Examining the Civil War

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Hi,

Good questions! Let's look at information from various sources for each section, which you can draw on for your final copy. I attached a supporting article, which I refer to in this response.

The purpose of your paper will be to explain the origins, legacy, and significance of the Civil War. Specifically, it will explain the significance of slavery in the economic, social, and political development of 18th- and 19th-century America and why a democratic nation failed to address the crisis peacefully.

Your tentative outline will be something to the effect:

I. Introduction (e.g.. briefly introduce the topic; thesis or purpose statement)

II. Significance of slavery during 18th and 19th century America
a. Economic development e.g. how did Slavery help economic development? What did the slaves do to increase economic development? What happened?
b. Social development e.g. how did Slavery help or hinder social development? What did the slaves do to help or hinder social development during this period?
c. Political development e.g. how did Slavery help or hinder political development? What did the slaves do help or hinds political development? What happened?

III. Reaction of the Democratic Nation
a. Reasons for the failure to address crisis peacefully.

IV. Conclusion (e. g. restate purpose in different wording; sum up main points)

Now let's look at information for each section.

BACKGROUND

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was a civil war between the United States of America (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states that declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). The Union included all of the free states and the five slaveholding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. The Confederacy was led by Jefferson Davis. The war was the worst in American history. It caused over 600,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. It ended slavery in the United States, restored the Union by settling the issues of nullification and secession and strengthened the role of the federal government. The social, political, economic and racial issues of the war continue to shape contemporary American thought (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcivilwar.htm).
The purpose of this paper is to ...

a. The significance of slavery in the economic, social, and political development of 18th- and 19th-century America

(a) Economic Development

Conflict grew in the 19th century between the northern and southern states over the issue of slavery. The northern states were going through an industrial revolution and desperately needed more people to work in its factories. Industrialists in the North believed that, if freed, the slaves would leave the South and provide the labour they needed. The North also wanted tariffs on imported foreign goods to protect their new industries. The South was still mainly agricultural and purchased a lot of goods from abroad and was therefore against import tariffs (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcivilwar.htm)

Slavery brought economic success to the plantation owner, especially in the south, which argued for slavery. However, the Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States, and their victory in the presidential election of 1860 resulted in seven Southern states declaring their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office (James McPherson, Drawn With the Sword, from the article Who Freed the Slaves? as cited in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#cite_note-WhoFreed-0). However, the Union rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion.

At the beginning of the war, some Union commanders thought they had to return escaped slaves to their masters. By 1862, however, when it became clear that this would be a long war, the question of what to do about slavery became more general. The Southern economy and military effort depended on slave labor. It began to seem unreasonable to protect slavery while blockading Southern commerce and destroying Southern production. As one Congressman put it, the slaves "...cannot be neutral. As laborers, if not as soldiers, they will be allies of the rebels, or of the Union."[ (McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom page 495). The same Congressman?and his fellow Radical Republicans?put pressure on Lincoln to rapidly emancipate the slaves, whereas moderate Republicans came to accept gradual, compensated emancipation and colonization. (McPherson, Battle Cry page 355, 494-6, quote from George Julian on 495).

The Emancipation Proclamation greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of getting aid from Britain or France, which had serious economical implications. Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in getting border states, War Democrats and emancipated slaves fighting on the same side for the Union. The Union-controlled border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. All abolished slavery on their own, except Kentucky and Delaware.[111] The great majority of the 4 million slaves were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, as Union armies moved South. The 13th amendment,[112] ratified December 6, 1865, finally freed the remaining slaves in Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey, that numbered 225,000 for Kentucky, 1,800 in Delaware, and 18 in New Jersey as of 1860.[113] (as cited in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#cite_note-WhoFreed-0).

(b) Social Development

Slavery led to both social and political unrest, and was one of the causes of the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy. The coexistence of a slave-owning South with an increasingly ...