Clash of Extremes.  The Economic Origins of the Civil War, by Marc Egnal, copyright 2009, is a little over 400 pages of giving a different slant to economic factors leading up to the Civil War.  The overall objective of this book is to convince the reader the country was moved toward war by economic realities more than high moral principles.  Egnal begins with what he calls “patterns of trade and production” in the 1820’s.  He comments on the various compromises of later decade.  His most compelling and (by far) most intriguing argument is the rise of the Great Lakes area economy when it started moving more east west than it did north south along the Mississippi River.  The products of this area started moving along canals and other waterways toward the eastern coast.  This change of direction went a long way in diluting the power of Southern legislators.  This powerful elite were successfully circumvented because the Great Lakes’ area dependence on the Mississippi River/Gulf Coast merchants and shippers had diminished to the point these northern products did not need them to reach market.  Also receiving attention in this book are the differences in society itself, changing ideologies, the westward movement, and the rise of the antislavery movement.  There is really nothing all that new as far as the material is concerned.  What is unique is how the author presents his material, especially the part about the Great Lakes economy.  If you choose to take Marc Egnal literally, the cause of the Civil War was tied more closely to economic differences that developed between the North and South than any of the more popular reasons.

Curtis,

I can concur that economic reasons had more weight than the other reasons that eventually caused the civil war. When you study the economic differences leading up to 1860s it becomes quite apparent who had the money power and who was on the decline. Of course the other reasons of slavery and state's rights just added more wood to the fire.