Historiography: on Slavery Causing US Civil War - Research Paper Example

During the war, more than 600,000 civilians and soldiers from both sides perished(Huddleston, 2002, p. 3). The war led to the collapse of the slave trade with the collapse of the slave states that were popularly known as Confederate States of America. Historians have varied reasons that gave birth to the civil wars. The Confederate States opposed the peace negotiations by Lincoln’s administration and opted for secession. The then outgoing President Buchanan from the Democrats and the then incoming Republicans termed the move for secession as illegal.

Lincoln had earlier claimed that they would not tread on the path of war. The confederate states and Lincoln’s administration failed to come into good terms, and the situation soured threatening on a civil war. Therefore, because they had no choice, the two sides prepared for war. The confederate states had considered that the European countries would fall on to their side due to their dependence on cotton that came from Confederate States(Jones, 1999, p. 154). However, the European countries never supported them.

The Confederate states felt also felt that they had been left out by the win of Lincoln to Presidency. Lincoln was a President from the North. Earlier Presidents had come from the South and Lincoln’s win saw the South feel unrepresented. Consequently, their numbers had reduced in the senate and this meant that they would have lesser influence on the debates put forward. They did fail so because they did not participate in the Presidential elections. Apart from this, various reasons are seen by different historians as the main cause of the war.

They include slavery, states’ rights, sectionalism, protectionism and slave power and free soil. According to Green, slavery was a central issue that ignited the civil war(Green, 2008, p. 291). The Republicans saw this trade as a great evil towards mankind and wanted slaves to be protected by the constitution as normal citizens and not be