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The Causes Of The American Civil War?

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Whilst the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, The American Civil War (1861-1865) was the fundamental historical event that determined what kind of nation it would become. The war, although brutal with the estimated loss of 625,000 lives which is nearly as many American soldiers as those who died in all the other wars in which America has fought combined, as well as the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world, between the end of 1815 and the onset of World War I in 1914, drew attention to two essential questions left unsettled by Americas independence. Would the United States be multiple separate nations or a united nation with an independent national government, and whether the country who fought for and created the declaration of independence, that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue as the largest slaveholding country in the world? However, northern triumph in the war kept America as the union of one nation and ended the use of slavery that had divided the country. Many historians since have scrutinized the American Civil War and the defeat of the Confederacy by the Northern Union, questioning the possibilities of a Confederate victory against the industrialised North. For the purpose of this essay, areas of politics, economy, social and military will be examined and comparing Southern and Northern states incorporating differing historian perspectives to gain insight into the prospects of a Southern victory

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