Causes of The American Civil War - Coursework Example

The American Civil War Slavery is the condition of forcing someone into servitude. It is a condition imposed by some members of the human race onto others way before the first set of history books was written. Broadly speaking, slavery is a result of war, debt or violations of law. Slaves in the New World, which is America, during the 1800’s are used as laborers and servants; therefore a property of the landowners, which eventually became the cause of the American Civil War (Halsey & Shores 1966-1972). Civil unrests building up to a great extend usually results to a civil war. Civil wars are common among early nations seeking growth and expansion. Almost all countries in the world has went through civil wars at one some point in their history, where some have experienced it earlier than the others. There was the Irish civil war from 1922-1923, the Lebanese civil war which lasted more than two decades from1975 to 1990, the Russian civil war which began in 1918, the Spanish civil war which happened between 1936-1939, and other countries as well. The American Civil War was a war fought between two organized groups - 23 northern (Union) and 11 southern (Confederate) – seeking power within the same country - America. The Confederacy would have been content with gaining control over part of America; the Union insisted upon maintaining authority over all of it. It was also a time when the Confederacy sought to establish itself as a separate nation. The Civil War was the culmination of forty years of intense sectional conflict and reflected deep-seated economic, social, and political differences. Historians have coined a number of titles for the war such as “War of Southern Independence,” “Brother’s War,” “American Iliad” and “Second American Revolution.” Although each of these titles merit the attention to some aspect of the struggle, still, the term Civil War remains to be most appropriate in both sense and usage; and besides, this was the term generally used by both North and South during the war. Background and Causes of the Civil War The American Civil War grew out of deep differences between the north and the south, notably over slavery – opposed by President Lincoln, but an important part of the economy of the south. Underscoring sectional differences, the labor force in the South included nearly 4 million enslaved blacks (Reader’s Digest, 1995). An important element in the war’s background was sectionalism, which may be defined as the tendency of one area within the nation to conceive of itself as being significantly different from other areas and as having interests in conflict with the interests of the rest. In the early 19th century several such self-conscious areas or sections could be distinguished, but by mid-century these had been reduced to three primary ones – South, Northeast, and Northwest - and the three were fast becoming essentially only two – the North and the South. Underlying all the sectional differences was Negro slavery which was present in the south, and by the time of the civil war, was absent in the north. Even majority of the southerners who doesn’t own any slave fought in favor of protecting the “peculiar institution”, while majority of the population in the north increasingly felt that slavery was in some degree morally wrong. In national politics, the issue of abolition within the slave states was not seriously taken since it was generally agreed that, under the Constitution, the federal government had no authority to abolish slavery within a state. But the extension of slavery into new territories was another story in which Southern extremists asserted that slavery should be protected, while the extremists in the north argued that slavery must be prohibited in all territories. Aside from sectionalism, there was also a shift in balance between the North and the South brought about their differences in perceptions and priorities. After which the secession crisis followed which began during the election of Abraham Lincoln into presidency in which the Southern extremists threatened that is a “Black Republican” as Lincoln should win, their states would secede (Halsey & Shores, 1966-1972). The legislature of South Carolina convened to cast the state’s electoral vote, remained in secession to await the outcome, then called for the election of delegates to a state convention. Although the slaveholding planter class formed a small minority of the population, it dominated Southern politics and society. Slaves were the largest single investment in the South, and the fear of slave unrest ensured the loyalty of non-slaveholding whites to the economic and social system. It was to defend the right to maintain slavery that the Southern states eventually went to war. In the 1860’s Presidential election, Abraham Lincoln won a clear majority in the electoral college, but his party failed to gain a majority of the seats. Thus, for the time being, the Republicans won’t have the power to put their platform into effect unless Southern state withdrew from the Union. The Republican platform favored a program of federal aid to business enterprise; opposed the extension of slavery; and promised no interference with the institution with the slave states while reaffirming the phrase from the Declaration of Independence “all men are created equal.” The outbreak of the war came from disputed forts. The Confederate government claimed on behalf of the seceded states the federal property located within them. President Lincoln, in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, publicly announced his intention to “hold, occupy, and possess” all the property and places belonging to the federal government (Halsey & Shores, 1966-1972). The Confederates opened the war by attacking Fort Sumter in South Carolina; most of the battles took place in the south, but the crucial battle of Gettysburg was fought in the north. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate leader, finally surrendered to the Unionist commander in chief Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia. Efforts to compromise were exerted to maintain harmony between the Southern and Northern supporters in the Democratic and Whig parties, political leaders tried to avoid the slavery question. But with growing opposition in the North to the extension of slavery into the new territories, evasion of the issue became increasingly difficult. