Civil War
...s or tradesmen that had never even seen a slave. But political leaders on both sides were very interested in slaves and slavery. Leaders from the south argued that the Southern plantation was a benevolent and paternal institution, where Southern slave-owners generally behaved with fatherly concern toward their slaves (southern gentlemen). Political leaders from the north believed that slavery was a profit-oriented system, a capitalistic institution that was flourishing, not dying at the time of the Civil War. They saw slavery as a systematic method of controlling and exploiting labor. The South, which was known as the Confederate States of America, seceded from the North, which was also known as the Union, for many different reasons. The reason they wanted to succeed was because there was four decades of great sectional conflict between the two. Between the North and South there were deep economic, social, and political differences. The South wanted to become an independent nation. There were many reasons why the South wanted to succeed but the main reason had to do with the North’s view on slavery. All of this was basically a different interpretation of the United States Constit...