An Original Expository Paragraph, Essay Example

From April of 1861 to April of 1865 the United States fought the Civil War. The two main issues leading up to the war were tariffs and slavery. The war was fought along roughly geographic lines dividing the southern agrarian cotton- and tobacco-growing regions from the rest of the country. Southern states depended on both slaves to provide labor, and low tariffs on goods imported with the cash earned from the sale of their products overseas. By contrast, the rapidly growing populations of the north and west demanded free labor, while struggling urban manufacturers demanded high tariffs to bar competition from higher-quality, lower-cost foreign goods. The issue of slavery began to take on greater moral and economic importance when the question arose as to whether Western territories seeking admission to the United States would be based on free labor or slave. In 1865, the North won the war. Slavery was abolished and high tariffs remained in force until about the end of the century.