Civil War (1861-1865)

Introduction
A civil war is a battle or conflict between two or more groups who are located within the same state or country. Such a war erupted in America and was fought from 1861 to the year 1865. The war caused the death of many citizens in the United States of America, and it remains to be one of the bloodiest war in history until now. The war was mainly between the Northern States and the Southern states in America. The war led to the death of many soldiers than those that lost their lives in both world wars. We are going to discuss the three schools of thoughts regarding the eruption of the civil war which was States’ rights, Slavery and Sectionalism.
Content
The major cause of the eruption of civil war in America was slavery in the region. Members of the civil war who were the Union, confederate leaders, and the soldiers believed that slavery was the major cause of civil war. The confederate’s leaders from the South fought to maintain their slaves who worked in their cotton farms and brought major profits to them. However, the northern people believed that slavery was an evil system and it should be abolished in the country. Slavery was illegal in the northern part, while people from the South believed that abolishment of slavery was tampering with their constitutional rights and this factor led to the eruption of the war.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as the president of the United States also led to the eruption of the civil war in the country. This situation is because Abraham Lincoln did not support the system of slavery at all and therefore the people of the South felt that they were highly misrepresented in the government.

The people from the South believed that he would favor the Northern interests a lot such as the abolishment of slavery and this led to the start of the civil war in America. When Lincoln was elected as president most states supporting slavery had withdrawn from the Union and merged to form the Confederacy.
Slavery was also one of the major acts that led to the emergence of the civil war as proved by the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act was meant for the states to decide for themselves whether they wanted to be free or slaves during the year 1854. However, in the year 1856, the war was experienced in the states between forces supporting slavery and those that were opposing slavery leading to the loss of many lives. This battle was just a sign of the civil war that would erupt due to the abolishment of slavery.
State’s rights were also another argument regarding the eruption of the civil war, but it was a very weak argument not worth supporting. Various Southern states believed that they had the right to leave the union when they wished to which the northern states did not agree with. However, the states’ rights did not explain the purpose of why they were willing to leave the union. This action doesn’t prove that states’ rights were the major cause of the start of the civil war.
Also, State right was also a weak argument towards the eruption of the civil war since the only state right that people asked was the ownership of slaves and no other right. This reason shows that the battle erupted due to slavery and not state rights. Most people, especially from the south, wanted to own slaves and travel with them anywhere they wanted, and this was the major right they were fighting for.
Another reason why states’ rights was a weak argument about the eruption of the civil war is that they were always meant to satisfy the self-interest of certain individuals, groups or states in America. The state rights were only meant to hide the dependence of the southern people on their slaves before the civil war. Therefore, the state rights were only meant to allow slavery and failure to these led to the eruption of the civil war.
Sectionalism is the support of a particular section or region in a country rather than the whole country. Sectionalism was also caused by slavery in the United States and therefore it was not a major cause of the civil war . The southern section supported slavery while the northern section did not support it and this led to the civil war. Therefore, this shows that slavery was the major cause of sectionalism which later led to the civil war.
Sectionalism due to slavery also led to the splitting of the country’s largest religious denomination. This situation was due to the rejection of bishops and missionaries who owned slaves in the country. Therefore, sectionalism did not lead to the civil war rather it led to the establishment of different religious denominations in the country.
America was also divided into different economic activities before the eruption of the civil war. The northern part was highly industrialized and urbanized and did not allow slavery. However, the southern part engaged itself in agriculture where they deployed slaves in their plantations. However, the economic differences did not lead to the civil war since both economic activities complemented each other.
Conclusion
In conclusion, slavery was the major cause of the American civil war. Other factors such as states’ rights and sectionalism were also brought about by slavery and thus leading to the eruption of the war. Therefore these other factors can be seen as weak factors that led to the eruption of the war and slavery as the main factor. Moreover, slavery was the major cause of sectionalism and states’ rights and thus leading to the civil war.

Bibliography
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