In America’s recorded history, the 1860s civil war was arguably both the most deadly yet important event. This is the period where sectional tensions preserved in the constitution led to the eruption of a brutal war that claimed more than 600,000 American lives and divided a nation into two. In my opinion, slavery was the core cause of the conflict and even though the 13th amendment brought ended this practice, it continued to be play a major role in American politics in the years to follow. The war was important to America’s history since it brought change, socially and economically. It increased America’s economic power way above other nations and it also gave all Americans the patriotic feeling that they are all one of a large single nation under God (American Promise p.420-425).
The 1860 elections was the tipping point which saw the sectional conflict reach its breaking point. The Republican Party which was against the expansion of slavery into the Northern states nominated Abraham Lincoln to be their candidate and he was to face the Democratic party which had split their candidacy between two candidates. The two Democratic candidates, Stephen Douglas being one of them, were in support of the Southerners’ rights to expand slavery into other territories. A fourth candidate was nominated by another party.
People in the southern states feared that if Abraham Lincoln was to become president, it would mean their loss of power in government since new states would be made free and hence power in the US senate would shift hands to the majority free states. This would in turn lead to the abolishment of slavery over the entire United States. For this reason, the topic of slavery was a major issue for all the candidates in the 1860 elections but Abraham Lincoln emerged the winner (American Promise p.430-434)
As a result, many southerners were of the opinion that Lincoln would outlaw slavery because he was a republican even though he pointed out repeatedly that he would respect the existence of slavery in all the territories in which it was already in practice p. 434. However, under the claim that they were protecting their states’ right to 11 southern states decided to secede from the Union. These states declared themselves a new country under the name; the Confederate States of America (American Promise p.p.434). Jefferson Davis was elected as the president of the Confederacy. After Lincoln was inaugurated as president of the United States of America, he pledged to uphold the laws and the union. This makes it clear that even though slavery played a big role as the cause of the Civil war, Lincoln was not in support for the outlawing of slavery. Therefore, when the war began in 1861, neither the confederacy nor the Union took up arms with the sole aim to change the plight of slaves in America (American Promise p. 434-436).
The civil war began hesitantly at first until the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861. It was crystal clear that the war would last for a longer period of time than expected . Huge battles were going on in places including Shiloh, Virginia, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga and Tennessee. The confederate general Robert Lee won battle after battle over the poorly-organized Union forces. The general invaded Maryland in September 1862 but he suffered a major and bloody loss at the Battle of Antietam. In 1863, he invaded Pennyslvania after trouncing the Union army at Chancellorsville. This led to the bloody Battle of Gettysburg which led to the death of 50,000 men and General Lee fled to Virginia never attempting to invade the North again (American Promise p. 406)
Though most Americans at the time believed that the root cause of the war was slavery, it was in 1862, after the Battle of Antietam that Abraham Lincoln began the emancipation for slaves. OIn the following year, on January 1, Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation where he freed all slaves captured in the Confederate territory. After the issuance, the war now officially became one over the slavery issue. However, it was not until the war ended, in December 1865 that the 13th amendment was ratified leading to the freedom of all slaves in America.
In economic sense, the war was a boon to the north as compared to the southerners. This can be blamed on the fact that on entering the war, the northerners had more men, money, more industrial power and a better railroad network compared to the south. By the end of the war in 1865, the north continued this economic dominance as the south tried to recover form the war both in an economical and psychological sense.
In my opinion, the American Civil war answered many questions of fundamental importance: United or divided? One or many? Freedom or slavery? However, this was done at a great cost since it also led to the death of young men, sons, husbands, friends and fathers.
References
James L. Roark, Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, and Susan M. Hartmann, The American Promise: A History of the United States from 1865. vol. II, (Boston: Bedford Press, 1998),.
