Concise Analysis of the Causes of the Civil War

[gprussian]

Military history graduate student provides concise analysis of the causes of the American Civil War.

http://wigwags.wordpress.com/popular-series/exploring-causes-of-the-civil-war/

Exploring Causes of the Civil War

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Antebellum America
Part III: The Antebellum South
Part IV: The Antebellum North
Part V: The Rise of Sectional Disputes
Part VI: The Contribution of Constitutional Ambiguity
Part VII: Political Discord, Slavery, and the Fight for Political Control
Part VIII: The Influence of the Individual
Part IX: The Debate Over the War’s Inevitability

[bob_rx2000]

In my perhaps simple way, I rather think that slavery was the basic cause of the American Civil War. Sure, lots of tactical things are involved, but slavery was the issue. I had the pleasure of seeing Shelby Foote about 10 years ago at a literary convention, and he made the roughly the same argument that I espouse.

Essentially, all of the other issues that "caused the war" were settled by political processes after the war ended. They have changed over time too, as the economic and social conditions changed. Only slavery couldn't be handled through normal politics.

I've donned my asbestos underwear for this one, so flame away!

Perhaps the question of slavery and its expansion did cause secession, but secession did not necessarily mean war. That's why there were so many attempts to reach a compromise.

[Cicero]

It's hard to really pinpoint a single cause for why the war started. For decades before the war started the North and South had been debating over the state's rights and other issues, and what seemed to cause the most tension was the topic of slavery. This debate ranged from what to do with runaway slaves to whether or not the next state would be pro or anti-slavery.

The South was keen on expanding slavery westward as more and more territories came under the jurisdiction of the United States. When this prospect became bleak, a group called the "Order of the Golden Circle" formed which sought to gain territories in Central and South America and have them admitted as slave states, so that the South could expand and increase the resources and wealth it gained from its tropical goods (namely cotton). However, to my knowledge this group never really achieved any effectiveness in the politics of the day.

When the election of 1860 came about, the South unanimously voted against Abraham Lincoln, who earned their disrespect by calling for the restriction of slavery instead of its abolition. Despite this move by the South, they couldn't outweigh the voting power of the North because of the vast differences in population. This (along with various economic tariffs) made the South feel that they had been backed into a corner and unable to do anything. Seeking to make itself independent from the will of the North, 7 of the 15 southern states seceded from the Union.

The second wave of secession came after the attack on Fort Sumter, which began when the South felt provoked by the Union presence in what they saw as their territory. The first shots were fired in January 1861 when a group of Citadel cadets fired upon the "Star", which was on its way to resupplying the garrison at Sumter. When the Union presence remained, the South continued to feel more provoked and issued an ultimatum to the Union garrison. The Southern forces gave the Union extra time to answer (this was because General Beauregard was granting a favor to his old artillery instructor from West Point, who ironically happened to be the Union commander at Fort Sumter), and when no answer came the South opened fire.

As to why some of the soldiers were fighting and the politicians were supporting the war, this varied from person to person. On the side of the North, some were fighting to free the slaves, whereas others could have cared less about slavery and wanted simply to restore the Union. On the side of the South, some fought simply because the Northern forces had come into the place they called home, where as some had some interest in preserving slavery to, if nothing else, ensure some security in society (no matter how low they got, they would still be above every black person they came across).

Politically, the North had little interest in destroying slavery and focused more on preserving the Union. It wasn't until a year after the war started that Lincoln decided to add the moral ground to the Union cause and support emancipation. As for the South, the executive figures in the government made public statements about the South's support of slavery. Alexander Stephens (Vice-President of the Confederacy) stated in his Cornerstone Speech: "Our nation is founded upon the great truth that the ***** is inferior to the white man." When the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect in the beginning of 1863, President Jefferson Davis classified it as "the greatest evil" that had ever been carried out by mankind.

In the years after the Civil War, the South fought fiercely to maintain the dominion of white supremacy in their society. A variety of other issues also punctuated the Reconstruction years, and two groups formed to rebel against the new Federal mandates: Moonshiners and the Ku Klux Klan, both of which were (in the eyes of southerners) seen as romantic warriors of sorts that were fighting against the tyranny of the North. The Ku Klux Klan initially hunted down and assaulted/intimidated political opponents, but this extended into doing the same thing to black people in order to discourage them from voting. Other legal statutes such as the "Black Codes" were also put in place to maintain the social inferiority of the newly freed blacks.

Long story short, while it was not the only issue, slavery was probably the largest base issue that led to the onset of the Civil War. I hope this provides some helpful info.

[ecobeLedFiene]

Could have been shorter. I mean, when you reuse the same frames thousands of times, thats some kind of hint that maybe the clip is too long.
I hate those amateur clips that show you the same thing hundreds of times, in a supposedly funny way. Repetitive doesnt automatically equal funny. It usually equals boring.
But there are much worse examples than this, like stupid anime parodies.

[swiniRetateaf]

So, one of the council members lives in those condos.

It all makes sense now.

Is that also why they only repaved ONE side of 1st street the side she lives on?

What a joke this towns government is.