第1个回答 2009-12-28
Major reasons for The American Civil War
First, the main reason the war happened was because of slavery which was a big debate back then. The southern states wanted to keep slavery so that the slaves could work on their plantations but the northern states were more industrialized and wanted slavery abolished; they thought that all people should be treated as equals. Neither the north nor the south would give in to what the other believed was right, so that influenced the war a lot.
Secondly, the succession of the south was a major factor. This came to a head when Abraham Lincoln was elected. The south said that they wouldn’t have Lincoln lead them. They then left the union and formed the Confederacy.
Thirdly, the south feared that the north would have the majority of the senate. Since the north had more people they thought that they should have more people in the senate. The south disagreed with that. The north also had the bigger states. So to sum it up the union (the north) had more states, more people living in their states, and the union was so much bigger than the confederate states (the south).
Why did the Union win the Civil War over the Confederates?
1 Better Leadership
The Union had experience and international recognition and a strong federal government. This allowed the leadership to be decisive in action. For example, Congress in Washington, D.C. stabilized the Northern economy early on in the war by passing the Legal Tender Act, replacing the hundreds of different state and private bank currencies with a single federal dollar. Because this “greenback” currency was supported by the U.S. Treasury, investors knew it was safe and reliable. The National Banking Act also gave the federal government unprecedented control over the banking system and the economy as a whole. The Confederate government, on the other hand, dominated by states’ righters, never enacted any such federal laws but instead continued to reserve most powers for the individual states.
2 Northern economy was stronger
The northern economy was industrialize and diversified whereas the south was a one product economy - cotton.
3 Deficiencies in the Southern political system & Loss of manpower
In addition to poorer leadership, since the south promoted states' rights, they were unable to put together a coherent strategy. Gradually, this led to rapid deterioration of the economy - the price of goods was so high and money was so worthless that it cost Southerners in some places several hundred Confederate dollars to buy a single loaf of bread; as a result, hunger and malnutrition became rampant. The caused a grave loss of fighting ability. To start off, the Union already had twice the population of the South, and twice as many young men for its army. Many slaves in the South effectively emancipated themselves by refusing to work and flocking to Union lines in droves.
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The USA sneezes & China catches a cold
The GDP of China is at $3.3 Trillion and that for the USA stands at a staggering $13.8 trillion (World Bank estimates). Even in terms of purchasing power parity (ppp) U.S. is still double the size of the next economy. Therefore is the US economy falters, this will affect
The US has a high trade deficit. It is a net importer of goods. 50% of its total imports come from countries such as China, Japan and Germany. The U.S. has a very large trade deficit with China, with China exporting large amount of manufacturing, engineering and finished goods. Should the US economy goes into recession, this will affect its imports from China.
Finally,on account of the cumulated trade surplus, China holds a large amount of reserves in US dollars. If economic problems become worse in the US, the US government may be forced to print more dollars thus diluted the value of the US dollar holdings by China.