The Civil War was seen as the inevitable explosion of a decades-simmering conflict between the industrial North and the agricultural South. Roark et al. (p. 507) speak of the respective “work systems” of the two regions, which in the eyes of both contemporaries were the most salient evidence of two irreconcilable worldviews. Yet the economies of the two regions were to some extent complementary, in terms of the exchange of goods and capital; the civil war, for example, did not break out due to economic competition between the North and the South in the markets. The collision course that led to the Civil War had its basis not so much in pure economics as in the perception that Northerners and Southerners had of the economies of their respective regions in political and social terms. The first lens for this was what I call the nation's “charter”: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the documents that spell out the nation's central ideology. Despite their inconsistencies, they provided a standard against which to evaluate the treatment and experiences of any or all groups of people residing in the United States (Native Americans, however, did not count). Second, these documents had established a form of government that to a significant degree promised the representation of every individual citizen. It was understood that this was only possible through aggregation, and therefore population would be a major source of political power in the United States. This is where economics intersects with politics: the economic system of the North encouraged (albeit for exploitative purposes) immigration, while that of the South did not. Another aspect of the influence of economics on politics has been that of the prosperity of......middle of paper......and? Through the armed rebellion of its American residents against the Mexican authorities. Returning to the Civil War, it can be argued that secession in itself was not a guaranteed prelude to war. However, the rapid escalation of tensions to military action, as occurred in 1861 at Fort Sumter, suggests that Americans – North and South – were ready to fight. As American history shows, combat was something they knew something about. Works Cited Kulikoff, A. (2000). From British farmers to American colonial farmers. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Kulikoff, A. (1986). Tobacco and slaves. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Roark, J.L., Johnson, M.P., Cohen, P.C., Stage, S., Lawson, A., & Hartmann, S.M. (2009). The American Promise: A History of the United States (4th ed., Vol.1). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin.