Chasing Your Liberty. Merriam-Webster’S Dictionary Defines

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

He defends the South’s position on slavery which is a deeply grounded belief. Abraham Lincoln describes this situation as a disagreement on the definition of liberty in his “Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore” (1864). He explains that liberty may mean “for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men” (Forner 287). It is easy to see how this disagreement was heading in a catastrophic direction as the South continued to fight for the whole reason they came to America in the first place. The Confederates were willing to fight to death to defend their definition of freedom because the North winning the war equated to the very same thing in their minds; the end of their lives.

By using primary sources from soldiers, he is giving a voice to those people. He is not trying to undermine the importance of abolishing slavery, but wants to educate people on history that might have been taught differently to them. He also wants to clear up the impression that Civil War soldiers did not know what they fought for (McPherson, 2). He wrote this book to set an outline for a larger book that he made called, “Why They Fought” (McPherson, 1). The author’s main argument is to show that the Civil War was not initially about slavery and that the soldier’s did have reasons on why they were fighting. In the many letters both the Union and Confederacy soldiers had a hate for one another. They both want to destroy the other and would not stop until the end. A soldier from Virginia said, “I intend to fight them to the last… I will kill them as long as I live” (McPherson, 20). This quote and many others explains the author’s argument on that the soldiers had their

Civil war, four long years of war between the North and South, was fought from 1861 to 1865. The main purpose of the war was to preserve the Union, which later changed to ending slavery. Thousands of people volunteered for this war but everyone had a different belief and goal. The soldiers for this war consisted of a large number of immigrants, women and even African Americans. The union soldiers (northerners) volunteered to fight for the country, they fought the war to defeat the new confederation formed by the southern states. The African American joined the Union soldiers to fight against the confederate who were pro-slavery. After the election of President Lincoln, the southern states refused to stay under the wing of United States of

If the north was to succeed, they would forever be oppressed by their victory, and slaves of their achievements. The Confederates fought to promote the wellbeing of their family and the protection of their land “from Yankee outrage and atrocity”(Mc.Pherson 20) .

The American Civil War was a military conflict between the United States of America (the Union), and 11 secessionist Southern states, organized as the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). It was the culmination of four decades of intense sectional conflict and it reflected deep-seated economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. Many books have been written on this “first modern war” describing how over 620,000 men were killed. Jeff Shaara goes deeper and explores the personal conflicts of four historical figures, two from the South and two from North: General Lee, General Jackson, Colonel Chamberlain, and Hancock.

"I suppose there is nothing for me to do but go and see General Grant," he told an aide. "And I would rather die a thousand deaths." These words were said by the war hero, Robert E. Lee. The Civil War is the central event in America's history and probably will forever be the most memorable part of our country's past. The war would be one of the bloodiest wars in history. It last four dreadful years from 1861-1865. The Civil War determined what kind of nation America would be, and also resolved two questions that could not be resolved in a courtroom or in a house of government. For one, it determined whether the United States was to be a nation with national government or a confederation of sovereign states. It also solved the argument of wether

The book What They Fought for, is about the Civil war and the two sides involved. The two sides are Union and Confederate Armies. The Union is the north and the Confederate is the south. The union simply wanted to preserve the nation that the founding fathers bequeathed. The Confederate army was fighting for their independence. They believed the government was trying to take over and place too many rules on them. The Confederacy believed they should not have any restrictions. The Union wanted the country to be equal and whole. The ironic fact is that both sides were fighting for what the forefathers established, yet interpreted it in two completely different ways. The forefathers fought to be independent from British rule just as the Confederacy thought they were fighting. The forefathers also said “We the people of the united states…,” they wanted the nation to be united in their territories as a whole, just like the union believed. James McPherson does a great job of explaining both sides equally. Gerald Linderman and Reid Mitchell explained that soldiers at that time were not concerned with why they were fighting and only fought for their

The Federal government needed the income from the South so they were forced into fighting to save the tax coming from the South. Without consulting Congress, Lincoln sent great armies of destruction to the South. The Southern people had no choice but to defend themselves from this invasion. The South fought, simply, for their independence, as the United States federal government of the northern states refused to allow the South to leave peacefully. The men of the South did not fight to win their freedom; they fought to keep it! For all intents and purposes, if the North had not invaded the South, there would have been no war. The name "civil war" implies that two, or more, groups of people within a country take up arms against each other in a struggle for the government. This was not what took place in the South between 1861 and 1865. It was an invasion of one nation into another independent, sovereign nation. The struggle is properly called "The War For Southern Independence," as that is the most correct description of the reasoning behind the war. The Southern soldier fought to protect his home, State, and Nation from the invading United States army. He fought in honor of his forefathers who had fought against British tyranny. The soldiers of the Confederacy were not traitors. Some historians have branded any man

James McPherson the author of What They Fought For 1861-1865, thesis states that the soldiers from both the North and South fought for a large extent for ideology, and not exclusively as brothers in war with other soldiers, for principles of strength or courage, and for the nations of honor and duty. McPherson uses hundreds of letters and diaries from soldiers from both the Union and Confederate troops to show their experience. He tries to focus on a variety of attitudes and motives from the volunteer soldiers. These young men coped with fear, stress, exhaustion, pain, and death everyday while out there fighting. “A final theme that will receive attention is ideology,” (McPherson 1) this is what the soldiers supposed they were fighting for during the Civil War.

The Civil War started in 1861, and though it was more than a century ago, there is still controversy and many questions arising about the subject. What were they really fighting over? Should the South have been able to succeed? What were the South’s true reasons for succeeding? Was the North’s only reason to go to war to free the slaves? Were Slaves truly treated as cruelly as we are to believe they were? Did the Abolitionists have other motives hidden behind tightly shut doors, which were not made public? These are only a few questions people want to know the answers to regarding the American’s War against themselves. Some of these questions are hard to give a definite answer to, and say what is exactly is

The Civil War was the bloodiest war ever recorded. Also everyone one in the war argued that they fought for freedom. The South didn’t want to lose their slaves, the North wanted to free slaves, and clearly the slaves wanted their freedom. The civil war was a war fought for freedom.

The Civil War was a time in history where heroic and patriotic events were displayed from both the Confederate armies as well as the Union armies , based upon their disagreements. The men who fought in this war fought for a very special reason. To protect their country

The North’s Union states and the South’s Confederate states fought to either abolish slavery completely (North objective) or to allow it completely (South objective). The war began when radical opinion began to occupy formal debates and both sides realized the topic was non-negotiable outside of court, that the only way to save more lives from being affected as soon as possible was to go to war. During this time, many flocked to armies, volunteering to protect their nation and their beliefs, some to just try and help out. Many saw it necessary to fight not only to defend their opinion, but to reunite their country by ending the war. Some people ached to see their country divided, a country built upon liberty and freedom breaking due to horrific punishment being enacted upon citizens the Constitution viewed as

     The Civil War was a four year armed conflict between northern and southern sections of the United States. The Civil War cost more American lives than any other war in history. There were bout 3 million people who fought in the beginning of the Civil War and about 600,000 people’s lives were lost at the end of the war. What began for many as a romantic adventure soon became a heartbreaking bitter struggle between the two parts of a divided country. This, however, was more than the industrial North fighting against the agricultural South. There were divided families with brother fighting brother. Some Northerners joined the Southern ranks and some Southerners were in the Union