A complete essay on the concept of civil war

An explicit essay on the American Civil War

Introduction

Wars of all kinds and magnitudes take heavy tolls on mankind as they leave behind uncountable corpses and beyond repair damages. The American Civil War that broke out in the nineteenth century is the deadliest skirmish in the history of the United States to date. Basically, the American Civil War broke out in 1861, just one year after Abraham Lincoln was elected to the top post of the US President. To add, this war was fought between the northern and the southern states of America on issues of slavery rights, the westward expansion of the US, and rights of the states. In fact, not only is this civil war the most devastating conflict in the history of the United States but also the costliest. To substantiate, the war claimed the lives of more than 640,000 soldiers while millions of others were left brutally injured. Besides, the consequences of this civil war left the regions of Southern America in shatters. It is worth noting that although the war began in 1861, for many years, even before the outbreak of the war, there were simmering tensions between the northern and the southern regions of America. This essay underlines the various developments and causes that led to the American Civil War. After that, the essay throws light on the outcomes of the war and how it overhauled the social, political, and economic environment in America.

Body

To begin with, there was a wide spectrum of causes that shaped into an armed conflict in America between the northern and the southern states. These causes can be classified into political, social, and economic reasons that ignited the deadly war. Primarily, talking of the political causes, the election of Abraham Lincoln to the post of the US President in 1860 was a major political development that contributed to the escalation of tensions. While Abraham Lincoln won from the North, his arch-rival emerged victorious in the South hence dividing America into two halves into the lines of political differences. To substantiate, with the rise of Abraham Lincoln to power, seven southern states came together to form the Confederates States of America. Further, four more states from the south extended support to this confederate and became a part of it. Moreover, there was a wide range of economic causes and developments that propelled the conflict into an armed rebellion. To elaborate, in the 19th century, there was a large difference between the economic prosperity of the northern states and the southern states. While northern states witnessed rich growth in the manufacturing industry, the economy of the south depended majorly on agriculture. The economy of the southern states was largely dependent on the harvest of cotton, growth of tobacco, and slavery of Black people. Contrary to this, there were rising voices in the north against the practice of slavery. So, there was a growing sentiment in the north about the abolition of slavery, and this idea threatened the economy of the south. To clarify, people of the southern states had apprehensions about their economic welfare, given the idea of eliminating the system of slavery. These concerns led to an outrage in southern states as people felt that the backbone of their economy was endangered.

Probing further, another cause for the outbreak of the civil unrest in America was the tussle between demands for larger states’ rights and federal rights. To explain, some Americans were in favor of more rights for the states, while others argued that more control should rest with the federal government. So, these differences in ideology contributed to the hostile sentiments between the southern and northern states. When no solutions could be found to these differences of opinion and when the federal government denied certain rights to the states, the southern states felt disrespected and moved towards secession. Moreover, the Abolitionist Movement, largely helmed by the northern states, launched a massive social campaign against enslavers and the practice of enslavement. People in North America were of the opinion that slavery is a social as well as a moral evil, and much to the dislike of the southern states, they vehemently opposed slavery. As mentioned above, because slavery was a key contributor to the economic prosperity of southern states, this deepened the conflict between the north and south. This is how various differences between southern and the northern states translated into bloodshed between the Confederates and the Union. (Understanding the 4 Main Issues That Led to the American Civil War, 2020) While Confederates represented the unity of the southern states, the Union of the Federal government largely represented the interests of the northern states.

Subsequently, the First Battle of Bull Run broke out on July 21, 1861. In this skirmish, more than 35000 Confederate Soldiers confronted Union soldiers and made them retreat towards Washington DC. This provoked Abraham Lincoln to call for the recruitment of 500,000 more soldiers. This battle was followed by deadly battles in the subsequent years, and the prominent ones among them were the Battle of Virginia, The Second Battle of Bull Run, and the Battle of Antietam. It is crucial to note that in 1863, Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after the victory of the Union forces in Antietam. The proclamation announced that all the enslaved people in the rebellious state were to be freed after January 1, 1863. This proved to be a political masterstroke as it included the global perception towards the Union and also deprived the Confederacy of a large number of its slaves and labor class workers. After the announcement of this proclamation, around 186,000 black soldiers joined the Union forces. Then in 1864, Abraham Lincoln made Ulysses Grant the supreme commander of the Union forces to replace Halleck. Under the command of Ulysses Grant, the Union forces pursued the strategy of attrition despite suffering heavy casualties in different battles. Besides, Abraham Lincoln put William Tecumseh Sherman in control in the west. Sherman’s men went on to capture Atlanta by September 1864 and then went on to capture Savanah in December. Furthermore, the Union forces under Sherman also won Columbia, Charleston, and South Carolina. To add, by 1865, William Sherman had gained control of Raleigh, Bentonville, Goldsboro, and Fayetteville. Rendered weak and exhausted by the resistance and might of the Union forces, the Confederates surrendered to Grant on April 9. However, on the eve of this victory, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, on April 14, 1865. This was a massive loss for the Union forces as they lost their top leader right after the surrender of the Confederacy. Finally, the civil war ended on April 26 when Sherman accepted the surrender of Confederate General Joseph Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina.

Conclusion

To conclude, the deadly battle between the Confederate forces and the Union forces marks a dark era in the history of America. Because scores of people were killed in this civil war that lasted for four years, it is always going to be recalled as a set of unfortunate events. However, despite the bloodshed, the civil war resulted in the liberation of more than four million enslaved Americans. Besides, as an outcome of the war, industrialization emerged at a massive scale in the southern states, which were majorly driven by agriculture before the outbreak of the civil war. However, in the course of this war, America lost its President, who was assassinated by a harmonizer of the Confederacy. At last, the war may have changed America for the better, but the price paid was hefty. Although millions of people were freed from slavery as a ramification of this war, the deadly clashes claimed millions of lives as well. The fact remains, war is never the solution but a monstrous problem in itself.