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
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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
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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
The northern part of the United States and the southern part of the United States separated because they disagreed on each other’s opinion regarding slavery. The Union was against slavery and the Confederacy was supporting slavery for their benefits. The first battle of the Civil War began when the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Union had surrendered Fort Sumter after 34 hours of intense fighting. Lincoln then decided that the army should move against the Confederacy near Bull Run. The Confederacy once again destroyed the Union. Lincoln wanted to switch out McClellan with General John Pope who had won several wars in the West before. Unfortunately Pope was more boastful than resourceful, and General Lee quickly defeated the Union in the second Battle of Bull Run. After that defeat, Lincoln quickly reinstated McClellan as commander of the Union
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, in Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor after the Confederate artillery struck the Fort (“Florida’s Role in the Civil War”). After President Lincoln became the President of the United States, eleven states formed as Confederate states to separate themselves from the United States. The reason why those states separated from the United States was that they did not agree with President Lincoln’s decision to try to end all slavery. The Confederate states wanted to keep slavery going. Those eleven states were Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. The rest of the United States were called the Union, even though there were some people that lived within the Confederate States that did not condone slavery and there were some people who lived in the Union states who did condone slavery. Fifteen years before Florida joined the Confederacy, Florida had just become part of the United States in 1845 (“Florida in the Civil
Immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely
Southern economy was the center of plantation that cultivated cotton. Many the rich started to carve the plantation to earn money by exporting cotton. They needed a lot of labor and slavery was proper to use. The majority of white southerners did not own slaves because planters monopolized the best land. They could not help taking possession of the land that was not proper to cultivate cotton. Most of them earned a living by self-sufficiency even though the slave population was growing: from 697,624 in 1790 to 3,953,760 in 1860.
As Abraham Lincoln succeed in winning the elections it became a conflict. In Document 11 from the Civil War DBQ it says that Abraham Lincoln was republican who was against the expansion of slavery. Lincoln winning the election without a single vote from the Southern side it lead to the civil war. The South fear that he was going abolish slavery in the Southern side. The South secede from the Union, but Abraham wanted the Nation to be together and he was going to do whatever it takes to have all states together in the Union. Since he wanted to stop slavery the South refuse and fought against the
To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to
In order for them to generate a more lucrative business, the south used slaves as a labor source to produce crops, which had the largest impact on the southern lifestyle. This in turn boosted the south's economy, which allowed the the southern life to thrive and create a distinction between themselves and the other economies of North America. Whilst slaves dominated the southern economy, slaveholders only accounted for about two to three percent of the southern population. This small, yet powerful percentage of individuals were the people successful in agricultural business and the driving force behind the usage and continuation of slavery in the South. Without slaves there would be no cotton, tobacco, or sugar production and without these integral items, the Southern economy would absolutely collapse. The South depended on slaves to fuel their economy which in turn allowed for slavery to dominate the economy and be the sole resource of the South.
The American civil war took place between 1861 and 1865 after the controversial election of President Lincoln. This election created a big rift between the south and the north regarding the future of the slaves . While the southerners remained predominantly agricultural-based, the northerners became an industrialized region with the focus on using the slaves to provide cheap labor for the industrialists. The discussion about the fate of the slaves created a difference between the two unions with regards to taxation, freedom of the salves and federal rights . The differences about the fate of the slaves led to secession in which the northerners and the westerners intended to preserve their union.
The election of November 6, 1860 in which Abraham Lincoln was elected ("Abraham Lincoln Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.) Abraham Lincoln was anti-slavery and republican. The reason why the lower half of the country didn’t like Lincoln because he was against slavery (Document Letter). Additionally they may have had a higher concentration of democrats (Document Letter). There was a large disagreement with the south and Lincoln. The majority of the north supported Lincoln. Because of this there was a lot of tension between the north and the south.
agriculture. The industrial revolution in the North, during the first few decades of the 19th century, brought about a machine age economy that relied on wage laborers, not slaves. In addition, At the same time the warmer Southern states continued to rely on slaves for their farming economy and cotton production. Southerners made huge profits from cotton and slaves and fought a war to maintain them. Northerners did not need slaves for their economy and fought a war to free them. For instance, James Henry Hammond announces that the slaves hired in the South are hired for life and compensated while in the North their manual laborers are not cared about and are essentially “slaves”. (Doc L.) Essentially, Hammond felt that people are better off in the South because they are treated much better and they have a prime purpose unlike the North who call the hired “manual laborers” but are just slaves, who are one day working then suddenly ‘beggars “on the street. Another example of the Industry vs. Agriculture being a cause of the Civil War was South Carolina Threatening Secession, with all its pecuniary bounties to the Northern states, and its pecuniary burdens upon the Southern states, would be utterly “overthrown and demolished”. (Doc A.) This would develop in the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing
After the Fort Sumter battle, both the North and the South began preparing for war by raising armies. This was done quickly and neither side spent much time training the troops. Both sides also did not know what a long and terrible war was ahead.
In spite of the fact that at first glance the Civil War may have appeared an unbalanced clash, with the 23 conditions of the Union getting a charge out of a gigantic point of preference in populace, fabricating (counting arms creation) and railroad development, the Confederates had a solid military convention, alongside a portion of the best officers and commandants in the country. They likewise had a cause they trusted in: safeguarding their long-held customs and foundations, boss among these being subjection. In the First Battle of Bull Run (referred to in the South as First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, 35,000 Confederate fighters under the order of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson constrained a more noteworthy number of Union powers (or Federals) to withdraw towards Washington, D.C., dashing any trusts of a speedy Union triumph and driving Lincoln to call for 500,000 more enlists. Indeed, both sides ' underlying call for troops must be broadened after it turned out to be clear that the war would not be a constrained or short clash.
The Union Army was shocked when the Confederates reinforcements got to the battle really fast. The soldiers were brought on a train which the
The south had some railroads which meant that their goods traveled slower. The south's main economic advantage was agriculture. The south grew a lot of the cotton used to make clothes. They also grew their own food and the other things they needed. The south was also resourceful.
Almost all his votes came from the North. "In winning the North, the "railsplitter" had split off the South." (Bailey, 435) Sectionalism could be seen with the votes given to each candidate from the states. Four days after Lincoln was elected, South Carolina called a special election in which they decided to secede from the Union. Ten more states followed South Carolina. Civil War began soon, lasting