As America grew in the years 1840 to 1870, the growing differences between the North and the South led to the American Civil War. The war began with the secession of the Southern states from the Union, yet even from the start the South had little chance of success. The North’s greater military strength due to it’s population advantage was the largest factor in the North’s favor, and combined with the South’s lack of military discipline due to their democratic values, and the weak economy in the South, the North’s victory was almost guaranteed. In 1861, the year that the Civil War began, the federal census statistics reveal the huge discrepancy in population between the North and South. For every five people in the North, there were only two in the South, even including the vast number of slaves which made up a third of the South’s population. The Union army was far larger than the Confederate army, and not only due to the larger white population in the North. Unlike the Confederates, the Union army recruited many former slaves, and by the end of the war “the Union army included 178,895 colored soldiers-roughly five times the number of men in Lee’s army when he surrendered at Appomattox”(Donald). These former slaves …show more content…
Had the South possessed an equal military strength to the North, it is quite possible that the South could have prevailed despite the adverse consequences of their democratic values. However, even if the South did have the same values as the North and demonstrated the same military discipline, it is still unlikely that the Confederate army could have ever defeated the Union, simply due to the discrepancy in military strength between the North and the
The Civil War. Louis P. Masur’s book, The civil War: a Concise History, Is a book that gives an overview of the civil war from 18 to 1800, Providing multiple causes an consequences that emerged from the war. The book begins by reviewing the origins of the war. Chapter one covers the issues between northern and southern states and the tension over right and slave possession. The tension created a conflict that raised a number of political, social, and military events that then proceeded into a battle to abolish slavery from the colonies.
The American Civil War proved that prolongated 19th Century wars would replace pre-1809 Napoleonic-era rapid decisive wars. The victors of 19th Century warfare were militaries that successfully exhausted their opponent and broke their opponent’s will to fight. The North’s
Midterm Paper Events Surrounding The Civil War The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–14, 1861) , was the bombardment of U.S Fort Sumter. This battle took place in Charleston, South Carolina , during 1861 Beauregard energetically directed the strengthening of batteries around Charleston harbor aimed at Fort Sumter Conditions in the fort grew dire as the Union soldiers rushed to complete the installation of additional guns. Anderson was short of food, men, and supplies.
The first main cause of the Civil War was economic differences between the Northern and Southern states. During the first few decades of the 19th century, the North had an industrial revolution that brought an economy that relied on laborers. While at the same time, the South continued to rely on slaves for their farming and the production of cotton. The Northerners did not need slaves for their economy, but the Southerners could not make any profit without cotton or slaves. In the 1860’s, the North had twice as many railroads as the South, and the South had a bigger cotton production because of their slave population (Document A).
“Northern states had a combined population of 22 million people. The Southern states had a combined population of about 9 million... the Union forces outnumbered the Confederates roughly two to one (Number Of Soldiers). This helped the Union tramedicaly because they outnumbered the Confederates. The South with only 9 million stood up to a great challenge with the Union at 22 million.
As the Civil War began each both sides possessed significant strengths and weaknesses. The Union with a population of 22 million,
In this assignment I will explain five events that were before, during, or after the Civil War. The civil war was mostly focused on the south and north. The five topics I decided to pick were the election of president lincoln, South Carolina Secedes, New Orleans capture, Bull Run, and Emancipation Proclamation. All of these topics explain incidents that make our world the way it is now. Looking at the certain events that happened I wonder what would be different if these events didn’t happen.
The Civil War was the biggest war in the American history as more Americans died than combined in all the other wars. I do believe that the war was ultimately fought over slavery as this was the only thing the southerners wanted. During the first half of the 19th century, while United States was growing as a nation, there was a huge drastic change in different factors such as population growth, economic growth, and westward expansion. While the North America was getting urbanized and industrialized, the southerners were still rural and wanted to expand slavery everywhere in the United States, which they also considered this as their state right which can never be justified.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
Nick Baxter What caused the Civil War? DBQ The Civil War was caused by three main reasons are economic differences, interpretation of Constitution, and moral beliefs. The North and the South were very different economically.
From 1861 to 1865, America experienced the tragedy of a division of her own people, North and South, whose hostilities toward one another exploded into a war which left the South devastated with defeat, and the North victorious, but uncertain of what that victory meant. It was to be expected that the armies on both sides would suffer hardships, but the southern civilians could not have been prepared for the lesson in privation which the war entailed. From the beginning of the war, the South was faced with the superior strength of the North. The northern states could boast of 22,000,000 people while the states of the new Confederacy contained roughly 9,000,000 inhabitants with Negro slaves constituting about 3,500,000 of this sparse population.
The South didn’t use slaves as soldiers but the North recruited black men and included the free slaves after the emancipation proclamation was approved. The South did as well after the emancipation proclamation but it was not as effective as it was for the North because they didn’t have that support from other world powers. If England or France supported the south then we would’ve maybe seen a different outcome because of a greater pressure to make peace but because they supported the North, it helped them in ultimately winning the civil
The American Civil War was the war that ended slavery. The civil war was known as one of the bloodiest and deadliest conflicts the United States had ever seen. The loss of life was an estimated amount of 620,000 men. It lasted four years, from April 12, 1861, through May 9, 1865. However, while slavery was a major cause of the American Civil War, there were several other major factors.
The rising numbers of death in the South tremendously weakened their army, which allowed for a Northern succession. William C. Davis asserts, “Industrially the South couldn’t keep up in output and in manpower. By the end of the war, the South had, more or less, plenty of weaponry still, but it just didn’t have enough men to use the guns”. Having such a small army, the South was not able to sustain a decent amount of soldiers for the war. Henceforth, the Northern advantage of having more soldiers had a large impact on the Southern loss in the Civil
Causes of the Civil War “No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide,” - Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War is known as one of the greatest tragedies in American history. With over 620,000 deaths, it is by far the most devastating war (“Civil War Facts”). When studying the Civil War, one must question why it even happened in the first place.