Civil War Ideology

Though there were many differences between the North and the South before the Civil War there were three main differences. These differences between North and South were wide chasms in the country even before the war. It was due to these differences that the two sides engaged in conflict and each side thought they were fighting a crusade for their own way of life.

One of these main differences was that the North was an industrial economy while the South was a farming economy. The North as an industrial economy looked down upon the South with disdain because they thought that because they did not own people ad they worked inside they were more cosmopolitan than their southern neighbors. The south being a farming economy thought that they were not morally depraved and no less civilized than the North in fact they thought that their life style was more civilized than the North.

This difference in economy was also a factor in the second difference. The South relied on slave labor to fuel its farming economy. The North used cheap freemen as labor. Though the North often treated its workers poorly, not giving them a living wage and made them work under deplorable conditions and long hours. The South often treated their slaves better than the North with the slaves earning room and board and a retirement. In some cases the slaves even earned money. This sparked the moral difference in the North and the South because even though the South treated slaves better it is never right to own another human being.

The North was against slavery on the ground that it was morally bankrupt. And indeed the practice of owning people is morally incorrect so also is treating workers poorly and not granting them a living wage or any provisions for later life. The south who believed that they treated their slaves well did not think that a moral issue was a factor but indeed the North should be held morally responsible for the wages they paid their workers. The South simply believed that they were using cheap labor the same as the North.

These conflicts of ideology were the main differences of pre-war America between the North and the South. But these differences provided the impetus for war between two ways of life with each side believing their way was right and the other was unfair or morally wrong. It was largely because of these three reasons that the North and the south engaged in a conflict that was crusade like in fervor.

Encarta Article
Civil War
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