Did the Civil War Ultimately reduce sectional antagonism and make the United States truly one nation?

When the Civil War began in 1861, the issue of slavery was not the central focus of the war effort on the side of the Union. While it was still important to many in the North, the main war aim of the Union side was to preserve the Union and make sure it remained intact. As the war dragged on and more soldiers died on both sides, Lincoln realized he would need to entirely cripple the already weak Confederate economy, and he did this by making the Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective January 1, 1863. This executive order stated that all slaves in states currently in open rebellion against the United States were free from slavery. By doing this, he caused African Americans in slave states to cross into Union territory and into

Weeks of wet weather had occurred before Saturday March 4th, 1865, making Pennsylvania Avenue a thick, muddy place; however, the pounding rain did not stop the spectators from listening to Lincoln give his Second Inaugural Address, given one month before the end of the Civil War. The Civil War was the result of a long standing controversy over slavery. The North and the South did not agree with each other. Slavery in the North had died out to the point where almost all blacks were free. The South on the other hand very few blacks were free. Causing a long lastly disagreement between both sides. When Lincoln gave his speech spectators were expecting a speech on slavery when Lincoln gave a dark gloomy speech that no one saw coming. The Civil War had lasted through his passed presidency and ended five days before his death. United States President Abraham Lincoln surprised his massive audience with a very short speech in which he talked about the effects of the Civil War, and expressed his feelings toward the future of the United States. Lincoln wanted to restore faith in the nation, talking about how the war would end soon, and that the nation was going to reunite. In this short speech Lincoln asserts that the audience knows and is knowledgeable about the war, which shows that the Americans know the war was just by using juxtaposition. Lincoln addresses his opinion towards the war, and makes it clear by utilizing biblical allusion, creating a basis of mutual agreement between the North and the South.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a document that had freed states in the Confederate States. While some people had thought that the issuing of the Proclamation wsa the best idea Lincoln could have came up with in order to begin abolishing slavery. Meanwhile some people thought that the idea was completely terrible and unworthy of attention. As the war progressed further, Lincoln quickly realized that slavery was a noteworthy aspect of the war effort from the Confederacy, and his main goal quickly became to use the slaves to fight alongside the Union. His belief at the time was that any source or thing that could even potentially help the Union was a plan that needed to be put into action as soon as possible. Not to mention, the North would

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order that freed all slaves living in states that were opposing the Union and allowed African American to participate in the Civil War as troops of the Union army. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed this proclamation. Although Lincoln had no authority over the South, the news of the Emancipation Proclamation spread there, which led many slaves to free themselves. With many slaves freed, the South was weakened because it depended on the slaves for labor. The Union also gained more manpower due this proclamation because many former slaves joined the Union army after freeing themselves. The benefits of the Emancipation Proclamation to the Union didn’t stop there. It “prevented European forces from intervening in the war on behalf of the Confederacy” as well, as stated in “The Immediate Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation,” The South had been seeking help from Britain and France, but when these two countries heard of the proclamation, they decided not to assist the South because they were against slavery. Generally, Lincoln was important to the war for passing this impactful

When elected, President Lincoln vowed to prevent the extension of slavery. As a result, the Southerners chose secession, while Northerners believed that the collapse of Union would destroy the possibility of a democratic republican government. This resulted in the Civil War, which lead to the end of slavery in the United States. Throughout the war, there was much debate over whether or not the Civil War was about slavery or the Union. Lincoln first rejected the end of slavery as a goal of the war, but slave escapes in the South bothered Lincoln. The Union’s fate was at stake and Lincoln’s major goal of the war was to save the Union. Lincoln finally surrendered to the pressure of antislavery republicans, making the Civil War mainly about slavery, and seeing slave abolition as a way to end the rebellion and protect the Union. Abraham Lincoln created the proclamation of emancipation in July 1862, which called for an end to slavery. The proclamation was issued on September 22, basing its legal authority on his responsibility to suppress the rebellion and was signed by Lincoln on January 1, 1863. After the war, abolitionists were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation would be forgotten about, so they pressured the congress to pass a law that would finally abominate slavery. In January 1865 the Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to ending slavery, and sent it to the states

It was November 19, 1863. Lincoln stood on a platform in the midst of a battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and spoke these words: "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom” (Abraham Lincoln Quotes). In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in November of 1863, he explains that the soldiers, who fought so bravely in the Civil War, did not die without cause. Instead, they fought to change America for the better in multiple ways. There were many reasons for the war, but in the end, the unplanned realities that arose, would bring new challenges. Among some of the results, the Civil War changed America literarily, politically, and economically.

