The Civil War is considered as the largest historical event that extensively came into view in American public consciousness. As what was noted by Rockwell (n.d.), over a hundred years after the first shot was fired, “its genesis is still fiercely debated and its symbols heralded and protested.” The Civil War shoved a great deal of reexamination on federalism, civil rights, and democratic-republicanism. As for people’s perception, the war translated the American regime from a federalist system based on freedom to a centralized state that circumscribed liberty in the name of public order.
After the term of James Buchanan as a president, came Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. He first ran for senator in 1858 against Stephen Douglas where he lost the election. But after debating with Douglas, he achieved a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. When he became a president, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization and rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. President Lincoln thought secession illegal, and he was willing to use force to preserve the Federal law and the Union (Jones 1). The Civil war started when Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender. He called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. There are four more slave states joined the Confederacy, but only four remained within the Union. The South has never been fond of President Abraham Lincoln because of the Civil War. For the Southerners, the Civil War was the cruelest kind of war and the bitterness they feel over their loss in the war between the States frequently falls on Lincoln’s shoulder. And many of them gloated over Lincoln’s assassination.
The Civil War has significantly and enormously influenced the centralization and nationalization of the American federal system. It settled incessantly the national concern over whether a state could constitutionally separate from the Union. The Northern states wanted a centralized government while on the other hand; Southern states wanted a decentralized form. In depth analysis depicted that slavery is was one of the primary reasons for these contradicting concerns (Woodworth 3-11).
It has been established that the North or the Union defeated the South or the Confederate because of several reasons that are still subject for extensive analysis and debate. However, there are factors presented served as the advantages of the Union. First, the North is more industrialized in terms of economic structure that made them capable of producing arms and ammunition. The Union significantly outnumbered the Confederacy in both civilian and military populations. The Union is also more established in governance that had resulted in less fighting and a more streamlined conduct of the war (Draper 130). The Union’s larger population and greater immigration during the war allowed a larger pool of potential conscripts. Strong compatible railroad links between Union cities, which allowed for the relatively quick movement of troops (Woodworth 10). The Union’s possession of the U.S. merchant marine fleet and naval ships led to its successful blockade of Confederate ports. The moral cause assigned to the war by the Emancipation Proclamation (Franklin 17) that gave the Union additional incentive to continue the war effort and have encourage international support. The recruitment of African-Americans involving the freed slaves to join the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.
The Confederacy’s possible squandering of resources on early audacious conventional offensiveness ant its failure to fully use its advantages in guerilla warfare against the Union communication and transportation infrastructure.
As the war continued, the real output of the Confederacy declined. Many of the most capable white workers left the labor force and joined the army. The northern blockade forced the South to become self-sufficient, isolated the Confederacy from the benefits of foreign trade, and compelled southern labor to be used where it formerly had the least comparative advantage. Worn-out or destroyed machinery was difficult to replace, and northern troops concentrated on razing railroad equipment and entire factories and on cutting the supply lines of raw materials. The increase in the stock of money, the rise in velocity, and the decline in real output in the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865 produced the worst inflation of our history since the Revolutionary War. (Andreano 11)
The Confederacy’s failure to win military support from any foreign powers, mostly due to the Battle of Antietam and the well-timed release of the Emancipation Proclamation contributed to their defeat.
After all, the cause of the Civil War was secession, and not slavery. It is true that slavery triggered the secession, but the war was bound for against the latter and not the former. Though a crusade against the slavery would have presented a more case for the war, President Lincoln assured not to interfere with institution. He declared to free all the slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the federal government on the 1st of January, 1863. He believed that slaves should be emancipated, promoting a program in which they would free gradually. He tried to win over the legislators, still convinced that gradual emancipation was the best cure. He proposed that the owners of the slave be compensated for giving up their property. He proposed it this just to gain support, but support was not forthcoming (Wilbur 38).
For Abraham Lincoln, the “government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free.” It is a struggle to preserve the Union. He was after fortification of the Union, yet, when he was elected president, various states from the South had seceded from the Union. As a Republican in his own right, he is also convinced that the existing Constitution forbids the government to take action against slavery. In fact, he played an active role in pushing an amendment that would end slavery through the congress.
Conclusion
Conflicts have many forms – as simple as a disagreement, a sibling rivalry in the family, a bitter feud among friends, a clan jealousy, a gang fight, or a war between nations. All conflicts and wars have roots and reasons that are sometimes elusive to understand or even know. Often, these small disputes, when ignored, have even escalated to a clash between ethnic groups bent on wiping out each other entirely. The American Civil War documented majority of the country’s prominent and powerful people, unforgettable historical events, and one of the best learned lessons of American and world histories.
Work Cited
Andreano, Ralph, ed. The Economic Impact of the American Civil War.
Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing, 1962.
Draper, John William. History of the American Civil War, vol.2. New York: Harper
& Brothers Publishers, 1868.
Jones, Howard. Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and
Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. New York: Doubleday,
Garden City, 1963.
