Plain truth, that inevitably flushes out the neo-confederates that have been instilled with post-war redemptive propaganda.
“Plain truth, that inevitably flushes out the neo-confederates that have been instilled with post-war redemptive propaganda.”
You do know, I assume, that there were slave states that didn’t secede, right?
In any event, here is the casus belli in a nutshell:
The Southern states’ economy was agriculturally based, with its major crops being cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice. Its biggest trading partner was Europe. The Southern states exported their crops to Europe, and in return imported manufactured goods (especially from England). In 1828 a developing American manufacturing interest (located almost exclusively in the Northern states) sought protection from its competitors in Europe and the oppressive Tariff of Abominations was passed in 1828. (A tariff is, I’m sure you know, a tax on imported goods.) That tariff was passed by Northern congressmen, since the North dominated Congress due to its higher population. That tariff was followed by the tariff of 1832, and sectional animosity began to rise.
The federal treasury got 90% of its revenues from tariffs. Since the Northern states imported very little, the tariffs fell almost exclusively on the Southern states. The tariffs protected Northern manufacturing interests but raised the cost of everyday living in the South, and of course adversely affected the South’s commerce with its European trading partners.
More than 70% of the revenues generated by these tariffs were spent up North for public works and infrastructure (including subsidizing industrial works and railroads: The North had an extensive railroad apparatus, where the South had very few track miles in comparison).
Then, in the late 1850s, Congress began to debate the creation of what was known as the Morrill Tariff. The Morrill Tariff called for raising the tariff rate from 15% to 37%, to be increased to almost 50% within three years. Almost 90% of the Northern congressman favored it, and 90% of the Southern congressman opposed it. Abe Lincoln, in campaigning for the presidency, supported the Morrill Tariff and vowed to sign it if he were elected president. The Morrill Tariff would have been disastrous to Southern economic interests. Since it was obvious that a new Lincoln Administration would sign the Morrill Tariff Act as soon as he took office (and he did, signing it early in 1861 upon taking office), Southern states began to secede, beginning with South Carolina in December, 1860.
To get a flavor of the cause of the Civil War from dispassionate and neutral sources, one can simply read the European accounts of the conflict, both contemporary and historical. Even Karl Marx (who had no love at all for the Confederacy), called the Civil War a “tariff war.” European writers said that staying in the Union would cost the South millions, but the Southern states leaving the Union would cost the North millions.
So, how did the North finance the Civil War since it lost its tariff revenues? Initially, it borrowed the money. Then, it passed the Revenue Act of 1862 which raised taxes and initiated the first federal income tax. It also created what would become the Internal Revenue Service.