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War Turning Point

Decent Essays

The History of the American Civil War 1861-1865
The civil war was a turning point in the history of America; it laid the foundation for the further development of America as one nation. The civil war formally began on April 12, 1861, when the South Confederates bombarded the Union soldiers at Fort Summer, South Carolina. By the early beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States was experiencing an era of tremendous growth; an economic difference existed between the country’s northern and southern regions. In the North, manufacturing and industry were well established while the South was an agricultural region where large-scale farming of tobacco and cotton was the major source of income. The main reason behind the civil war was …show more content…

Southern states favored slavery.
The fertile soil and good climate of the South made it an ideal place for farming; the main crops were tobacco and cotton. The main source of income of Southern states was from farms. They did not have big cities and only one-tenth of the southerners lived in cities and the transportation between cities was difficult. As their main income was from the farms, they needed slaves to do work on the farms to meet the production needs. They did not have any intention to abolish slavery. At that time about twenty six percent of the white families owned slaves.
B. The election for the President of America.
During the Presidential election held on November, 1860 Abraham Lincoln did very well, due to the northerners and about forty percent of the vote came from northerners. After becoming President he tried to save the slaves and the northerners supported his policy(Halliwell 6). The South opposed his intention of saving the slaves. In response to the election of Lincoln, Southern states declared the secession from the US. Hence, the attempts of the North to regain the unity of the nation resulted in the outbreak of active military actions in the course of The Civil …show more content…

They had better transportation system and in particular more and better railroads. They had industrial system that could manufacture almost all of its war material. But the south was more united and had strong military. On April 13, 1861, the Confederate states of the south unleash malice with shelling federal Fort Sumter bay (South Carolina), whose small garrison capitulated and then lowered the American flag. Thus began the four-year civil war. In succession, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. South Carolina long the hotbed of southern separatism, seceded first on December 20, 1860. By the time Lincoln took office, six other southern states- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had withdrawn from the Union. In 1861, representatives of the seven succeeded met at Alabama and formed a new nation. The Union and The Confederates fought their first main battle of the war in northern Virginia. A Union army of over thirty thousand men under the command of General Irvin McDowell was stationed just outside Washington. He marched his troops towards Manassas. On July 21, in the first battle of Bull Run, Mc Dowell’s almost succeeded in dispersing the Confederate forces. But the southerners managed to stop the assault and began to counter-attack. The union troops exhausted withdrew from the battle. Many battles were fought in the year 1861 and the

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