Rockwell, Llewelyn H. “Genesis of the Civil War”. LewRockwell.com. 2000. 9
December 2005.
Wilbur, Henry W. President Lincoln's Attitude towards Slavery and Emancipation:
With a Review of Events before and since the Civil War. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1970.
Woodworth, Steven E. Cultures in Conflict: The American Civil War. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
After the term of James Buchanan as a president, came Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. He first ran for senator in 1858 against Stephen Douglas where he lost the election. But after debating with Douglas, he achieved a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. When he became a president, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization and rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. President Lincoln thought secession illegal, and he was willing to use force to preserve the Federal law and the Union (Jones 1). The Civil war started when Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender. He called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. There are four more slave states joined the Confederacy, but only four remained within the Union. The South has never been fond of President Abraham Lincoln because of the Civil War. For the Southerners, the Civil War was the cruelest kind of war and the bitterness they feel over their loss in the war between the States frequently falls on Lincoln’s shoulder. And many of them gloated over Lincoln’s assassination.
The Civil War has significantly and enormously influenced the centralization and nationalization of the American federal system. It settled incessantly the national concern over whether a state could constitutionally separate from the Union. The Northern states wanted a centralized government while on the other hand; Southern states wanted a decentralized form. In depth analysis depicted that slavery is was one of the primary reasons for these contradicting concerns (Woodworth 3-11).
It has been established that the North or the Union defeated the South or the Confederate because of several reasons that are still subject for extensive analysis and debate. However, there are factors presented served as the advantages of the Union. First, the North is more industrialized in terms of economic structure that made them capable of producing arms and ammunition. The Union significantly outnumbered the Confederacy in both civilian and military populations. The Union is also more established in governance that had resulted in less fighting and a more streamlined conduct of the war (Draper 130). The Union’s larger population and greater immigration during the war allowed a larger pool of potential conscripts. Strong compatible railroad links between Union cities, which allowed for the relatively quick movement of troops (Woodworth 10). The Union’s possession of the U.S. merchant marine fleet and naval ships led to its successful blockade of Confederate ports. The moral cause assigned to the war by the Emancipation Proclamation (Franklin 17) that gave the Union additional incentive to continue the war effort and have encourage international support. The recruitment of African-Americans involving the freed slaves to join the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.
The Confederacy’s possible squandering of resources on early audacious conventional offensiveness ant its failure to fully use its advantages in guerilla warfare against the Union communication and transportation infrastructure.
As the war continued, the real output of the Confederacy declined. Many of the most capable white workers left the labor force and joined the army. The northern blockade forced the South to become self-sufficient, isolated the Confederacy from the benefits of foreign trade, and compelled southern labor to be used where it formerly had the least comparative advantage. Worn-out or destroyed machinery was difficult to replace, and northern troops concentrated on razing railroad equipment and entire factories and on cutting the supply lines of raw materials. The increase in the stock of money, the rise in velocity, and the decline in real output in the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865 produced the worst inflation of our history since the Revolutionary War. (Andreano 11)
The Confederacy’s failure to win military support from any foreign powers, mostly due to the Battle of Antietam and the well-timed release of the Emancipation Proclamation contributed to their defeat.
After all, the cause of the Civil War was secession, and not slavery. It is true that slavery triggered the secession, but the war was bound for against the latter and not the former. Though a crusade against the slavery would have presented a more case for the war, President Lincoln assured not to interfere with institution. He declared to free all the slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the federal government on the 1st of January, 1863. He believed that slaves should be emancipated, promoting a program in which they would free gradually. He tried to win over the legislators, still convinced that gradual emancipation was the best cure. He proposed that the owners of the slave be compensated for giving up their property. He proposed it this just to gain support, but support was not forthcoming (Wilbur 38).
For Abraham Lincoln, the “government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free.” It is a struggle to preserve the Union. He was after fortification of the Union, yet, when he was elected president, various states from the South had seceded from the Union. As a Republican in his own right, he is also convinced that the existing Constitution forbids the government to take action against slavery. In fact, he played an active role in pushing an amendment that would end slavery through the congress.
Conclusion
Conflicts have many forms – as simple as a disagreement, a sibling rivalry in the family, a bitter feud among friends, a clan jealousy, a gang fight, or a war between nations. All conflicts and wars have roots and reasons that are sometimes elusive to understand or even know. Often, these small disputes, when ignored, have even escalated to a clash between ethnic groups bent on wiping out each other entirely. The American Civil War documented majority of the country’s prominent and powerful people, unforgettable historical events, and one of the best learned lessons of American and world histories.
Work Cited
Andreano, Ralph, ed. The Economic Impact of the American Civil War.
Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing, 1962.
Draper, John William. History of the American Civil War, vol.2. New York: Harper
& Brothers Publishers, 1868.
Jones, Howard. Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and
Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. New York: Doubleday,
Garden City, 1963.
Rockwell, Llewelyn H. “Genesis of the Civil War”. LewRockwell.com. 2000. 9
December 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment