The Division between North and South after the Civil War

The secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, by a vote of 169-0 was a response to the election of Abraham Lincoln of 1860. Lincoln perceived as an abolitionist wanted to contain slavery rather than ending it. The majority party above the Mason-Dixon line were Republicans and below were primarily Democrats and Republicans were viewed as abolitionists. The election of a Republican threatened the South’s status quo. The primary catalyst for secession was based on slavery. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed due to the South’s intimate and reliant relationship on slavery. Southern whites feared the end of slavery and this paranoia was shared among plantation slave owners and white Yeoman farmers. Southern whites felt that the North were threatening the supposed tranquility of the South. The South’s agrarian economy, honor, and independence were believed to be in danger. Slavery was intertwined with the South’s social, cultural, and economic makeup. As a result of slavery, the South developed a paternalistic culture and racial ideology of white supremacy. The perceived notion that the North was influencing it’s political and social beliefs on the South lead them to believe that secession was the only act of self-preservation. The growing differences between the South and North made it difficult to negotiate. This fear was exaggerated and accelerated the South’s eventual implosion. The South believed that without slavery it would self-destruct and

As soon as President Andrew Johnson signed a Proclamation which promised order and peace to the United States on August 20th, 1865, the Civil War was formally ended. Though the Confederates had been dominated, there was still a battle to preserve the Southern lifestyle against the impeding Northern republican ideals. President Lincoln had plans to peacefully restore the country to the Union it was prior to the war, but his assassination created set-backs to his plan. While both the North and the South were working toward reconciliation in the nation, the north was more interested in creating a controlling, centralized government while the south was concerned with protecting and preserving their southern customs and ideals. While there were many attempts at reconstructing, the Reconstruction era ultimately failed at unifying the Union under agreed terms due to the constant disagreements between the north and the south.

Throughout the 19th century, the distinctions between the North and South in the United States were controversial. Prior to the Civil War, the North consisted of business owners and middle-class men. The South consisted of mostly farmers. The North was industrial, using railroads and factories. The South was agricultural, with mostly farms and plantations. The North paid their labor workers. The South used slaves. Not only did their opposing views on slavery and the separation of the two cultures, tensions arose that eventually led to one of the most gruesome wars in history.

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

Throughout American history, the south and the north have consistently held different beliefs on how to handle some subjects. Whether it ranged from slavery, to taxing, or to business, southerners and northerners often seemed to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. It was not any different back in the 1800’s. Though intensely different, they were still part of the same country. One of the biggest issues that made the north and the south so distinct from one another was their view and perspective on slavery. The north, who was considered mostly republican, saw slavery as something that needed to be abolished for it was a great sin committed by mankind; while the south, who were mostly considered democrats, viewed it as a necessity for they considered African-Americans a race that needed to be controlled because they were less intelligent than the white man but very violent and because they were “built” for the hard labor. Over the 1800’s they had been a tension built between the two sides of the country. The tension rose to a boiling point when the 1860 election rolled around. After the elections occurred, a chain of events followed which would leave a lasting impact on the current United States. In the heart of these events was the civil war. To this day, it is very debatable that the war started because of the unsure future of slavery under new leadership.

In order to answer the question he remarks that it is necessary to know all that can be gathered about the issue. To this he also proposes that Congress examine what is endangering the Union. His belief on the matter rests with the South and their state of discontent. While some might believe that unhappiness of the South lies with those who stirred the public for their own personal advantage, he however sees the opposite that the politicians tried to settle the masses. Even if the politicians excited the South it would not have been enough to cause the wide spread of discontent. Calhoun believes that the true source lies with the southern states thinking they cannot remain in the Union without compromising their pride and security. The cause of this thinking, Calhoun believes, stems from the North imposing its views of slavery on the South. He also believed that the thinking of the South was due to the minority in the National government. He goes on to site the wide discrepancies between the numbers of senators and representatives who represent the North and those that represent the South. He adds that the gap will only widen in the coming year, because

The Civil war between the north and south was a fight sparked by conflicting ideologies. James McPherson detailed that honor, duty, patriotism and ideology formed the main sustaining motivations for the Civil War, while courage, self-respect and group cohesion kept men going in combat. Along with these McPherson In his book For Cause & Comrades McPherson describes soldiers initial motivations. The differences between the confederate and union soldiers’ motivations were more prominent than they were similar because their underlying goals for the future of America varied when it pertained to human rights.

