The Economy And Social Structures That Defined Each Side

The American Civil War started in 1861 and ended in 1865. The two sides of the war are the Union (North) and Confederacy (South). The South wanted to keep slavery to maintain their economy and they worried that the North would end slavery. The South then seceded, starting the conflict. Around 620,000 people died in the war. Both sides of the war had advantages and disadvantages in the Civil War. Population in the South was small because it was based around farming communities, putting them at a disadvantage because they had fewer people to make up their army. On the other hand, they had great generals and a lot of morale. Meanwhile, the North’s large

From 1861 to 1865, the United States of America was fighting itself. The northern part of the United States, known as the Union or simply the North, was trying to end slavery in the southern part of the United States. The South seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The North consisted of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. The South consisted of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The North wanted slavery to be abolished, but the South needed slaves for their economy; the conflict started war. The North and the South were both prepared for war.

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.

The South fought this war as the Second American Revolution. The cause of the South was equated to that of their forefathers who had fought and won their freedom from Great Britain less than 100 years earlier. If it was a war to set men free, it was the Southern farm boy that wanted his freedoms guaranteed under the original constitution. The Northern states' politicians were aggressively attempting to implement a monarchial form of government, which was precisely what the early colonists had fought against in the American Revolution. The Northern states were taking advantage of their superior numbers in the federal government and were using their advantage to implement unfair tariffs against the South. Enormous amounts of money were taken from the South and funneled into the Northern states. Most of the revenue taken from the Southern states was used to run government programs. This brought about the argument of "State's Rights" and a weaker central government by the South.

The Confederates tried to compare their goals too those of the Patriots in 1776. They said they were fighting for the “sacred right to self-govern”. Lincoln presented the secession as an attack on popular government. The Union at the start of the war tried to force rebellious states back into the Union through a military campaign after diplomacy had failed.

For four years, Americans fought against one another on the battlefield. This war would come to make up the bloodiest war in American history. Over the four years, over 620,000 soldiers died in the conflict. This war became one the most traumatic event in American History. Since the beginning of colonization to the 1860’s, the people in this country were slowly being divided. From 1850 to 1861, it was apparent that the union was separating into the North and the South and battle was soon to follow. With this division, peace could not continue amongst the country, for the country was filled with problems that affected the common Americans. With the events that led up to the war, the South felt like they had every reason to secede from the

The Civil War had revolutionary effects on American society, the most important of which was the destruction of slavery, the fundamental institution of southern society. The emancipation of America’s 4 million slaves, in numbers, scale, and economic value, was far greater than any other emancipation of slaves or serfs (in Russia) in the world. At the war’s beginning, Lincoln identified the North’s cause with the cause of free labor. But Lincoln also initially stated that the conflict was not being fought to end or limit slavery, but to preserve the Union. He wanted to keep the border slave states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri in the Union and build the broadest possible base of support for the war in the North.

The Southerners were fighting for a way of life they believed in. They thought England would help them because they used a lot of the cotton the South grew. Many Southerners deserted the army because they didn't have the things they needed for fighting. The Northerners had more men, more factories, and more weapons. The Northern military leaders were weaker than the Southern leaders. They later became as good with training. The Confederate favored slavery, felt they were fighting a second war of independence, made a living from small farms and plantations, wanted to lower taxes on goods,

The American Civil War initiated directly from the northern and southern strained relations on the controversial matter of states’ right opposed to federal supremacy, slavery, and economic sectionalism. The Presidential Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 engendered the secession of seven states forming the Confederate States of America, following of four states after emerging battle of the Civil War. Why was the election of Lincoln the catalyst that led to the United States secession? Republicans opposed the enlargement of slavery flowing throughout the territories, therefore restricting the practice of slavery. Southern states discerned on the depriving control of federal government eventually overpowering slavery to become prohibited. In

North was not only fighting to preserve the union, but also to end slavery. The goal isn't to keep slavery out of the territories, but to end slavery in all. (The Civil War - PBS) The North didn’t enter the Civil War with the intent of reconquering the Deep South. The more immediate goals were the protection of Federal forts and properties and control of the railroads and the Rivers. Laws beginning with the 1777 state constitution of Vermont, northern slavery did not recede quickly.

With no hope of bringing the South back into the United States by protecting slavery, Lincoln had a new dilemma. His own political party, the Republicans, had formed around their opposition to slavery. Many of the more radical politicians in the party saw the secession of the South as the best opportunity to abolish slavery once and for all. As the US war dead piled up, more and more Northerners began to push Lincoln to punish the states that had seceded by making abolition a major goal of the war. The problem with abolishing slavery, however, was that there were still four slave states that had not seceded from the United States: Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Lincoln feared that if he advocated emancipation he would provoke those states into joining the Confederacy, making the war even more difficult to win. Of the border states, Maryland was particularly worrisome, because the US capital at Washington D.C. sat on its border with Virginia. If Maryland decided to join the Confederacy, Washington D.C.

With Fort Sumter being the first battle from the confederacy against abolitionist and ending it with that Manassa battle the union's defeat showed Lincoln the war would be long. The northerners being more industrialized than the south they were able to defeat the confederacy. Free black slaves in the north helped fight the Civil War to gain equality and freedom to all men. The war was about a new birth of freedom. In slave plantations, they were hoiused in shacks spreading diseases, less than four out of one hundred survived till sixty. The southerners knowing the north was far more better economically, still didn't think of changing their way of lifestyle over slavery. A white man being killed over slavery, sparked protest and meeting all over the north, discovering slavery would become a issue in war. When Lincoln was president he wanted the declaration of independence to express that all men can go as far as talent can take them. South feared the North would abolish slavery and North felt the South would expand slavery

The war determined whether the United States of America would be a nation with equal rights for everyone or a country that still accepted slavery and allowed people to be treated like they are property instead of people. The topic of slavery brought a lot tension economically and created social barriers for communicating with other individuals and groups between the North and the South. The North was industrialized and had a firm economy while the South relied heavily on slaves for their economy. The United States became a country that was divided into three groups when the Civil War began. The first group was made up of people who believed in abolishing slavery, the second group was made up of people who

     The Civil War was a four year armed conflict between northern and southern sections of the United States. The Civil War cost more American lives than any other war in history. There were bout 3 million people who fought in the beginning of the Civil War and about 600,000 people’s lives were lost at the end of the war. What began for many as a romantic adventure soon became a heartbreaking bitter struggle between the two parts of a divided country. This, however, was more than the industrial North fighting against the agricultural South. There were divided families with brother fighting brother. Some Northerners joined the Southern ranks and some Southerners were in the Union

In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined.