Throughout the war, the North and the South’s viewpoints had been continuously changing. Their opinions were both similar and different throughout the war. Both sides initially believed they would win the war, swiftly and easily. Both also realized that their thought was wrong. The North carried the idea that they were morally just and correct. Some Southerners believed themselves to be right, while others had to go through major moral conflicts with themselves. All in all, both sides had their fair share of similarities and differences. In the beginning, both the North and the South shared the idea that the war would end swiftly. The South believed that they should stay on the defensive end. They thought that if they kept defending themselves, …show more content…
The North (Lincoln especially) wanted to stick to the ideals of the founding fathers and stop the expansion of slavery. They knew if they could start small, that it would eventually lead to the overall extinction of slavery (Document 1). Most people in the North saw the South as weak and morally wrong. In Document 3, it displays a political cartoon from the Harper’s Weekly, on June 8th, 1861. The cartoon shows Columbia, the representation of America, holding a scrawny man in a chokehold. Columbia, in this instance, represents the North as strong and morally correct. The scrawny man is a representation of the South, and he's trying to rip the constitution with weapons falling out of his pockets. His legs have the words, “treason” and “secession,” meaning that the legs that hold him are weak and morally wrong. The North views themselves as morally correct, powerful, and supported by the founding fathers, whilst the south is weak, morally incorrect, and tearing the constitution …show more content…
For instance, document 2 displays an unreliable newspaper section from the New Orleans Daily Crescent, November 13, 1860. The newspaper is written in perspective of a Southerner (obviously), and never explicitly states what their property that’s been taken away is. The newspaper explains how the south only asked to be left alone, and how they never bothered the north, yet their “property” had been stolen, citizens murdered, they’ve been excluded from the territories, and their political, industrial, and social institutions have been ruined. The irony and back-handedness is that they’ve been, “robbed of their property,” yet their property is slaves who have been robbed of their freedoms. They newspaper proves that some people in the South genuinely believed that what they were doing was right and would cover up what their property truly was to seem less unjust. However, document 4 shows a different view lot of Southerner held. Robert E. Lee’s letter to his sister, written in April 1861, displays confliction, strong will, and loyalty to those close to him. Robert had originally fought for the Union and was even given the opportunity to be general for a union army. However, Robert couldn’t abandon and fight his home during the war. His family was in the South, and fighting for the confederacy would mean fighting his children, wife, and siblings. He choose to be with and fight for his family. He gave up his job and
Both the Union and the Confederates believed that they were right in the beliefs that they had fought for. The South thought they were fighting for states rights while the North believed they were fighting to free the slaves. Jim Kemper states“You must tell them, and make it plain, that what we are fighting for is our freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government. That's all we want and that's what this war is all about. We established this country in the first place with strong state governments just for that reason, to avoid a central tyranny” (Shaara 61).
Written with fervour, Toombs articulates how Lincoln’s election dooms the South to have their culture overwritten by northern lawmakers. Dwelling on the issue of slavery, the speech presents the argument that the new Republican President would violate each citizen’s right to property as affirmed in the Constitution. Believing that Lincoln would undermine this principle, Toombs exclaims that Southerners “stand without a shield, with bare bosoms presented to our enemies.” (57) This allusion to the sectionalist divide that causes the Secession Crisis presents the Northern states as aggressors against the traditions of the South.
In document C, the white men criticize Stowe’s book, and explain the errors and flaws of the book. In document H, the positive book reviews of the northern men show how they agree with Stowe’s views of anti-slavery.
Similar to the North, the South’s railroads also aided in the shipping of weaponry to the soldiers at war. Lastly, like the North, the people of the South held immense dignity for their country. Since the South was defending their homeland, the urge to fight and to win the war was significant. Despite these benefits, the North was able to caused the South to surrender to their
Tensions grew, even more, when The United States Constitution was questioned by William Lloyd Garrison. According to Document C, the government treats the slaves as merchandise, without protection. Therefore, the people should not agree with the Constitution. The Union’s motto is ‘No Union with Slaveholders’ (Document C: POV). Garrison’s diction shows the reader he opposes the United States Constitution because he believes that the Constitution is not giving the slaves protection.
They felt if their nation wasn 't free, life wasn 't worth living. Even though the South and North fight with such ferocity against each other our textbook never gives a clear reasons way.
With the conclusion of the Civil War, the infrastructures of both the North and the South had been destroyed by the exhaustive cost of fighting. The North, however, had the advantage of winning the war and the supposed power of decision making, and northern political leaders had their dreams of Reconstruction, and differing ideas about how the southern states should be treated in response to the opposition. This mishandled responsibility had overwhelming repercussions, and the southern states fell into a state of further tension and chaos. Although there were many northerners fighting for rights of people in the South, overall, the South did not receive fair treatment from the North.
The South, fighting for a greater reason; independence and freedom, especially from slavery. The South had a downfall of weaknesses when joining the war. The South’s defense happened to prove less than the North’s defense. “Only a moderate share of sagacity was needed to see that the arm of the slave was the best defense against the arm of the slaveholder” (Douglass, 481).
It is evidently drawn with a nice eye, and the coloring is chaste and subdued...” (123). Here, an anonymous author writing in The Liberator demonstrates exactly this, that the book is addressed to those who already sympathize with Douglass’ cause of abolitionism, but also to those who are undecided on the issue of slavery. This goal is only furthered by the author’s next point, where he suggests that Douglass’ description of his condition is “subdued”, despite Douglass’ vivid descriptions of the beatings that slaves, as well as himself, have received for even minor slights against their masters. In his “Fourth of July” speech, though, Douglass’ audience is far different.
Meanwhile the North thought that it “threatened the republican ideals of white American society.” In the South, there were pro-slavery arguments by Harper to justify slavery as
The Civil War was a very controversial battle for both the North and the South. Both the North and the South had different viewpoints about the Civil War. Despite these differences they did have some of the same views. While both sides thought they were doing the right things neither one of them were one hundred percent right. This essay will discuss the similar and different viewpoints that the North and the South had on the Civil War.
The Civil War was a turning point in American history that made many different viewpoints between the North and the South. The Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery and state’s rights. Since the Civil War lasted about four years, there were many conclusions and points of view. The North and the South both had their goals, advantages, issues, blames, and battles. In just one day you will learn about the similarities and differences between the North and South during the Civil War and political factors that shaped these two regions and their respective roles in the conflicts.
It was the South’s willingness to make war that juxtaposes
Religion for both the North and South were important to the soldiers and Generals. Both sides believed God was on their side, they looked toward God for meaning. They had equal excitement and fervor in their religious actions. Many evangelists, leaders, and soldiers declared that God had ordained the war, its length, damages and outcome. The people in the Union and Confederacy, both believed that whoever the victor was, was the side God was truly supporting.
However, these differences show that the North and South were actually two distinct countries held together by one constitution. The North felt that decisions regarding slavery and its legality were entrenched in the central government while the South felt that such decision belonged to the individual states. In the times preceding the war, both sides could not reach a compromise. Bonner mentions, “Because secession and war were permitted to come, warned Russel, "We are not entitled to lay the flattering unction to our souls that the Civil War was an inevitable conflict (Bonner, 195).” Hence, these differences could only be addressed through war.