but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in docility, (and) in capacity to stand the climate.’” Now we can understand why the South wanted slavery so desperately despite it being a breach of human violation. On the other hand, the North’s “temperate weather encouraged small-scale farming and, from the 1700s on, the growth of an industry that employed tens of thousands of white European immigrants.” From this, we can see that because of the North’s lack of need for slavery for labor in an agricultural environment, they are thus enabled to strive to promote civil rights instead. These pieces of evidence show how because of the conditions of their region, they are inclined to have different methods to develop their economy. Because the economy is a necessity, it leads to opposing views on labor, which results in conflict.
Now some may instead say that the Civil War was mostly caused by political factors. That is also an interesting perspective to look at. States rights was an extremely important topic that was at play here. Because of the federal laws that the government imposed to oppose slavery, the South made a decision to assert their dominance and eventually break away from the Union. Moreover, Abraham Lincoln being on the seat of the President of the United States promoted the abolitionist movement further, which the South was not happy about. It’s true that political factors do play a big role in leading up to the war, and here is a comparison of political and geographical causes. Both types of causes are similar in a way that it ties back to the issue of slavery, except that geographical factors were the cause of slavery, and the political factors were the effect of slavery itself, cause and effect. Geographical factors definitely do originate way earlier and deeper into America’s history, that’s why it is arguably a more significant cause than the political ones as it was the cause of essentially all problems regarding slavery.
In conclusion, I think that the war was beyond control and inevitable to happen. Even though other economic, political, or social factors had an extremely huge role in causing the war, geographical factors are the root cause of everything. The climate has forced the South to devote itself to an agricultural lifestyle (social). Therefore they needed to depend on their source of income for farming (economical). Because of that, they required slavery, which prompted the Northern government to create laws against it in response (political). This gives a whole new perspective of the war than just the South being on the “bad” side and not caring about human rights while the North is the “hero” of this battle. Both sides have their own intentions that have been created for them inherently by the very land they walk on. Understanding the causes of nature allowed for a broader and wider perspective that provided intrinsic reasoning for the intentions of people during the time. Ultimately, it is lifestyles and necessities that craft the way we think. Sometimes different views arise because of the dissimilar environments we find ourselves in, which can often lead to conflict.
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