What is the civil war
The Civil war is the war known for freeing black American slaves and giving them rights that were equal to those of a white American. Bu the civil war has done more to America than just giving them rights. In fact the real reasons were that people were concerned about the power balance between the state and government. Another big part of the start of the war was over the future of America and if it should be a industrial or agricultural and how that would affect the economics of America. Also the people were arguing on when and how to start western expansion. These split the country in half and started a war and because only the south needed the slaves that ended up being a big thing the north was fighting against.
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What Caused the Civil War?
Union. Home. Freedom. (transcript)
Three ideals that have always defined the America we know and love. An America that grew from years of struggle after the American Revolution. An America that was, at first, very different from the one we know today.
Our modern America grew from a second revolution... one that began in 1861. The American Civil War. To understand the Civil War, you have to know the hearts and minds of the people who lived through it.
Union, Confederate and African American.
All fought bravely for what they believed was the legacy of the American Revolution. Their tragedy was that each understood that legacy differently. Three passionate and conflicting views... Views that led a nation to war� and that continue to shape who we are today. Okay, so what caused the Civil War?
A. Disagreement over Federal vs. States powers: Was it fought over who had the most power, the states or the Federal government?
B. Competing Economies and Cultures (Industrial vs. Farming): Was it simply a fight over money and different cultures?
C. Westward Expansion: Was it a conflict over how the new American west would be settled? D. Slavery: Or was it... slavery?
The causes of the war go all the way back to the founding of America.
A. Disagreement over Federal vs. States powers
At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the delegates had different views and interests. They wrote a Constitution to balance their different interests. Southern delegates believed the states were more committed to protecting their property rights than a federal government with centralized powers would be. To them, slaves were property.
In the end, they did accept a strengthened federal government -- in exchange for some protections of slavery in the Constitution. One form of protection was the "Three-Fifths Compromise," which gave slaveholding regions extra voting power in Congress and enabled them to control national politics for decades.
But times change. As the 19th century progressed and immigrants swelled the population of the North, slave states saw their power and economy threatened. They began to argue that since the States had created the new government, they could also withdraw from it.
Northerners countered that, instead of the states, "We the people" ratified the Constitution. Therefore, the states did not have a right to withdraw. So you see, while people argued over Federal vs. State Powers leading up to the war... underneath, it was really an argument over slavery.
B. Competing Economies and Cultures (Industrial vs. Farming)
The North and the South were linked by economics as much as they were divided by philosophy and culture. The South's economy was based on agribusiness. The development of the Cotton Gin made large-scale plantation farming so profitable that it fueled the expansion of slavery.
The mills of the populous northeast needed the raw cotton grown in the South and harvested by slave labor. And the South bought the North's manufactured goods, which were made using the cheap labor of a large immigrant workforce, and even child labor. 'Free labor' was a fine slogan for Northerners to use, but how free was it really?
So it's impossible to say one side had a complete monopoly on virtue. The culture of the North was heavily influenced by reform movements such as Temperance and Abolitionism that were rooted in religion.
In the South, religion was used to defend slavery and the plantation society. People on both sides looked down on each other as culturally and morally inferior — depending upon how they viewed slavery.
C. Westward Expansion
If the Constitution balanced the needs of North and South, westward expansion threatened that balance.
At America's founding, when the original 13 colonies were all on the East Coast...compromise between competing regions was a manageable goal. But that didn't last long!
In the first years of the 19th Century, our nation doubled in size, first in 1803...
New territory drew a flood of people seeking new opportunity, more wealth, and more prosperity.
But all this growth created problems. As the nation grew neither North nor South wanted to be excluded from the economic opportunities available in these new territories and would-be States. As America expanded, new areas became bones of contention. Would they be slave or free states?
Racism was pervasive in American society. Many who talked of keeping territories free just wanted to keep African Americans out. They didn't want blacks competing for jobs. Compromises were made, but they postponed a real solution.
Each of these causes contributed to the war. And each was linked to...
D. Slavery
And the interplay among them further and further polarized the country. The advent of the telegraph and the nation's growing appetite for newspapers, magazines and books insured that every dispute over slavery became a national event.
The future of slavery was the central issue of the Presidential election of 1860.
The election of Lincoln — who wasn't even on the ballot in most Southern states — was the final straw for the cotton states of the Deep South.
South Carolina acted first, with a special convention voting to leave the Union.
Six other states followed soon after.
Within a few months war had begun and four more states had left the Union. Even though most Northerners didn't fight primarily to end slavery and most Southerners didn't fight primarily to preserve it, take slavery out of the mix and it's hard to believe there would have been a war.
A war that almost no one really wanted.
What caused the Civil War is not a story that ended in 1861.The Civil War forever changed the balance of powers among the federal government, the states, and the individual.
