There wasn’t one sole cause of the Civil War but there were many events that took the country to war and put brother against brother and states against states. Abraham Lincoln wanted to preserve the union and that could only be attained by civil war. Slavery which was an underlying cause for the war played its role in the division that divided the North against the South. Ultimately the preservation of the union, slavery and the consequences and conflicts leading to the Civil War all rested on President Lincoln’s shoulders.
For President Lincoln, he sought to preserve and protect the union. He felt that a divided America would fall and fail if they weren’t united ,“my opinion is that no state can, in any way lawfully, get out of the Union, without the consent of the others; and that it is the duty of the President, and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is.” (Lincoln) The states had made numerous attempts to resolve one of the major issues that were threatening the union and that issue was Slavery. It was becoming hard to resolve arising issues having separate laws for states only lead to further division. Abraham Lincoln stated, “We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question; but in this case that question is a perplexing compound -- Union and Slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it.” (Lincoln) As a
The first major reason of the civil war stems from Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. Lincoln gives warning to the growing rift between the North and the South, the Anti-Slavery and the Pro-Slavery groups, as evidence in ‘I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.’ Although the antagonism and eagerness of protecting the Union is not shown as prominently as future speeches, we can find a hint of caution in his tone. He goes on to support his claims through the hodgepodge of legislation that is the ‘Nebraska Doctrine’ and the legal crisis of the Dred Scott court case. He politely refers to this as ‘squabble’ and speak of the controversy and moral implication that they have caused. For his part, it is easy to see the insinuation of the speech- he believed slavery was immoral and was wholly incompatible with the principles of the Declaration of Independence embodied in the phrase
president after Lincoln 's death and immediately set the tone for the rest of his
The Civil War was caused by the idea of States’ rights, the hypocrisy of the United States in its celebration of ‘Independence Day’ while slavery existed, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln.
The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties, including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease, and 50,000 civilians. The war accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.
Soldiers of the American Civil War were overwhelmed by a time where weaponry and technological developments were thriving. This brutal war changed the soldiers, both mentally and physically, and continued to have an impact throughout their entire lives. There were not only many deaths during the war, but also prior to the war as many soldiers took their own life. They would experience disturbing thoughts and events in their mind that could not be explained until they became known as mental illnesses. The exploration of psychological disorders following the Civil War improved medical diagnostic tools and the way patients were treated which transformed the treatment of mental illness by creating new ways of discovering illnesses, treating patients, and developing the foundation for the future of psychology throughout America.
A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.
During the 1860s there were many issues and that the Southern and Northern states needed to work on. In 1861 hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteered to fight in the Civil War, also known as the First Modern War. The main causes of this war were the economic and social differences between the North and the South. These differences led to other fundamental issues such as slavery and its abolition. In addition to that as the war was coming to its end, federal authorities found themselves presiding over the transition from slavery to freedom.After the war, there was a 12-year period best known as the Reconstruction and the main goals that it had were to get the Confederate States back into the Union, to rebuilt the Southern economy
In the 1800s the Civil War, a war between the northern and southern states, erupted into a massive conflict after President Lincoln was elected and after eleven states seceded from the Union. Following the secession from the Union, The Ft. Sumer conflict erupted, and this four-year tragedy between the northern and southern United States began causing an innumerable amount of casualties. This immense number of casualties, reaching approximately 600,000, resulted from economic and social differences of the North and South, the Dred Scott Case, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln. These causes of the Civil War were all created on conflict rather than intervention. They led to the creation of the Confederacy, a league of confederate states that embodied various disadvantages: the creation of weapons manually, the lack of railroads, the small population, as well as various advantages: tough fighting, devastating the Union 's army and unity that brought people of the Southern states together. Alongside these advantages came devastation, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves, and led to the Confederacy 's defeat in 1865.
The Civil War was caused by many reasons. The factors that were most responsible in causing the Civil War were the different views of the Constitution among the North and South, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the arrival of Lincoln as president. They caused immense destruction throughout the nation. If these factors were prevented, the United States could have been preserved and civil war could have never occurred.
