The Causes of the American Civil War

Worksheet Description

One of the biggest reasons for the war was slavery. In the South, many people owned large farms called plantations. They used enslaved people to work on these plantations. The North, on the other hand, had more factories and fewer farms, so they didn’t rely on enslaved workers as much. Many people in the North believed that slavery was wrong and wanted it to end. The South was afraid that ending slavery would hurt their way of life.

The North and South had different kinds of jobs and businesses. The North had many factories, while the South had many farms. This led to them wanting different things from the government. The North wanted the government to make things that would help factories, like better roads and higher taxes on goods coming from other countries. The South, however, wanted the opposite because they sold a lot of their crops to other countries.

The Southern states believed that they should have the right to make their own decisions about certain issues, especially about slavery. They didn’t want the national government telling them what to do. They felt that each state should have the power to decide what was best for its people.

In the North, there were many people who wanted to end slavery completely. They were called abolitionists. These people worked hard to spread their message, and many people listened. They wrote books, gave speeches, and some even helped enslaved people escape to freedom. This made many people in the South very upset.