North and South

For a long period of time southern and northern politicians were arguing about whether slavery should be permitted. The argument centered on the Missouri territory. Southerners argued that slave labor should be allowed in Missouri and all the other lands that formed part of the Louisiana Purchase. Northerners objected strongly to this. Eventually the two sides agreed on a compromise. Slavery would be permitted in the Missouri and Arkansas territories but banned in the lands to the west and north of Missouri.

In the next twenty years the United States grew much bigger. In 1846 it divided the Oregon Territory with Britain. In 1848 it took vast areas of the Southwest from Mexico. And there was again the question of slavery. Once again southerners answered «yes» And once again northerners said «no» The relationship between North and South were close to breaking point.

On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began. Some people found it difficult and painful to decide which side to support. The decision sometimes split families. In both men and material resources the North was much stronger than the South. It had a population of 22 million people. The South had only 9 million people and 3.5 million of them were slaves. So the North not only had more fighting men than the South, it could also keep them better supplied with weapons, clothing, food and everything else they needed. But the South had also some advantages. Many of the best officers in the pre-war army of the United States were southerners. Most important of all, the fact that almost all the war's fighting took place in the South meant that soldiers were defending their own homes. This often made them fight with more spirit than the northerners.

The Civil War gave final answers to two questions that had divided the United States ever since it became an independent nation. It put an end to slaver y. In 1865 this was abolished everywhere in the United States by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. And it decided finally that the United States was one nation. But the war left bitter memories. The Civil War caused terrible destruction at home. All over the South cities and farms were in ruins. And more Americans died in this war than in any other, before or since.