Furthermore, in Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” speech, he begins with the famous, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal’.” A well known passage by Abraham Lincoln but holds a quote from the Declaration of Independence. “All men are created equal”. Now to give some background to the speech. Take note that Lincoln is speaking during the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery. The final resting place for more than 3,500 Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. On into the speech, Lincoln touches on the survival of the nation. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” He’s not only speaking to just the Union side of the war, but to both the Union and the Confederacy. Hoping that both see where the war is headed to. Gettysburg was a major turning point in the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln provides key notes to the people just in the time they needed them.

The Emancipation Proclamation is centered on the concept of freeing the slaves; however, the proclamation did not actually free any slaves but had a greater goal of preserving the Union through European alliance. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in Union controlled lands but instead freed the slaves where the federal government had no real power. At his inauguration, Lincoln even stated that he has “no lawful right [to] interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it [already] exists.” Furthermore, Lincoln revealed, in a letter to Horace Greeley that slavery is not even a primary focus of his political agenda when he stated “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery.” This letter also emphasizes Lincoln’s chief interest during the American Civil War – to maintain the Union. Therefore, Lincoln himself indicated that the Emancipation Proclamation’s purpose was to preserve the Union by successfully aiding in closing the door to European intervention in the South.

Although Lincoln opposed slavery, deeming it morally wrong, he wasn’t an abolitionist, as slavery was established under the constitution and so Lincoln was unsure as to how it would affect the current political system. However, due to the impact the Civil War was having on the separated American States, on January 1st 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation officially took effect. It could be strongly argued that the Proclamation was only introduced so that the African American’s could join the Union’s armed forces, thus securing a victory for The Union. Moreover, Lincoln believed that if the slaves were to be freed it meant that the Confederates could no longer use them as labourers thus weakening them on the field. This may then illustrate that the pushing for Civil Rights and the freedom of the Slaves was only introduced as a means of political gain, and was not due to Lincoln’s beliefs. Moreover, in a letter Lincoln wrote to Hon. Horace Greeley on August 22, 1862, he stated that, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” This excerpt from his letter may highlight the fact that Lincoln’s priority lay with preserving the union, and not emancipating the

Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and something to fight for. Before the address, the Civil War was based solely on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were put into the Declaration of Independence by the founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war that was about slavery he was able to ensure that no foreign

The outburst of the Civil War forever changed the future of the American nation. At first, it began as a fight to protect the Union, not as a struggle to free the slaves. Many citizens from the North and South felt that the conflict would ultimately decide both issues. Slavery was one of the primary issues which physically divided the northern U.S. from the Southern U.S. during the Civil War. Even after the Reconstruction Era it continue to divide the two. The Southern resistance to ending slavery was the main reason as to why the South believed in rejecting outsider ideals and it helped establish the Southern Code of Honor that emphasizes aggression and violence.

During his election campaign and throughout the early years of the Civil War, Lincoln vehemently denied the rumour that he would mount an attack on slavery. At the outbreak of fighting, he pledged to 'restore the Union, but accept slavery where it existed ', with Congress supporting his position via the Crittendon-Johnson Resolutions. However, during 1862 Lincoln was persuaded for a number of reasons that Negro emancipation as a war measure was both essential and sound. Public opinion seemed to be going that way, Negro slaves were helping the Southern war effort, and a string of defeats had left Northern morale low. A new moral boost to the cause might give weary Union soldiers added impetus in the fight. Furthermore, if the Union fought against slavery, Britain and France could not help the other side, since their 'peculiar institution ' was largely abhorred in both European nations. Having eased the American public into the idea, through speeches that hinted at emancipation, Lincoln finally signed the Proclamation on January 1st 1863, releasing all slaves behind rebel lines. Critics argued that the proclamation went little further than the Second Confiscation Act and it conveniently failed to release prisoners behind Union lines. Nevertheless, Henry Adams summed up public reaction to the Proclamation as an 'almost convulsive reaction in our favour '.

On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, issued the first, or preliminary, Emancipation Proclamation. In this document he warned that unless the states of the Confederacy returned to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves to be “forever free.” During the Civil War, he was fighting to save the Union and trying not to free the slaves. Lincoln was quoted to say, “I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” The Emancipation Proclamation illustrated this view.

Lincoln thought freeing slaves would help him reach his goals to save the Union. Therefor, this led to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although, the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the Confederate States in America, it was the first step in the final Emancipation of all slaves. It helped the cause of the Civil War, and was close to end slavery permanently. It was the third year into the Civil War, once the form was signed, the number of group soldiers for the Civil War and navy increased. This was because what Lincoln hoped would happen did happen. Although, the liberation of slaves allowed many slaves to volunteer and to fight in the Civil War. At that point the Civil War became a war for freedom. The result of the War was positive. The Union was saved but also the War helped free slaves.

Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would