Kentucky Civil War Essay

C., would become enemy territory. If the line between the North and South shifted further north, the Union would lose many people, jobs, and railroad lines. President Lincoln needed Kentucky because it supplied much of the iron, gunpowder, and grain for the South. Slavery still existed in the Border States, which could be used to lure the Confederate States back. Lincoln’s priority was to preserve the Union. Keeping Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and West Virginia may have made it possible.

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

McDonough, James L. War In Kentucky: From Shiloh to Perryville. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994

After the defeat at Fort Sumter there were some northerners that tried to get Lincoln to let the south go. When deciding weather to take Fort Sumter by bombardment, one of Davis's ideas was a bargain with Washington , maybe purchase, for the peaceful turnover of the fort and other federal holding in the seceded states. Thinking Confederate independence was inescapable, Davis prayed that they would slow down long enough to recognize that they could save millions of dollars and many lives by stopping this. He believed that the honor of the Confederate States of America (CSA) would be reestablished if everyone seen Davis challenge Lincoln successfully. While dealing with all of this he still was ready to take Fort Sumter. Davis just wanted peace and to be left alone. The South was fighting a defensive war, which gave it inherent advantage.

The Civil war was not inevitable; it was the result of extremism and failures of leadership on both sides. This war was long forthcoming; we see this conflict as a nation divided or as Lincoln put it a house divided (Doc 4). It was a conflict between pro-slavery southerners and anti-slavery northerners. Both sides felt strongly about their position, leading to neither side backing down. However, this war could have been avoided through a compromise of stronger leadership and less extremism.

take about hundred years later after the Civil War (1861-65) for the United States’ government to pass the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 recognizing the black community’s rights? Basically, the Civil War was about fighting for what kind of labor force was going to prevail. The north represented for a free labor economy while the South fought for the preservation of slavery. As Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor stated that the “wealth and power were not equally distributed in Southern society” (Yamahtta). While a small white proportion owned slaves in the South, the rest contributed in the southern society by maintaining order. In the North, free blacks were an obstacle for whites since they were constantly competing with each other for occupations. As a result, the

The Union believed that if they defeated the Confederacy no further attacks would be carried out. In addition, President Lincoln aimed to re-establish Federal law in the Southern states that had seceded from the nation. He also wanted the Union Army to stop Confederate legislators from meeting in the new Southern capitol of Richmond, Virginia. President Lincoln believed that this would bring a speedy end to the war. BG Beauregard held a strong position in Manassas Junction. Manassas offered railroad access which would lead to the center of Virginia, by way of Orange and Alexandria Railroads. It was essential that Beauregard was able to maintain this position.

The first thing that started the events leading up to the war was the attainment of William Pitt to power in England in April 1804. It marked the beginning of a new and uncompromising British attitude toward neutrals that soon led to a crisis in Anglo-American relations. Next, Pitt took office and this caused the British to send naval officers to America. Then, in the spring of 1805, a British court declared illegal the lucrative American practice of converting goods from the French West Indies into “neutral” goods by taking them o U.S ports before shipping them to France. Soon after, British warships called the Cambrian and the Leander boldly took up regular station at New York. There they took up a dozen or more American ships waiting within sight of the port to be searched. This such action angered many Americans and when word of this reached the West, Kentuckians joined the outcry.

The Union could use the Mississippi for bombarding cities in which they were fighting, and to move troops to where they were needed. It would also cut the South in half. Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas would be cut off from the rest of the South. 75,000 Union forces

In the summer of 1862, the confederates found themselves as the aggressors. In the Eastern Theater, Lee’s army of Northern Virginia had driven the Union Armies away from the Confederate capital, Richmond and was preparing to invade Maryland. In the western theater, the confederate armies were also moving strong, into Kentucky. Due to the war France and Britain were feeling the strain as cotton from the southern states was starting to diminish.

A border state, Kentucky attempted to remain neutral during the Civil War but was unsuccessful because of its strategic location and the divided loyalties of its citizens. Farmers who used the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for transporting their produce wanted access to both waterways and the international port of New Orleans. If the South separated itself from the North, this free access would be impeded. On the other hand, influential plantation owners and state rights advocates sided with the Confederacy. As a result, Kentuckians could be found in both Union and Confederate armies. What side was the State of Kentucky on and was she truly neutral in the beginning.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Abraham Lincoln). In other words, the United States, which was split into the North and South, could not stand with the uprising of conflict. The wise words of Abraham Lincoln foreshadowed the Civil War, which would become one of the worst wars in the United State’s history. Disagreement between the northern and southern states began long before the Civil War; in fact, as far back as colonial times. The North and South were not able to accept each other’s differences and come to a compromise, so they divided. During the early years of the republic, these differences between them grew greater as their distrust in each other intensified. Throughout the time period leading up to the Civil War, the

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.

As the Civil war was going on the Kentuckians wanted to stay neutral as they did not wanted to be part of the Civil war. Lincoln stayed out and hoped for the federal forces to stay out as well of the hotspot hoping of neutrality of the state border to its unionist senses. When the Kentuckians served both unions, they captured six of the U.S. Congress seats. Ulysses S. Grant claimed to come and save Kentuckians of invaders. As the two houses of Kentucky wanted for both Polk and Grant to leave, Polk was decided to stay. The unionist dominated the three less enslaved

What challenges did the “new immigrants” face (those arriving between 1877 and 1914) that previous waves of immigrants did not?  (Discuss at least 2 challenges.)