Civil War historian Shelby Foote describes the American Civil War as the most .
The Civil War was, at the very least, one of the .
most controversial periods in American history. Because of this, there are many theories .
that explain the cause. Most conventional theories attribute the causes of this conflict .
were rooted in economic, social, political and geographic differences. There are strong .
arguments for each of these theories as well as, strong arguments against each of these. .
Tensions over the institution of slavery had been building for decades, and every time a .
new state in the West was added, there was a furious debate over whether or not slavery .
would be permitted in it. The best opportunity to resolve the actual cause is to explore .
each argument together and determine how the war came to be.
The issue of slavery is significant and affected many other aspects of American life, .
specifically the culture of the South. While America modernized in the mid nineteenth .
century "the slave states remained overwhelmingly rural and agricultural." This .
agricultural society left the South with a stronger reliability on the institution of slavery .
than the more modern Northern states. Cotton was the staple crop of the South, which .
relied predominantly on slave labor. In 1851 an Alabama newspaper declared that .
"financially the South was more enslaved than their Negroes" and continued by .
explaining this theory. "We purchase all our luxuries and necessities from the North . . . .
Northerners abuse and denounce slavery and slaveholders, yet our slaves are clothed with .
Northern manufactured goods, have Northern hats and shoes, work with Northern hoes, .
ploughs, and other implements . . . The slaveholder dresses in Northern goods, rides in a .
Northern saddle . . . sports his Northern carriage . . . reads Northern books . . . In .
Northern vessels his products are carried to market, his cotton is ginned with Northern .