What caused the American civil war?
This article is based on a personal study taken by me (the author) to explore something I've always wanted to seriously study and report on known but never got fully around to doing it. however, since April is (unofficially) confederate history month I decided to spend a good part of the month looking over my old notes and taking a deep dive into what exactly caused the Confederacy to be formed (that is, many of the southern states to secede).
A little bit about how I got involved on this particular topic:
While I am a Christian, I'm also an American and specifically an (ethnic) southerner; all of my family has lived in the south...well since the 13 colonies were founded at least: about well over 100 years at this point (I have even tracked some of my family: [my grandad on my mom's side] to one of the first colonists of Jamestown in 1610 A.D. this was the first official settlement of what would become the United States). I also found out many of my ancestors had fought for the Confederacy during the American civil war; And despite it being very personal to my family I was very ignorant of my area's history; since I was sick with autism I much prefer to daydream, study nature, imagine, watch cartoon, study science, and even draw; than learn about history that I found boring and unappealing. However, as a teenager that changed; I got into reading the Bible and I learned how history was very important to God and the Bible: in fact for the most part the Bible is a history book. I was very interested in finding out how Noah's son (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) descendants turned into the ancient nations of the world; this led to my other project I've been working on for about 10 years now (that I plan to talk about later in the future) However I still knew very little about the Confederacy; until one day I was study American history at my grandma's house and I told her I was studying about the American civil war at this time, she asked me what the civil war was fought over I said "well slavery" she then told me "well your grandad's ancestors fought in the Confederacy and he told me they didn't fight for slavery" I was curious: in my book I was studying it said clearly the Confederacy was fighting to preserve slavery she then asked my grandad what they were fighting for and he told me "for freedom". I was a little shocked; and very confused at the same time: here my book said that the Confederacy was formed and fought to keep slavery of the descendants of enslaved Africans, yet her my own grandfather, whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy during this time was telling me they fought 'for freedom'. I was confused and had many questions after that, if not slavery then what were the confederates fighting for? If freedom, freedom from what? And if it was true that slavery was not the cause of the civil war then did this mean the history book I was studying was all a lie concerning this? I then began to get curious about the civil war and the Confederacy and did some research of my own. I asked my dad once concerning what caused the confederacy to be formed, as a civil war history buff, and he said without a doubt it was due to slavery. I told him what my grandad had told me, and he replied it was for sure slavery and not only this God was against the south because of it and punish them by allowing their horrible defeat. At this point I was very confused: could my grandad be wrong? Were the Confederates really fighting for slavery but thought they were fighting for something else? now being such a big part of not only my family's history but my countries too, now I just had to know the truth about all this: and this is how I got involved in studying about the confederacy.
Now I know what many will say to this 'Why investigate any further? it's obvious the south (Confederacy) was formed to persevere and fought for slavery; this is well recorded in history books so it's really pointless to look for another reason which does not exists.' I admit it looks that way at first, but I'll remind you of 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Where Paul says to the church to:
“Test [prove] all things; hold fast what is good”
As Christians it is my job to look at all things and prove the truth of them even if we think we know the truth (or reason) very well. And the American civil war and what caused it are no different; they fit in the category of all things! With that in mind let’s unbiasedly examine the reason for the civil war and what it really caused it.
Was slavery the cause of the civil war?
The civil war was caused by Lincoln attacking fort Sumter, which was caused by many southern states seceding and dissolving the union (United States) to form their own country (the confederate states) and the northern states (the union states), which was caused by Lincoln being elected and the southern states having enough of his and the northern states doctrines. However, this is where the ultimate conclusion comes in: The Southern states seceded from the union because the of his abolitionist's orders: because the South wanted to keep Blacks (The descendants of enslaved Africans) as slaves and not let them be free/equal. Thus, the white Southerners were racists and their cause for seceding was evil in every sense of the word, thus they were fighting for the wrong thing:
So, ultimately, the cause of the American civil war was due to slavery, right?
Why it might seem like that's the reason at first look:
the states that seceded were all legal slave owning states and many southern states wrote their reason for succeeding was due to persevere this slavery:
For example, the Mississippi statement for secession from the union list preserving slavery as a number one sole reason for leaving:
"…Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery -- the greatest material interest of the world…” [1]
So now isn't it clear what confederates stood for? Should there be any question about it now?
