The Confederacys Defeat in the Civil War - Essay Example

The Confederacy's Defeat in the Civil War When it comes to the issue of the Confederacy's defeat in the Civil War, there are several factors in particular which need to be discussed. The American Civil War is a war which took place between the years of 1861-1865, and it is considered as being one of the most major wars in the history of America. The Confederacy consists of seven Deep South cotton states seceded by February 1861, and includes South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. In the year 1861 four more states seceded and joined the Confederacy, and these states were: Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. The Confederacy lost the civil war to the Union, which consisted of the Northern states, and there are many reasons that are considered as being explanatory for this. From the very beginning of the war, the North had a number of advantages over the South, and they basically had large amounts of everything while the South had hardly anything at all. The Union had large amounts of land, and an ever-growing industry, while the South basically had only one main cash crop: cotton. This is one of the most major reasons as to why the Confederacy suffered defeat in the Civil War - they made a serious mistake by believing that its thriving cotton industry would be enough to sustain itself throughout the war, and they soon realized that their assumptions had been far off. The North were much more successful in regards to their decision making and other strategies, and although the Civil War was absolutely a trying time for both the Confederacy and the Union alike, the fact is that the question of the outcome was quite obvious from the start. The South was very ill-equipped and not prepared enough, while the North was prepared to endure the deprivation of war, and not only that, but as well, just to further add on to the dilemma of the South, they were basically sucked dry of any semblance of economic formidability, while for the North the war was actually economically beneficial, as even after only the first year of the war they found that they were experiencing an enormous industrial boom. From this we can conclude several different things in particular, namely the fact that the main reason the Confederacy suffered defeat in the Civil War is because they were not prepared. They did not strategize properly, and they were not at all financially prepared before or during the time of the war. The South had actually originally counted on the North not being able to keep themselves in the war, and assumed that they would eventually give up and thus allow the South to secede, however this did not happen, and this was largely in part due to the resolve of Lincoln. It has been considered as well that the longer the war went on, the more and more the North's odds of winning increased, and eventually the South was doomed. Reconstruction: A Success or a Failure Reconstruction was an attempt that was made during and after the Civil War by the United States in order to attempt to resolve the issues that existed from the war when both the Confederacy and slavery were destroyed. It was truly an era of unprecedented and severe political conflict and of incredible change, and this reconstruction of the United States was carried on by President Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln, during the years 1865 and 1866. The reconstruction period was - and still is - considered as being a time of great hardship for the United States, and President Andrew Johnson is considered as being one of the most major and key players during this time, as it was he who was faced with the task of having to reunite the North and South together after the drama and severity of the Civil War. Basically the reconstruction was a period when all people needed new and enforced human rights, even African Americans, as up to this point they were a minority group which had no rights and were still considered as being less than full people in a society that proclaimed and believed that all of God's people were created equal, thus truly causing a major and seriously emotionally battering contradiction. There are really then several issues that need to be addressed in order to be able to properly conclude whether or not the reconstruction was a success, and the goals and policies of President Johnson can easily be considered as one of these issues. In May, 1865, Johnson made one of his first actual political proclamations, which was that he was offering amnesty to almost all Confederates who had taken an oath of allegiance to the Union. As well he reversed General Sherman's decision, which had been to set aside certain and particular pieces of land so that it could be used for the express use of free slaves. One of the biggest controversies that surrounded Johnson during this reconstruction period was the fact that he seemed to not be as considerate towards African American people; he wanted suffrage for black army veterans, and yet at the same time he did not want it for any other African Americans. Many of his goals and policies did not properly cover African Americans, and again at that time they were still a large minority and were not treated equally, however during the reconstruction period, while things were trying to be fixed, this issue is one which should have absolutely been addressed and taken care of. From this we can conclude several different things in particular. One, we can see that the Reconstruction was a success in that the leaders involved were able to almost completely reunite the North and the South after the horrific events of the Civil War, however at the same time the reconstruction could and should have included many more issues as well, such as, for instance, the matter of African Americans being treated more equally. Some would still consider the Reconstruction as being a failure, however if we compare the feelings between the North and South after the Reconstruction when compared to during and right after the Civil War, we can quite clearly see that it was, in fact, a success. The Impact of the Struggle Between the Executive, Legislative, and the Judiciary Over Control of Reconstruction on American Federalism The Reconstruction period of the United States of America was an incredibly important and significant era in U.S. history. Basically the Reconstruction occurred in order to attempt to 'reunite' the North and the South after the Civil War, however during this period in time there was an incredible struggle over the control of the Reconstruction, mainly between the key players and groups that were present during this time. The two key groups that were present during the particular time of the Reconstruction were the Republicans and the Radicals; Lincoln was the leader of the moderate Republicans, while Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Summer were the two key players who led the Radical Republicans. These groups were incredibly opposing in regards to how they wanted to go about the Reconstruction, including what issues they considered as being the most important. Even after Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson became President, there was still a serious struggle that was present over the control of the Reconstruction on American federalism, as Johnson broke with the moderate Republicans by 1866, and he then immediately aligned himself more with the Democrats, who opposed equality and as well the Fourth Amendment. The Radicals attacked almost every single one of Johnson's policies, while Johnson