The great economic and social divisions between the North and South in the first half of the 1800s eventually led to the Civil War. During those prewar years, the North industrialized, urbanized, and became more reliant on wage labor. In contrast, the South remained a rural, agricultural society that focused on slavery to harvest cash crops like cotton and tobacco. Historians have often said that due to the huge differences between the two regions, the Civil War was inevitable. What do you think could have been done, if anything, to prevent the war? Also consider the issue of slavery, which became so central to the disagreements between the North and South. Could simple compromise or political debate between the two sides have eventually ended slavery without a war? Be sure to point to evidence from throughout this unit or that you have found on your own that supports your viewpoint.

A more concentrated push to industrialize the south, starting several decades prior to the war could have made slavery less of an issue. The north abandon slavery primarily because it became less necessary to everyday life with the invention of machines and new industries that relied less on raw human labor. If this had occurred in the south, slavery would have been less necessary and the war may have been able to be avoided. let's also not forget the decades of divisive and mostly unsatisfactory leadership in American politics in the decades prior the civil war, politics became more and more decisive and many politicians built their political careers are dividing America further, pushing the population further and further apart ideologically. Once more new states were in competition for which side of the isle they'd sit on, raising the stakes of each debate. Better leadership, less political infighting and a unified effort to modernize the country as a whole, instead of just the north, could have reduced the strain the country felt in the lead up to the civil war and possibly could have prevented the war all together.