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Summary history coursework
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- American civil war
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a history document on the american civil war
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The U.S. Civil War was fought between the Union of the North and the Confederate of the Southfrom 1861 to 1865. The Union of the North consisted of 20 states, many in which had large and
successful cities such as New York City.[1] The Confederate of the South was made up 11 states, with
most states ideal for large scale farming. [2] The North had a population of 18.5 million people,
whereas the South had a total population of 9 million people, 3.5 of these people were enslaved.
“The Union forces outnumbered the Confederates roughly two to one” [3]
Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first state to succeed from the Union was South
Carolina. The Civil War was the bloodiest battle in American history with around 620,000 deaths.
Existing factors that put the United States into the Civil War were, major differences between the
North and South, including the major abolition debate as well as the State vs Federal rights.
Deeply rooted within each of these causes were the Politics revolving around Slavery. Politics
influenced a lot of the events of the Civil War with some examples being the Lincoln Douglas
Debates, The Emancipation Proclamation, and the many new Amendments. These political events
divided the population as well as created much aggression through the Civil War. Although tough
fighting from the Confederates and their leader, Robert E. Lee along with the Union leader Ulysses S.
Grant with the help of Abraham Lincoln were able to lead the North to victory, beating the South.
The War officially ended on April 9th, 1865.
Background
There was a lot of tension forming between the North and South prior to the actual start of the Civil
War. In addition to the fundamental differences in values and beliefs, there were very visible, and
clear differences between the North and South. The North had booming growth in their industry and
economy[4], creating a wide gap in the economy between the North and the South.
While the North was experiencing growth in industry and manufacturing, the South’s economy was
still based entirely on slavery through agriculture and farming, 2 of the main exports being Tobacco
and Cotton.[5] Doing the intense labour of this large-scale farming, was black slaves. Since
slavery/slave farming was at the root of their economy, the South was incredibly against the growing
abolition movement being pushed by the North.
Causing Southerners more anger was acts passed in the years prior to the Civil War, one that was the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. This act was made by Democrats. This act states that “the people who lived in
a region should determine for themselves the nature of their government.” [6] This set forth the idea
that the settlers of a new land would be able to decide upon. With the admittance to their Union,
they would become a free or a slave state.
While they were facing much backlash from the newly implemented Act, the North established the
Republican party. This new party was established on the belief of “opposing slavery’s extension into
the western territories.”[7] Today the Republican party is more like the Democrat party of these
times and vies versa.
Edging closer to the brink of war -in 1859- John Brown raided Harper’s Ferry with the intention to
start slave revolts and destroy the “Peculiar Institution” [8] of slavery. Through this act of violence,
Southern citizens became increasingly fearful of the North’s intentions to do with the existence of,
and the root of their economy, slavery.
The last straw that launched the North and South into a Civil War was Abraham Lincoln’s election.
Abraham Lincoln was a representative from the Republican party. His campaign stated that “slavery
would not spread any farther than it already had.” [9] Shortly after Lincoln’s victory, South Carolina
seceded the Union,[10] resulting in the beginning of the American Civil War.
Course of events
Before Abraham Lincoln’s election into presidency, he was involved in 7 debates with Stephen
A. Douglas, who was a member of Congress since 1843. [11] They fought for the open seat on the
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