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 temporarily settled the issue by establishing the 36° 30’ parallel as the line separating free and slave territory in the Louisiana Purchase (Hirsch et al, 1988). Conflict resumed, however, when the United States boundaries were extended westward to the Pacific after the Mexican-American War. The Compromise Measures of 1850 provided for the admission of California as a free state and the organization of two new territories—Utah and New Mexico—from the balance of the land acquired in the war. The principle of popular sovereignty would be applied there, permitting the territorial legislatures to decide the status of slavery when they applied for statehood (Hirsch et al, 1988). Despite the Compromise of 1850, conflict persisted. The South had become a minority section, and its leaders viewed the actions of the US Congress, over which they had lost control, with growing concern. The Northeast demanded for its industrial growth a protective tariff, federal subsidies for shipping and internal improvements, and a sound banking and currency system (Reader’s Digest, 1995). The Northwest looked to Congress for free homesteads and federal aid for its roads and waterways. The South, however, regarded such measures as discriminatory, favoring Northern commercial interests, and it found the rise of antislavery agitation in the North intolerable. Many free states, for example, passed personal liberty laws in an effort to frustrate enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, an act approved by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850, with the intention of facilitating the recapture and extradition of runaway slaves and to commit the federal government to the legitimacy of holding property in slaves (Engs, 2002). Both laws ultimately provoked dissatisfaction and animosity all over the country. Northerners questioned the laws infringements on civil liberty and deplored the national character they lent to the Souths institution. Southerners complained that the laws were circumvented both because of legal deficiencies (especially the law of 1793) and growing popular hostility to enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act (Engs, 2002). By 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was made and signed by President Abraham Lincoln, declaring that all slaves under the Confederacy are now “forever free” (Hirsch et al, 1988). Events during the Civil War Battle of Bull Run also called the Battle of Manassas, two battles of the American Civil War fought in Virginia near Bull Run, a small stream about 30 miles south-west of Washington, D.C. The First Battle of Bull Run, the earliest important engagement of the war, was fought on July 21, 1861, between a Union army of about 30,000 under the command of General Irvin McDowell and a Confederate army of about 22,000 commanded by General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Both sides were ill-trained for war, but a Union order to blockade the South and public pressure in the North led to a march, accompanied by many spectators, towards the Confederate capital at Richmond (Halsey & Shores, 1966-1972). General George B. McClellan’s appointment took place after Bull Run. President Lincoln appointed him to replaced McDowell as commander of the newly created Army of the Potomac. Being an able administrator and drillmaster, McClellan proceeded to reorganize the army to stage an overwhelming demonstration of Northern military superiority. Popular with his troops, the 34-year-old commander was also a conceited, arrogant man, contemptuous of the president and already suspect among Republicans because he vigorously opposed any tampering with the institution of slavery. Ultimately, his tendency to overestimate the enemy and his excessive caution wore out Lincolns patience. Effects of the Civil War The war settled the question of the permanence of the Union; the doctrine of secession was discredited, and after 1865 states would find other ways to manifest their grievances. The war expanded the authority of the federal government, with the executive branch in particular exercising broader jurisdiction and powers than at any previous time in the nations history. The US Congress, meanwhile, enacted much of the legislation to which the South had objected so strenuously before the war, including a homestead act, liberal appropriations for internal improvements, and the highest tariff duties in American history to that date (Reader’s Digest, 1995). Economically, the war encouraged the mechanization of production and the accumulation of capital in the North. The needs of the armies in the field resulted in the mass production of processed foods, ready-made clothing, and shoes, and after the war, industry converted such production to civilian use. By 1865 the United States was on its way to becoming an industrial power. Measured in physical devastation and human lives, the American Civil War was the costliest war in the experience of the American people. When the war ended, 620,000 men (in a nation of 35 million people) had been killed and at least that many more had been wounded. The North lost a total of 364,000 and the South 258,000 (Halsey & Shores, 1966-1972). More men died of disease and sickness than on the battlefield; the ratio was about four to one. The physical devastation was largely limited to the South, where almost all the fighting took place. Large sections of Richmond, Charleston, Atlanta, Mobile, and Vicksburg lay in ruins. The countryside through which the contending armies had passed was littered with gutted plantation houses and barns, burned bridges, and uprooted railway lines. Many crops were destroyed or confiscated, and much livestock was slain. More than $4 billion worth of property had been wiped out through emancipation, the repudiation of Confederate bonds and currency, the confiscation of cotton, and war damage (Reader’s Digest, 1995). The Civil War divided the nation into two armed camps and seriously affected the economic structure of both North and South. Many years after the war, the defeated South had difficulty rebuilding its spirituality and economy; while in the North, the shipping magnates had lost their lead in maritime commerce during the war (Halsey & Shores, 1966-1972). Americans turned their interests to their own country and made internal investments in the field of industry and railroads. During the post-civil war years, industrial advances changed the face of the nation. The great city, the factory and the machine were to be controlling factors in shaping late 19th century and early 20th century society (Reader’s Digest, 1995). The farmer-pioneer of an early America was forced to readjust to fit into the new economic conditions of financing the new capitalism. Finally, the American Civil War brought freedom to nearly 4 million blacks. But the attitudes that had sustained slavery in the South for more than 300 years did not end with the war, and were not properly dealt with in the Reconstruction, thereby creating tensions and problems that would persist. Bibliography Engs, R.F. (2002). "The Confederacy." Slavery in the Civil War Era. Macmillan Information Now Encyclopedia. Retrieved: 17 April 2008 from, http://www.civilwarhome. com/slavery.htm Robert Francis Engs wrote about a detailed account of how Slavery began in America and its influence on the emergence of a civil war between the north and the south. His article also described the life of a slave as he and his family struggle to live and preserve their culture despite their master’s deceitful schemes in changing their identity. Reader’s Digest. (1995). Belgium: The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd. The book discussed in a capsule the American Civil War, the role of President Abraham Lincoln and its effects. Hirsch, E.D., Jr., Kett, J.F., and Trefil, J. (1988 ). The Dictionary of Culture and Literacy. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. The authors concisely summarized the history of America beginning 1856 onwards. Halsey, W.D. & Shores, L. PhD (Eds.) (1966-1972). Collier’s Encyclopedia. (Vol. 6). USA: P.F. Collier & Son Ltd. The authors Halsey and Shores wrote about the events of the American Civil War, its causes, the events that shaped history and the important people who were a part of the war. Read More