However, there are other things to consider; while at first this may seem like why the southern states seceded, but a deeper look at the events before the civil war and witnesses during the civil war tell a very different story that seem to contradict it being mainly about slavery:
Note: I'm not saying that the controversial issue of slavery was not a big issue at this time nor am I saying it didn't possibly play a part in causing the American civil war: what I am saying is what agreed here with the main sources: that the issue of preserving slavery was NOT the main reason for the southern states seceding as often though; there was something much more disturbing and hidden happening that really caused it:
This is proven by both direct witnesses (both Northerners and Southerns as well as non-Americans) and by a specific event that sounds eerily similar to what happened to cause the civil war:
Witnesses during the civil war
Americans (both Southerners and Northerners)
Many Americans (both Northerners and Southerners) at this time noted, that although many Southerners (and Northerners), said that slavery was the cause of the secession; this was not really the ultimate cause of the secession, but rather it's described as serving as just a 'pretext' to stir the south (and North) up against something else that was really behind it:
Northerners
the Boston periodical "The North American Review" said this was the case: that slavery was not really the ultimate cause of the secession, but rather the pretext to stir the south up against something else that was really causing it: and that something else is noted to be a tariff:
"Slavery is not the cause of the rebellion...[it] is the pretext on which the leaders of the rebellion rely 'to fire the Southern heart,'....Mr. Calhoun, after finding that the South could not be brought into sufficient unanimity by a clamor about the tariff, selected slavery as the better subject for agitation.[2A]"
This quote also explains why many Southerners said slavery was the cause of their secession: according to this it was just a 'pretext' to bring more people to fight against this tariff: so, in this sense if all this is true (and there's no reason to really doubt it), while Southern leaders did choose slavery as the reason for secession, they really meant another thing by it.
Southerners
the New Orleans newspaper "The New Orleans Daily crescent" confirms that this tariff: which included massive amounts of money to the North/Federal Government (in millions of dollars per year) ,'propped' the federal government of the U.S. up as well as making up the main bulk of the country's wealth, was the real reason for the southern states' succession:
“The south is the main prop and support of the federal system…it is southern productions that constitute the surplus wealth of the nation,…They [the northerners] know that it is the import trade that draws from the [southern] people’s pockets sixty or seventy millions of dollars per annum…to be expended mainly in the North, and in the protection and encouragement of northern interests.[2B]”
Foreigners (non-Americans)
And not just Americans said the true cause of the south seceding was tariffs, even some non-Americans at this time also said the same thing:
Karl Marx, a Jewish-German (Prussian) political leader at this time; the founder of communism, ran a political news article in London called ‘Die Presse’ ('The Press' in German) during the civil war, he said this in one news article concerning the ongoing civil war in North America:
"The war between the North and the South is a tariff war. The war is, further, not for any principle, does not touch the question of slavery …[2C]"
(Note: While Karl Marx was truly an evil anti-Christ man who founded the satanic system of Communism [which will be talked about more at a later date in this section why I concluded this] he was also a man who was informed about the political issues of the western nations at this time, and it's very important to note he clearly mentions here concerning the American civil, that it was a tariff war that had really little or nothing to do with slavery at all.)
Charles Dickens a famous English author at this time (the author of 'Oliver Twist' and 'A Christmas carol') also traveled a good bit to the U.S. at the time before the American civil war and got to firsthand talk about the real reasons behind it in detail in his periodical report "All the year round" he ultimately concludes at the end of his discussion on it of the cause of this civil war was really about the North losing money in the form of these tariffs no longer coming in because of the southern states seceding from the union: that the love of money is the true cause of the civil war and even goes so far to say it was an evil war!
“So the case stands, and under all the passion of parties and the cries of battle lie the two chief moving causes of the struggle. Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North. The love of money is the root of this as of many many other evils. [2D]."
He finally concluded that all the talk about ending slavery from Northerners in justifying causing the civil war just a ridiculous made-up excuse to try to subjugate the Southern states back into the union in order to continue to get their wealth from them:
“The Northern onslaught upon slavery was no more than a piece of specious humbug designed to conceal it's desire for economic control of the Southern states.[2E]"
So, all these quotes regarding the cause of the civil war seem to point to one conclusion: that slavery was NOT the cause of the southern states seceding (though it might have been perpetrated like that by both sides outwardly) but rather was really caused by the Morrel tariff that was taking millions of dollars away from southern income to support the federal government and northern economies.
