by Jimmy Flatbush

Created on: November 15, 2010

Economic disputes have historically played a pivotal role in fanning the flames of war. It should not be a revelation, then, that America’s deadliest war formed its roots in the economic conflict that erupted between the northern and southern states. However, popular myths still abound concerning the causes of the Civil War. The biggest myth of all is that the War Between the States was fought solely because of slavery.

Slavery was certainly an issue, but not due to the moral implications of enslaving people for the fruits of their labor. Even President Abraham Lincoln, who historians mistakenly credit with ending slavery, did not want the fragile union divided over the contentious slavery issue. As he remarked during his first inaugural address, “My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery.” One can surmise that Lincoln harbored racist views, as evident by the following comment: “I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.”

The immediate abolishment of slavery would have devastated the agrarian South, where unlike in the industrial North, humans comprised the bulk of the region’s working capital. Each slave was worth an average of $15,000 in 1862, which incredibly translates to nearly $1,000,000 in 2010 dollars. Southern politicians wanted at best a gradual phasing out of the hideous practice. Southern plantation owners knew the day would arrive when they had to convert their slave investments into a more profitable industrial production.

Since the South was predominantly an agrarian region, it had to import practically all of its manufactured goods from the northern states and Europe. In turn, the two manufacturing regions provided large markets for the South’s agricultural commodities, especially lucrative cotton. Surprisingly, Europe could undercut the prices of most of the North’s manufactured products, even with the additional cost of shippi9ng added to the final price. The South took advantage of Europe’s lower prices, which agitated Republican politicians who dominated northern politics.

Republicans decided to use the federal government to intervene and swing the competitive advantage back in the favor of their business benefactors. They levied severe import duties on European products, claiming the duties in the best interest of the country. This

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