The Civil War - A social or an economic decision

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Didactics - English - Applied Geography, grade: 2,0 , University of Cologne (Institut für Englische Sprache und ihre Didaktik ), course: Advanced Essay Writing: Literary and linguistic topics/ United States Presidency, language: English, abstract: Unquestionably, the abolition of slavery played an important role in the Civil War during the Lincoln Administration; but the question is whether the liberation of the Africans was the main aim of this war, or if this purpose just served as one single step on the way to complete a mission of higher importance: to gain the power over the Southern states of America and to force the union of America. Reasoning in respect of this controversial issue proceeds with an introductory section which gives a brief survey of important events of the past, to provide a better understanding of the circumstances which gave rise to the struggles of the Civil War. The second part of this essay concentrates on arguments which demonstrate why America did not have any special reasons to start a war on the basis of economic aims and the third part consists of several arguments which support the idea that the main aim of the Civil War was the preservation of the American Union rather than the abolition of slavery. At the end, there will be a short summary of the main arguments and there will be a final conclusion.