The causes of the Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The causes of the Civil War - Essay Example Today the American Civil War represents one of the most important conflicts in the history of the United States. While the war itself only lasted from 1861-1865, the effects have been felt significantly throughout the United States since. In addition to enacting significant death tolls on both the Northern and Southern participants, the political ramifications of the conflict were truly revolutionary as they resulted in the emancipation of slaves throughout the country. While ostensibly the Civil War was a direct result of then President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the abolishment of slavery, upon further inspection it’s clear there are a number of complex causes behind the war. This essay considers the various causes to the Civil War in an attempt to gain a broader understanding of their political implications. Perhaps the primary catalyst behind the Civil War was the economic differences between the Northern and Southern states. While indust rialization had enacted factory production and similar means of economic subsistence in the Northern states, the Southern states had evolved along a different path. Within the Southern regions, where the climate encouraged more agricultural means of production, the economy had become almost entirely reliant on cotton production. Within this spectrum of existence, cheap labor was essential to ensure the economy functioned, so slavery became a key part of Southern existence. In addition to embracing slavery, the Northern modes of city-life encouraged greater means of interaction between the social classes. As a result, it’s argued that Northern regions evolved more progressive views on the social hierarchy, while the Southern regions remained in an antiquated order (Chambers 1999). This would led to conflicting perspectives that would eventually mount, greatly contributing to the opposing regions engaging in warfare. Another pivotal aspect that contributed to the start of the C ivil War was general disagreements on political policy between the Northern and Southern regions. In these regards, one of the primary disagreements was between the belief the Southern belief that states should be primarily responsible for determining legal policy, versus the Northern view that the Federal government should be the primary decision maker in these matters. One of the primary arguments was advanced by politician John C Calhoun and referred to as nullification. This would give states the power to nullify laws that were passed by the Federal Government. As it became clear that such a measure would not be allowed, the Southern states moved toward seceding from the Union (Jones 1999). Ultimately, this would be a primary influence in bringing the Southern states to war. Another primary political issue was the moral disagreement between individuals that supported slavery and those that were vehemently opposed to it. As slavery had become a long-entrenched aspect of the Ameri can economic landscape, even as growing concern over its immoral aspects mounted it became increasingly difficult to break the nation from these past practices. With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States gained a large portion of land in the Western United States. The Federal Government deemed that new states admitted to the Union through this land would be free from slavery, placing increased pressure on the Southern states that embraced slavery to move toward abolishment. In addition to these aspects, tension began to emerge between the Southern and Northern states regarding slave laws. With laws such as the Compromise of 1850, Federal officials in southern and northern regions were forced to arrest fugitive slaves, or else themselves be arrested or fined (Gienapp 2001). Laws such as this caused tension with Northern individuals that believed these laws violated general human rights. In addition, there existed a growing abolitionist movement of political revolutionaries that s ought to end slavery through protesting and sometimes violent means. These

Technology as a strategic factor which helps in the development or Essay

Technology as a strategic factor which helps in the development or dismissal of subsequent firms - Essay Example The concept of disruptive innovation as rendered by Clayton M. Christensen is found to be dealt mainly on two aspects. He observed the emergence of disruptive technologies mainly along two ends-disruptions based along low ends and that emerging out from development of new markets. The first set of disruptive technologies is found to produce products which are much cheaper than those produced out of traditional technologies. Further adding to the cheapness of the product the usage of the same is also found to catch a simplistic note which is a little complex than such produced out of existing technologies. Hence products produced out of such disruptive technologies are generally found to gain market in lower economy areas. The second set of disruptive innovations is noted as such as would focus on the creation of new markets for the products which fail to be consumed by the existing market. Further such disruptive innovation helps to create a market for such people who fail to get used to the usage patterns of existing products. Thus this type of innovation helps to create a niche market for the products which were previously regarded as inconsumable. The reason for disruptive innovation practices for producing products at lower ends of the market as bringing in a holocaust for the manufacturing firm can be analysed as follows. It is found firstly that firms tend to invest more on products which are produced through the means of efficient technology and thus are expected to fetch higher returns for the company when being sold out in the market in large scales for their increasing demand. However it must be considered that the pace of emergence of new technology is much faster than that of the growth of market demands for the products. Thus secondly when the products produced out of disruptive innovation practices are rendered in the market in a spontaneous fashion the demand for such also starts rising. To this end it is found that the concern is not in a position to make