Civil War in America was a real test for the whole nation. There are a lot of different reasons which contributed to the prolongation of the Civil War and its beginning, therefore, it is possible to say that the War was inevitable and helped the American nation to understand many important things.
Civil War was an important period in the American history, however, different historians cannot agree on the facts about the main reasons and events which contributed to the beginning and duration of the conflict. Economics was one of the main reasons which caused the development of the Civil War as the slavery in the South was caused by the desire of the Northern Americans to get more money at the expense of the Southern slaves.
Levine is sure that “free” labor was one of the main reasons for the Civil War development as it is impossible to use the labor of slaves without any contribution to their wellbeing. People can survive in different conditions, however, they are unable to suffer cruelty and inequality too long.
Levine provides a number of examples when using the labor of the slaves and getting much money from selling the goods produced by slaves, slave owners did not give any additional support to their employees. Slave owners wee sure that a slave is a property which does not need any contribution. As a result people were tired from such attitude, slaves could not stand anymore such relation and the war began.
Supporting Levine’s idea about economical contribution to the beginning of the Civil War, the following data may be considered. Slavery as the system introduced into the American colonies before the 19th century was not that important as while the period of the Civil War.
Further, the whole book discusses and explains why slavery and other related economic reasons were the main aspects while the Civil War. Slaves were considered as the property and were not distinguished from other property of a rich person, therefore, people could not stand too long. It was obvious that human dignity and the desire to lead a normal life will dominate under the fear before rich and powerful slave owners.
However, Holt disagrees with the economic reasons of the Civil War development. He is sure that the main reasons for the Civil War beginning was the political factor based on the federal system. Of course, it is impossible to refuse from political factor as one of the reasons which were numerous, it is still, impossible to agree on the development of the political aspect as the central in the Civil War causes.
Political life is important, however, the citizens of the poor South were not interested in the political issues. Slaves were busy with other tasks and they had never been really interesting in politics like the citizens of the North America. Therefore, it is impossible to speak about political aspect as the central in the development of the Civil War.
Therefore, it may be concluded that poor South was interested more in economical situation rather than in political problems. The Civil War development was caused by the economical problems and social inequalities which contributed to the duration of the Civil War in America. Political problems were also important, but they did not play that crucial role as economic ones as being poor people were more interested in their well-being than in political troubles.
Bibliography
Holt, Michael F. “The political divisions that contributed to Civil War.” In Major Problems in American History, edited by Elizabeth Cobbs-Hoffman, Jon Gjerde, and Edward J. Blum, 401-413, Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2011.