The Impact Of Pre Civil War On The United States

Everyone thinks that Abraham Lincoln was America’s most fervent supporter of preserving the Union, but while Lincoln was still a boy, there were three politicians leading the charge to keep the Union from fracturing. These three political giants were celebrities in their time and their names are: Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. Their differences ran the gamut and they more often worked against each other than with each other, but each of the men was deeply patriotic and ambitious. They all at one point in their careers served in the Senate and as the Secretary of State. Each of them

Henry Clay was a titanic figure on the American political scene during the first half of the nineteenth century. The late Dr. Robert Remini did him honor with his Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. Clay's career mirrored the trajectory of U.S. politics from the generation of the Revolution to the threshold of the Civil War. This era saw the domination of America by the contest between Jacksonian democrats and the nation's Great Triumvirate of John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. These last three have declined in public recognition in recent decades, but they towered over public discourse between 1812 and the 1850s.

What were the short-term and long-term effects of the Civil War? The Civil War produced many short-term and long-term effects. For example, the struggle of Freedmen and Reconstruction shortly after the Civil War was addressed with many short term solutions like, the Freedmen’s Bureau, the 10% Plan. and the Wade-Davis Bill. There also times like, the battle over Reconstruction, where the pure tension and disagreements throws the U.S. into pure chaos with the assassination of Lincoln and not much gets done due to the back and forth arguments between Johnson and Republicans. Although, the end of Reconstruction presents a myriad of long term effects which will radically change America like, the KKK and Plessy V. Ferguson promoting racism and the election of Hayes in 1876. From 1863-1896, the United States was completely divided and was going through Reconstruction in an attempt to unite the North and South after the Civil War to prevent other countries from attacking America. After the Civil War, the struggle to rebuild the Nation, the battle over Reconstruction, and its inevitable end produced a plethora of long-term and short-term effects which would change America forever.

The United States post-Civil War era from 1875 to 1900 experienced massive economic and industrial growth, especially in the North. The rise of new machines, industries (railroad, oil, steel), and buildings contributed to a major upsurge in the prosperity of the American nation. In 1860, no American city had a population over one million; by 1890, three cities had passed the million mark. New York City became the second largest city in the world after London in 1900. The substantial growth of the U.S economically can be contributed to a group of wealthy capitalists that ran businesses/industries and stimulated economic growth. However, historians have argued over whether these capitalists were “robber barons” that were corrupt and took advantage of the American people or “captains of industry” that helped the U.S grow at unparalleled speeds. Wealthy capitalists such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were indeed “captains of industry” who enlarged American industry and businesses, used their wealth to better their communities, and elevated the United States to new heights as one of the leading industrial powers of the entire world.

These three men were very different in a time of more partisanship and anger that today. I believe that the nation was fortunate to have Henry Clay, for without him, the Civil War might have come sooner. I also believe that if he hadn't died in 1852, but lived until 1865, the Civil War might have been prevented; or at least, delayed. I admire Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, not for their ideas, but for the way that they fought for what they believed in. It is thanks to these Webster and Calhoun, and men like them, that the Civil War was fought, and thanks to Clay, and men like him, that the Civil war was

Perhaps the three most influential men in the pre-Civil War era were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster. These men all died nearly a decade before the civil war began, but they didn’t know how much they would effect it. States’ rights was a very controversial issue, and one which had strong opposition and radical proposals coming from both sides. John C. Calhoun was in favor of giving states the power to nullify laws that they saw unconstitutional, and he presented this theory in his “Doctrine of Nullification”. Daniel Webster strongly disagreed with this proposal and showed this by giving powerful support to President Jackson in resisting the attempt by South Carolina to nullify the ‘tariff of abominations’, as they called

significant people that played a role in the Civil War and impacted it in a way that carried

The Civil War in the United States was one of the most significant events in the history of the country. This is due not only to the outcome it provided, but more importantly to the actual events that took place during the war, the aspects it dealt with, and the questions it raised concerning humanity, courage, democracy, human rights, slavery, unity and union. Throughout the war, the causes, the tactics, and the context changed. Further, the motivation of the soldiers fighting in both armies changed in a decisive manner. Despite all, this remains one of the bloodiest events in the history of the American states.

The Civil War had lasting historical impacts on America. Many medical, technological, military advances happened during or after the war and are still impacting The United States today. According to civilwar.org, out of the “...the heavy and constant demands of the sick and wounded sped up the technological progression of medicine, wrenching American medical practices into the light of modernity.” (Dixon). This quote shows just how much the Civil War forced these advances. Many things that are normal to us today, came around during the Civil War. Jonathan Letterman, the Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, gave us the idea of a modern day ambulance system. In Letterman’s system “the ambulances of a division moved together...with two stretcher-bearers...” (civilwarhome.com). These ambulances would gather wounded men from the field, and then dress their wounds on their way to the field hospital. Because of the Civil War and because of how many deaths came out of the Civil War, we are still using Jonathan Letterman’s system.

By 1860, there were nearly 4 million slaves in the United States, with about 470,000 slaves in Virginia alone . In the ten years before this, tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters had grown, sparked by critical moments such as the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery in the Northern territory, and the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which, ruled on by a judges from a majority of slave states, took away blacks’ rights to become a U.S. citizen and threw out the Missouri Compromise. A great deal of controversy and political turmoil surrounded these changes, intensifying divides in the nation. “Many Southerners ignored the differences between free soil and abolitionism saw the entire North locked in the grip of demented leaders bent on civil war.” One particular event, John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, seemed to confirm Southerners’ false perception of the North.

The Civil War took a lot of money and strength from the United States and many other countries. The amount of causalities added up on both sides surpassed a million. The amounts of deaths were also more than any other American war, excluding the Vietnam War. However, the Civil War impacted America in many other ways. Overall, the civil war brought many changes to the nation; it changed the political land, economy, and the social lifestyle of almost every American citizen.

John Quincy Adams, son of a Federalist president, represented the interests of the Northeast (high protective tariff) and was the leading contender

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.

​The effects of the Civil War brought about changes in the United States. The country had to answer the question: To what level of moral and ethical conduct do we want Americans to be held? Loyalties were seriously evaluated. People had to decide if they held their loyalty to the country as a whole, their state, their families, or even to humanity as a whole. They had to decide if it was right to own another person, or if the slavery system was justified as a way to keep the Southern economy going. Through all this contemplation, people wrote about their thoughts and fears, and as a result, people abandoned romanticism and became realists. Many writings of the Civil War, whether informational or literary, reflect

The costs of the Civil War were enormous. The total number of military causalities on both sides exceeded 1 million. More men died in the Civil War than in all other American wars combined until Vietnam. However, the Civil War impacted the United States well beyond just deaths. The Civil war brought fundamental alterations in the life of the nation, changing the economy, the political landscape, as well as ways of life.