Despite the unexpected hardships the Union faced, the Civil War ended with an overwhelming Union victory. However, due to the context of total war, the South was left in shambles. Following the Civil War was an Era known as Reconstruction-the process of Southern states to be reentered into the United States. What started as a peaceful reconciliation almost ignited a whole new Civil War. Although both the North and the South sparked tremendous amounts of damage, which destroyed Reconstruction the most? The South destroyed Reconstruction due to their strong opposition to the idea of Reconstruction and free civil rights for slaves.

The antebellum era exposed the entirely different views and ways of life between the North and the South. These differences can be observed on the economic aspect. The North was industrialized enabling them to have functioning economy without the use of many labors; however, in the south, people relied on agriculture, and thus they needed a large number of slaved labors to help them work on the plantations. Such difference led to the main distinction which existed throughout the entire Civil War, the dependence on the slavery. These differences sparked conflict between the North and the South placing them in an indisputable position, eventually leading to the Civil War. The prosecution of the Civil War of North and South differed drastically. The North fought to preserve the Union which entailed abolishing slavery, enlisting the black in the army and also paying them proper wages, and the South fought to withdraw and preserve slavery and their agricultural lifestyle. These conflicting views did not disappear after the war. Although the North won the Civil War, they still wanted to unify the country, not only territorially, but also economically and politically by enforcing many new laws and amending the Constitution. And the South, even after the abolishment of slavery, people in the south remained hostile toward the freed people, saw themselves more superior than the freed people, and tried to resurrect the “Old South”.(192~198) To achieve the real union and realize the

One of the more powerful men in advocating of the south was John C. Calhoun, who was an experienced politician at the time. Many believe that Calhoun's ideas were the precursor to the session crisis that ultimately triggered the Civil War around 30 years later. Although a solution was established to resolve the tension between the North and the South, the issue resurfaced over the issue of slavery a few years later due to the South once again becoming angered at certain actions of the President.

The Civil War was not a spontaneous conflict, rather it was the culmination of various events in American history that were in the two decades preceding it. These events exposed a rift in American society which would eventually lead to the Civil War. Among these events were the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Mexican-American War. Both of them lead to a highly polarized reactions from Northerners and Southerners in the slavery debate. In the end, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Mexican-American War intensified Northern opposition to slavery, which as a result put America on a path to war.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”1 These words, spoken by Abraham Lincoln, foreshadowed the war that became the bloodiest in all of the United State's history. The Civil War was a brutal conflict between the North and South; brother against brother. With slavery as the root cause, Southern states had seceded from the Union and were fighting for their independence. They became the Confederate States of America (CSA) and were a force to be reckoned with. The Union, however, put up a fierce struggle to preserve the country. If the Civil War was to be a war of attrition, the North had the upper hand because of its large population, industrialization, raw materials, railroad mileage, and navy. But if the war was short lived, the

During the Antebellum period, the North and South were divided into two sections. The North opposed slavery while the South believed that it ultimately benefitted society, creating conflicting views on many different issues. The issues that were brought about during the antebellum period between the North and the South were centered around what type of societies slavery created. Although the North and South had some similarities during the antebellum period, the North and South were consistently more different in many aspects.

Sectional conflict between the North and South was the very platform of the birth of the Civil War. Slavery was a prominent dispute that played a large role in the differences throughout the U.S. at this time, but there were other causes as well including economic and social differences and the election of Abraham Lincoln. In the midst of various events in the 1850s, it was the southern secession that began the true separation of the Union and the Confederacy, which showed the reality and quickness of the arrival of the Civil War in the United States.

In the decades leading to the Civil War, both the North and the South had differing ideals on slavery. The North supported the abolition of slavery due to unethical and unconstitutional morals the Union strived to move away from, while the Southern Confederacy was against the movement, primarily due to the need and beliefs held toward slaves. According to John Calhoun, a Southerner who defended slavery, he felt it was impossible for the Union and Confederacy to reach a compromise, and once abolition was successful, the United States would fall into anarchy, stating, “abolition and the Union cannot coexist” (Calhoun, pg. 1). Calhoun’s views were similarly shared with George Fitzhugh, who expanded upon Calhoun’s views on the collapse of society due to abolition, stating, “They [Union] hold that all men, women, and negroes, and smart children are equals, and entitled to equal rights…