The United States could not have become half-slave and half-free and not fought the civil war (Sultan Knish). Lincoln stated that a house could not stand if it is divided against itself and government cannot undergo half-slave and half-free (Sultan Knish). Although I have no expectation of the house falling and the union being dissolved, but I do expect it to end (Sultan Knish). Lincoln believed that some northern politicians were plotting to help an aggressive slavocracy and that his nemesis, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, stood at the forefront of the effort (Lincoln). Even some Republicans began to back down from their stance against the extension of slavery and move toward Douglas’s philosophy of popular sovereignty, a doctrine that could allow the continued growth of the American “cancer (Lincoln)”. A crisis was at hand. As a man of principle, Lincoln saw no middle ground on the slavery issue (Lincoln). The conflict represented, as he would soon say, “the eternal struggle between right and wrong throughout the world (Lincoln).” As a practical politician, he knew Douglas had to be stopped (Lincoln). Finally, in the winter of 1857–1858, Lincoln sat down and wrote what had been brewing in him for years (Lincoln). Lincoln was making careful notes for a firm public statement, as was his habit (Lincoln). These notes saved by an accident of history and never intended for publication, represent a turning point in Lincoln thought that would have been lost otherwise
During the years between 1861 and 1865 America was battling itself in a crisis called the Civil War. The Civil War was a make or break situation for the United States because it questioned the idea that all men were created equally and had the same rights and freedoms as each other. This war was especially crucial to the slaves during this time for the idea that they wanted to be treated equally to the white man The African slaves saw this war as an opportunity of freedom, but that was not the only cause of the war. One major issue leading to the Civil War was the groups that controlled the government. When the North got more industrialized, the power of the senate was in their favor causing them to control laws regarding slavery. The South was mainly rural and had majority of the population, house of representitives, because of the three fifths clause that allowed slaves every three out of five slaves to count as a man. As many know the Union, the North, wanted slavery to end and equal rights for African Americans. The Confederacy, the South, did not want the idea of a slave being equal to the white man. On December 20,1860 South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union. The following year Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee also left the Union. In 1860 the North was urban and had a population of 22 million people while the South was rural and occupied only nine million people, not including
Ever since it was the election of 1860, Lincoln became President, and his goal was to keep slavery out of the North. New nation from the seven slave states were made and that’s because they didn't want to listen to the goal Lincoln made. Lincoln made this goal to have equal rights for the next few years. (“Civil War Facts”) Another point that caused the Civil War was sectionalism. Sectionalism was known for the North and South to be divided into two parts from one territory. One of the reasons that the North and South were divided was because they were convinced for each justice when war began. Another cause that’s part
In 1861, a horrific war began. Nobody had any idea that this war would become the deadliest war in American history. It wasn’t a regular war, it was a civil war opposing the Union in the North and the Confederate States in the South.. The Civil War cost many people’s lives on the battlefield and beyond. In addition it cost an extreme amount of money for the nation which possibly could have been avoided if the war had turned to happen a little differently.
Abraham Lincoln once stated “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln is a hero for the citizens of America because his determination and courage to ending slavery even if it meant war caused peace in this nation. Slavery was the vital cause of the American Civil War. The north and the south both had their differences on how to run the country. People in the North believed in unity and that slavery should not exist because “all men are created equally.” On the other hand, the South believed in continuing slavery. People tried to talk it out and come to a middle ground after both sides compromising, however that didn’t work and caused war. Ideological differences were a vital role to making the American Civil War an inevitable event.
During the nineteenth century was a crucial time for America as many era changing events occurred such as the civil war, death of our founding fathers among other events that really shaped America to what it is today. There were many dark times throughout this century as hope seemed to be lost and the thought of the north losing the civil war could not be fathom as today’s society would be drastically different. To this point in American history we have succeeded from England became independent and winning the revolutionary war, we have wrote our own declaration and became our own people. Also through this time we have fought amongst ourselves through the civil war as slavery played a dominating factor in the conflict between the north and south. Throughout all these dark times we have still risen together and fought for what was right and that history has had an everlasting impact on the nation we are today. During this period of heartache we did get through it and I believe that Fourth of July celebrations throughout this period of time were a driving force in giving people the hope and belief that we as a nation were on the verge of something great.