Civil War Caused by Rise of Industrial Capitalism?

HeyJosh13

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Aug 2, 2017
When discussing Civil War causation, the Declaration of Immediate Causes documents are often brought up as proof the war was just about slavery. However, South Carolina issued another document along with it that was sent to other slave states to entice them into secession and even recommended the Confederacy, the Address of the People of South Carolina to Slaveholding States.

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/...ess-of-south-carolina-to-slaveholding-states/

This document mentions issues of taxation and representation of states in the federal union. They compare the North to Great Britain during the American Revolution over tax policies that effectively caused the most federal revenue to go to the North for their industrial development which was antithetical to the Southern states' rights zealotry. They reference Lincoln's "A house divided against itself" speech, they seem to refute it insisting free and slave states can coexist in union. They acknowledge how states can choose to follow industrialization but prefer their own system and insists upon Northern despotism against the South in pushing for their economic system upon the rest of the country while exploiting the Southern economy to their benefit as a means to an end. They compare the two economies saying the industrial capitalist economy of the North has several moral flaws that the South's does not have (with the morality of slavery not considered). They acknowledge Northern moral opposition to slavery but refute it claiming the North was effectively ruling the union and was responsible for slavery's continuance showing a sense of Northern hypocrisy and implying ulterior motives.

What do you guys think of this document? How do you interpret its text in the context of the Civil War causation debate?

Edit Note: Correction of facts
 
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