A balance that we continually strive to adjust even today, even with slavery out of the picture.
As you move through the web site, think about the importance of these three ideals...
what they meant to Americans then...how the war and its aftermath changed the balance� and how we still strive to balance them today�
Union, home and freedom.
Union. Home. Freedom. (transcript)
Three ideals that have always defined the America we know and love. An America that grew from years of struggle after the American Revolution. An America that was, at first, very different from the one we know today.
Our modern America grew from a second revolution... one that began in 1861. The American Civil War. To understand the Civil War, you have to know the hearts and minds of the people who lived through it.
Union, Confederate and African American.
All fought bravely for what they believed was the legacy of the American Revolution. Their tragedy was that each understood that legacy differently. Three passionate and conflicting views... Views that led a nation to war� and that continue to shape who we are today. Okay, so what caused the Civil War?
A. Disagreement over Federal vs. States powers: Was it fought over who had the most power, the states or the Federal government?
B. Competing Economies and Cultures (Industrial vs. Farming): Was it simply a fight over money and different cultures?
C. Westward Expansion: Was it a conflict over how the new American west would be settled? D. Slavery: Or was it... slavery?
The causes of the war go all the way back to the founding of America.
A. Disagreement over Federal vs. States powers
At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the delegates had different views and interests. They wrote a Constitution to balance their different interests. Southern delegates believed the states were more committed to protecting their property rights than a federal government with centralized powers would be. To them, slaves were property.
In the end, they did accept a strengthened federal government -- in exchange for some protections of slavery in the Constitution. One form of protection was the "Three-Fifths Compromise," which gave slaveholding regions extra voting power in Congress and enabled them to control national politics for decades.
But times change. As the 19th century progressed and immigrants swelled the population of the North, slave states saw their power and economy threatened. They began to argue that since the States had created the new government, they could also withdraw from it.
Northerners countered that, instead of the states, "We the people" ratified the Constitution. Therefore, the states did not have a right to withdraw. So you see, while people argued over Federal vs. State Powers leading up to the war... underneath, it was really an argument over slavery.
B. Competing Economies and Cultures (Industrial vs. Farming)
The North and the South were linked by economics as much as they were divided by philosophy and culture. The South's economy was based on agribusiness. The development of the Cotton Gin made large-scale plantation farming so profitable that it fueled the expansion of slavery.
The mills of the populous northeast needed the raw cotton grown in the South and harvested by slave labor. And the South bought the North's manufactured goods, which were made using the cheap labor of a large immigrant workforce, and even child labor. 'Free labor' was a fine slogan for Northerners to use, but how free was it really?
So it's impossible to say one side had a complete monopoly on virtue. The culture of the North was heavily influenced by reform movements such as Temperance and Abolitionism that were rooted in religion.
In the South, religion was used to defend slavery and the plantation society. People on both sides looked down on each other as culturally and morally inferior — depending upon how they viewed slavery.
C. Westward Expansion
If the Constitution balanced the needs of North and South, westward expansion threatened that balance.
At America's founding, when the original 13 colonies were all on the East Coast...compromise between competing regions was a manageable goal. But that didn't last long!
In the first years of the 19th Century, our nation doubled in size, first in 1803...
New territory drew a flood of people seeking new opportunity, more wealth, and more prosperity.
But all this growth created problems. As the nation grew neither North nor South wanted to be excluded from the economic opportunities available in these new territories and would-be States. As America expanded, new areas became bones of contention. Would they be slave or free states?
Racism was pervasive in American society. Many who talked of keeping territories free just wanted to keep African Americans out. They didn't want blacks competing for jobs. Compromises were made, but they postponed a real solution.
Each of these causes contributed to the war. And each was linked to...
D. Slavery
And the interplay among them further and further polarized the country. The advent of the telegraph and the nation's growing appetite for newspapers, magazines and books insured that every dispute over slavery became a national event.
The future of slavery was the central issue of the Presidential election of 1860.
The election of Lincoln — who wasn't even on the ballot in most Southern states — was the final straw for the cotton states of the Deep South.
South Carolina acted first, with a special convention voting to leave the Union.
Six other states followed soon after.
Within a few months war had begun and four more states had left the Union. Even though most Northerners didn't fight primarily to end slavery and most Southerners didn't fight primarily to preserve it, take slavery out of the mix and it's hard to believe there would have been a war.
A war that almost no one really wanted.
What caused the Civil War is not a story that ended in 1861.The Civil War forever changed the balance of powers among the federal government, the states, and the individual.
A balance that we continually strive to adjust even today, even with slavery out of the picture.
As you move through the web site, think about the importance of these three ideals...
what they meant to Americans then...how the war and its aftermath changed the balance� and how we still strive to balance them today�
Union, home and freedom.