Similarities Between The North And South During The Civil War

The challenges that the Union and the Confederacy faced during the Civil War were very different. Critical weaknesses that seemed unfit for war, plagued the opposing American forces, and would serve to be a continuous obstacle that would need to be conquered by patriotism of the people, for their opposing views. To allow for both sides to be competitive, the efforts put forth had to mold to the varied needs of the armies by both the civilian population and their militaries. To the people in the south the similarity to the colonists in the Revolutionary War, was assimilated to their separatist cause in the Civil War and would be their drive to compete with the dominating Northern states. This mindset started the Confederacy in the Civil

One of the most striking differences between the North and the South was the climate and geography. The North’s climate was full of warm summers and cold winters; the terrain was rocky and hilly, which wasn’t good for farming. But the North did have little farms. Most of the forest was used for shipbuilding, and cities were used for trading centers. The rivers were fast and shallow which made it hard to navigate. Also in the North people used waterpower to run factories, because it was a cheap source of energy. The South was somewhat different; the climate was generally warm and sunny. The summers were long and hot, and the winters were pretty mild. Due to the South’s climate they were able to grow different crops in large amounts, unlike the North. The south had large farms, called plantations. In the South cities developed near rivers, because of rich soil which made it easier for them to farm.

ship the cotton but this meant that the South had to pay the North to

In 1861 the American Civil War started. The country was divided into the North (Union) and The South (Confederates). Robert E. Lee was the leading general for the South. Ulysses S. Grant was the leading General for the North. The Union had 23 states which were California,Michigan,Connecticut,Minnesota,Illinois,New Hampshire,Indiana,New Jersey,Iowa,New York,Kansas,Ohio,Maine,Oregon,Massachusetts,Pennsylvania,Rhode Island,VErmont,West Virginia and Wisconsin. The South on the other hand only had 11 which were Alabama,Arkansas,Florida,Georgia,Louisiana,Mississippi,North and South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas and Virginia. The North and many ways had a great advantage in the war because they had more men, more factories to build supplies, and a larger navy. On the other hand the South only had to defend their land from the Invading Union.

To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to

The most important difference between the north and south was the issue of slavery. The South was primarily agricultural, and the southern economy was based upon the existence of large family farms known as

The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865.(Masur,L 2011) One of its main components was slavery. Many northern states fought to end slavery, while the southern states wished to fight to keep slavery and protect its rights.(civilwar.org) The Southern states economy was dependent on cotton which to them made slavery a necessity, while the North was becoming a more industrialized economy.(Masur,L 2011)The separation in economic needs helped to create a divide between the two sections.(ushistory.org) In addition to the economy, southern states pushed for nullification. They did not believe that the Federal Government should impose its will on the states. (Masur,L 2011 pg4) The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 did little to reassure the south that their rights to own slaves would be upheld and was basically a final straw for many southern states. (civilwar.org) There were a total of eleven states that would secede from the Union from 1860-1861 prior to the start of the Civil War. These states in order of secession were

One of the most significant advantages the north (Union) had was regional advantage. The Union held twenty-three states, including four border slave states, while the Confederacy included eleven states. The population count was about 22 million in the Union to 9 million in the Confederacy, and about 4 million of the latter were enslaved African Americans. The Union therefore had an edge of about four to one in human resources. To help redress the imbalance, the Confederacy mobilized 80 percent of its military-age white men, a third of whom would die during the prolonged war (America, 655).

The North had a much higher immigration rate than the South did. This suggests that the Union would have more men, which would be an advantage as they would have a bigger army. The North also had a much larger population than the South. There was 22 million people in the North versus 9 million people in the South. This highlights that there were more men to fight, which meant that there was still men left at home to run agriculture and industry.

For one, the North wasn’t as united as the South. While the Confederacy fought for their way of life, the North fought for politicians (Confederate States). They were also fighting in unknown territory. In order to win, they would have to seize control over a large area of land (Davidson and Stoff pg 488). Finally, the North couldn’t find a good military leader for most of the war. Most of the military colleges were in the South, so the North was at a huge disadvantage in leadership and skill (Confederate States).

Contrast- The Union army was very large to where the Confederate was small. The Union had better artillery, to where the Confederate had to steal their artillery. The Union army was mainly immigrants, the Confederate army wasn’t immigrants. The union had 22 million and the confederate had 9 million.

During the Civil War, both the North and South had different strengths and weaknesses. For example, strengths of the North were that they had a much larger population than the South, they had more industries/factories to produce more weapons, a better banking system, larger ships, and a better railroad system to transport weapons, etc. to their troops. On the other hand, the South had a smaller population, a small number of factories, less food, and very few railroad tracks. These weaknesses of the South, however, did not mean they didn’t have any strengths too. The South had superior military leadership, they were fighting in familiar territory, and overall had strong, educated college graduate soldiers that went to military school.

An army of soldiers requires an enormous amount of supplies, so one would therefore need to have the means to thereby create those supplies. The North was well industrialized by the time of the Civil War, whereas the South was still highly dependent on slave labor, which hindered their ability to industrialize.4 When it came to producing weapons, uniforms, shoes, preserved food, tools for more effective farming to feed soldiers, the telegraph, and other necessities, the Union was way in the lead. They could not only create these products, but they could produce them in mass amounts in a fraction of the time it originally took to make them.5 The South had a hard time enduring the war because they did not have the factories necessary to produce the quality and mass amount of supplies they needed.

While both the North and the South had stable and confident economic systems, the North was much more industrialized and diversified and with a better transportation system they not only had the ability for mass production but also the means for speedy and

The total casualties of Union, including killed in action, mortally wounded, battle deaths, other deaths, total deaths, wounds not mortal, were 634,703 and the Confederacy total casualties were 337,934. (Nofi, 373) It is quite clear from the number of causalities on each side that they had large number or army but North had twice as more than south. Also, it can be speculated from the casualty numbers that one of the strategy of North was to fight constantly to wear down the enemy to weaken or destroy.