The History of the United States - Research Paper Example

The civil war arose when the US people fought over power, land. (Burke 12). The Southerners felt threatened since they were thriving well in the slave trade. They feared the north might interfere with the growth of the trade which was booming at that time. It might be said with conviction that it is indeed slave trade that leads to the division of America into two, but there are other reasons. At that time, the Southerners whose daily lifestyle relied much on plantation farming and could, therefore, not do without slaves and the slave trade.

They wished that it could grow and even spread in the west. In the contrary, the northerners who were politically and economically doing well posed a threat to the Southerners. So for the survival of the union of the American state, it was necessary that the slave trade was not tempered with, but left to grow (Burke 27). However, in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln became president, the union of American states came to a point where enough is enough. When he publicly made his intentions clear to stop growth of the slave trade but not slavery, he compelled South Carolina followed by six other American southern states to withdraw from the union.

This lead to the Civil war that lasted for four years after the seven states united and named Jefferson Davis there president. On15th of April 1861 due to break up of the states there followed a lot of fights and states of unrest battles with the first reported incidence being on July 21st 1861. At this point nothing, much could be done to stop the war anticipated. President Lincoln gave a decree that soldiers be reinforced around Fort Caswell and Fort Johnson but was all in vain due to luck of cooperation from some of the states like Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee (Finney 33).

There was some response to the president’s order from some companies from Pennsylvania who offered and provided soldiers on the 18th of April 1861. Between 18th and 19 of April soldiers managed a little to destroy points where weapons were kept in Virginia. At this juncture, President Lincoln pronounced the closer of states belonging to the Confederate. When the soldiers of the Union dared to pass through the Confederate states, Baltimore soldiers went on a rampage as a retaliate gesture. This made Lincoln add more closure by including Virginia and North Carolina in the list of sates closed.

On the 20th of April 1861, there was an attempt by the Federal soldiers to Attack Virginia among other states. However, there was help by the Confederates who happened to save a lot of valuable staffs making the Federal soldiers retreat. On the seventh 25th of April the same year there was more reinforcement in Washington DC. On 29th, an election was held (Keifer 46). The governor was given the power to select commissioners by the Legislative body at Tennessee so the commissioners can be in accordance with the Confederacy.

Voters who were supporting the re-evaluation of the conditions leading to the breakup of the United States Where joined hand in hand by The North Carolina legislative body. In May 17th North Carolina and Confederacy join hands. The voting was only restricted among the legislative body, and the citizens were not allowed to participate (Long 77). Conclusion A lot of activities was done at the legislative level most of which were being decided by the power of the ballot box. In the war, many civilian lost their lives; the national government became stronger