What were the reasons the South wanted to secede from the Union?

The primary reason the South wanted to secede from the Union was to maintain control of their capital. In the early to mid-1800’s, southern states were the profit centers and the primary engine of wealth accumulation not just for the South, but also for the entire US economy. A tiny slave holding elite held the majority of the 4 million slaves and controlled the southern economy. The southern economy, namely cotton, however, could not keep pace with the high demands without the torturous work of the southern plantations most valued asset and property – slaves.

Slavery for most northern whites was of little concern and certainly not a reason to go to war. The abolition of slavery would only come about when the political and economic needs of the northern business elite demanded it. Slavery, and the maintenance of it, was certainly a central part of the South’s desire to secede, but only in so far as slavery was viewed through the lens of human capital from both the southern and northern perspectives. 

Many northern economies relied on the success of southern economies. As southern states grew wealthier and more powerful, they also grew more independent. The northern elite, however, sought economic expansion, in the form of: free land, free labor, a free market, a high protective tariff for manufacturers, and a bank of the United States. Southern slave holding states rejected this, fearing dissolution of their extremely prosperous way of life.

As the South became increasingly frustrated with what they viewed as northern and federal intrusion into their way of life, they sought states' rights in order to protect and preserve their human capital, wealth and lifestyle. Northern business elites along with Lincoln and his party, however, stood in stark opposition to the demands of southern elites. When the interests of the northern and southern elites could not be reconciled diplomatically, war became an increasingly desperate option. 

Lincoln was able to connect with up-n-coming whites (several of whom later became the middle class) as well as abolitionists despite not sharing their humanitarian reasons for the abolition of slavery, and convince both populations that preserving the union was in their best interest. Poor southern whites, on the other hand, which made up the majority, were equally convinced that maintaining slavery was in their economic best interest. A free black man would mean direct competition for jobs, land and other resources. And retaining white supremacy was paramount to preserving their culture and society.

In the end, economic interests of both the northern and southern elites drove the south to secede from the union and led to the Civil War.

Baptist, E., E. (2014). The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Zinn, H. (2003). A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present. New York, NY: Harper Collins.