continued to attempt to fully control the Reconstruction situation. A big change came after the election of 1966 however, when he balance of power altered dramatically, resulting in giving the Radicals control of Congress and well enough votes to actually overcome Johnson's vetoes that had been put into place, and finally Johnson was impeached. Radicals then used the Army so that they could follow through with their plans and take over the South, and one of the first things that they did here was give the vote to black men; something which Johnson had overtly been incredibly defensive and set against. This struggle over control continued on throughout the time of the Reconstruction, and by 1877, Redeemers had gained control of every state, and many significant changes took place from this as well, namely that of how President Rutherford Hayes withdrew the federal troops, which resulted in causing the collapse of the last three remaining Republican state governments. From this we can conclude several different things in particular, namely that the struggle which ensued during the time of the Reconstruction over who was going to have control of it was an issue which was incredibly significant in regards to the results that sprang from it, and as the control was passed around from one group to another, the changes that continued to take place truly marked a time in history for the United States. Whether or not these changes were positive or negative in the end is really a matter of personal opinion, however all in all the most major fact that matters is that of how the Reconstruction was a success overall. The Impact of the Civil War on the Economy of the United States The Civil War truly had an impact in at least some way or another on every single aspect in the United States, in particular on the economy. Although the economy of the Southern states was hit much harder, the Northern states too were affected, and the entire American economy on a whole was really negatively affected by this war. Most historians agree on the belief that although economic conflicts were not a major cause of the war, the economy in general was greatly affected during and after the war; the divergent paths that were taken in the economic development of the North and the South greatly contributed to the animosity between the regions, the development of the Confederacy, and, ultimately, the victory of the Union. The cotton industry was, by far, one of the most lucrative economic fields for the South, and as well, utilizing slave labor, cotton planters and farmers were able to greatly cut costs as they produced the cotton for sale to various other regions across the world, and as well for export to England. Then, in exchange, the Southern farmers and planters would purchase manufactured goods from the North, as well as food items from the West and specific imported luxuries from the England. However, although it was those in the South that were really doing all the work in regards to taking care of and selling the cotton, the North actually experienced an incredible boom economically after the war began, in fact starting only several months after the actual onset of the war. This was just one of the many economic issues that divided the North from the South. Another was that of tariffs; tariffs were placed on basically all imported goods, and it had been decided that the money that was received from these tariffs would go to the government. However, there was an argument between the North and the South here because the South, who was already not doing that well economically, especially when compared to the South, favored low tariffs for the most part because they had such an import-oriented economy and they knew that low tariffs would keep the price of imported goods low. The North, however, were more eager to have high tariffs, as they knew that such tariffs would make imported goods more expensive, and thus their economy would do even better with higher tariffs. After all, if the tariffs on imported goods were more expensive, then the goods that were produced in North America would seem at least relatively cheap, and thus, rather than wanting to buy European items, more Americans would stick with purchasing their goods from America. From this we can conclude many things, for one, that the South was who suffered the most negatively economically overall, before, during and after the war. Although economics was only one factor in the Civil War, nevertheless the economic tension that was evident between the North and the South truly did contribute greatly to political tensions overall. Not only that, but as well, economic realities in general were largely responsible for the Union's victory, and the actual end of the Civil War was what truly signaled the onset and real beginning of the United States' development overall, particularly in terms of the economy. Ulysses S. Grant: His Generalship and the Impact of his Generalship on the Outcome of the Civil War Ulysses S. Grant is the man who is considered as being the hero of the Civil War, and there are many different reasons for this. Grant was an American general and the 18 President of the United States of America, and he achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Because the Union won the war, Grant's generalship was clearly respected and admired, and the impact of his generalship is, without a doubt, what resulted in the outcome of the Civil War, which was with the North reigning supreme. Grant was actually the first Union general in the war who was able and who did initiate coordinated defensives across multiple theatres, and as well he in fact personally supervised the 1864 Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee's Army in Virginia, again resulting in a win. Although at some points - particularly at the beginning - during the Civil War there were doubts put towards Grant's leadership and generalship, and some even called for him to be replaced, however with the support of some others, including President Lincoln for one, Grant made it absolutely clear that he was seriously determined to move ahead to victory, and he obviously resulted in doing so. Those who had questioned his generalship beforehand soon began to realize that Grant was truly doing an excellent job with his work and those who had doubted him before changed their minds almost immediately after this point. Grant was one of the largest symbols in the Union victory, and one of his first and most important strategic acts of the war was when he took the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, and this was immediately after the Confederates ended up violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky, and after this he ended up getting into his very first battle, which was against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. He then continued on to participate in various other battles, resulting in wins in basically all of them. Overall we can see that Ulysses S. Grant was one of the most important persons who participated in the Civil War as a whole, and he was quite obviously the largest factors in regards to the win of the North in this war. Grant's generalship, although doubted by many at first, proved itself during the war with how he reacted and the steps that he took, and it definitely proved itself once the war was over and he had brought the North to victory. Although there were many other factors that were involved in the victory of the North as well, however without a doubt Grant was the most important in this regards, as we can see from this review. Read More