But yet that's not all the proof this was the true cause: there was another event that happened, not too long before the civil war that's sounds exactly like what would cause the civil war later:
The nullification crisis of 1833 A.D.
Only 27 years earlier previously, South Carolina was threatening to secede from the U.S.; but it wasn’t due to slavery this time, it was due to the Morrel tariff: a tariff whose taxes benefited northern factories but hurt southern farmers, Due to this tariff South Carolina threatened to secede from the union; the crisis was eventually averted and South Carolina stayed in the union for 27 more year...until President Lincon was elected [3].
But now a question needs to be asked; is it just a coincidence that South Carolina; the same state that seceded from the union some 27 years later to cause the other southern states to succeed (causing the dissolving of the United States and creation of the Confederacy and Union), was dealing with this same scenario 27 years before this time? The same state trying to succeed because of disagreement with a newly elected president (that is Andrew Jackson) and the president threatening to use force if South Carolina seceded: why, all of a sudden, only 27 years later, South Carolina, angry with the new presidents' stances once again, would all of a sudden change the problem from taxes to slavery? The most likely answer is (and agrees with all the witnesses here) it most likely WAS THE SAME problem being dealt with in 1860 A.D. that was being delt with in 1833 A.D.:
the unjust taxes!
If all this is true (and it seems to be) then this changes everything about The American civil war and why the South succeeded and stood for.
Now that we see the most likely cause of the American civil war let's see what the Bible has to say about the nature of the cause of this war to truly see from God's perspective it was right or wrong:
The hypocrisy of the American civil war
If this was what truly cause of the American civil war: that is the unjust taxes put on the white southern people at their expense was not only wrong but the most hypocritical thing America could ever do:
This is because America was founded by the banding together of 13 British colonies against taxes: when Britain taxed the new world colonies to pay for the French Indian war/seven years' war the colonist saw this was an unfair and unjust tax at their expense they decided to become an independent nation together apart from the British empire so they would not be taxed anymore: this lead to the revolutionary war against Britain which led to the eventual independence of the United States (which was a nation formed by the mutually agreed union between these 13 British colonies).
However, this very thing that formed America seems to be the very thing that would happen to some Americans themselves! The Northerner Americans seem to have begun to unjustly tax the Southern Americans in the form of this Morrel tariff, and much like the 13 colonies mutually formed the United States South Carolina (along with many other southern states) seceded from the United States so they wouldn't have to be taxed anymore!
Thus, this was therefore a hypocritical war: a war fought to preserve a union formed by the very thing that caused the original union to be formed in the first place.
(to be continued)
Sources:
[1]
from pg. 86 "Journal of the State conventions and ordinances and resolutions" on January 1861 A.D. by Order of convention; Jackson Mississippi E.; Darksdale state printer. From Atlanta History center "Mississippi secession"
Website:
https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/app/uploads/2020/11/Mississippi-Secession-p86-88.pdf
[2]
[A]
from pp. 500–33 "Reviewed Works: An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and Other States United with Her under the Compact Entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America,'" The North American Review, vol. 95, no. 197, 1862, Published by: University of Northern Iowa from. JSTOR.
Website:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/i25100242
[B]
From New Orleans Daily crescent “The Difference” Volume XIII January 21 1861 from Library of Congress “Chronicling America”
Website:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015753/1861-01-21/ed-1/seq-1/
[C]
“The North American Civil War” by Karl Marx on October 20, 1861 in 'Die Presse' No. 293 in London from Marxists Internet Archive Library
Website:
https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1861/10/25.htm
[D]
From Pg 330 “The Morrill tarrif” Nos. 127 - 150 Volume VI of “All the Year Round” by Charels Dickens from 28 September 1861 to 8 March 1862 from Dickens’ journals online, the university of Buckingham
Website:
https://www.djo.org.uk/all-the-year-round/volume-vi/page-330.html
[E]
from Good quotes “Charles Dickins”
Website:
[3]
pg. 255-256 Prentice Hall “United States history” Chapter 7 "Nationalism and sectionalism 1817-1855" Section 5 “Constitutional Disputes and Crises” by Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner Peter B. Levy 2010