The American Civil War (1861–1865)

The American Civil War (1861–1865), also known as the War Between the States (among other names), was a civil war in the United States of America. There are many reasons for causing this war but the 2 most of those were, Sectionalism refers to the different economies, social structure, customs and political values of the North and South. It increased steadily between 1800 and 1860 as the North, which phased slavery out of existence, industrialized, urbanized and built prosperous farms, while the deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labour, together with subsistence farming for the poor whites.

The South expanded into rich new lands in the Southwest (from Alabama to Texas). However, slavery declined in the border states and could barely survive in cities and industrial areas , so a South based on slavery was rural and non-industrial.. On the other hand the Southerners, in order to run their large cotton plantations, depended a lot on slaves. Slavery had been a way of life in Southern America, since two hundred years.

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It was even accepted under the state as well as federal laws. But, post the flourishing of the industries in the North, people developed many modern ideas and became totally against slavery.

This did not go well with the Southerners, and an environment of hostility was created between the two, leading to the American Civil War. Slavery: because of slavery, African Americans were discriminated against in the United States. In reality, southern slaves were often treated better than some northern factory workers.

Because of the movement to stop slavery (the abolitionist movement) southerners concluded that all or most northerners were against them and wanted to destroy their way of life.

Southerners developed the illusion that all northerners were against them and it united the southern states. For about 245 years, slaves had been used in America as free labor. Some slaves tried to escape to freedom, and some accomplished this goal. Once an escape was discovered, usually a man hunt followed. If caught, slaves were usually beaten or whipped. The basis of the southern economy was cotton, so slaves were a very important to southern life. Lincoln had said that he would end slavery so the southern population saw him as a threat to their livelihood.

During the 1850s, slaves left the border states through sale, manumission and escape, and border states also had more free African-Americans and European immigrants than the lower South, which increased Southern fears that slavery was threatened with rapid extinction in this area. Such fears greatly increased Southern efforts to make Kansas a slave state. By 1860, the number of white border state families owning slaves plunged to only 16 percent of the total. Slaves sold to lower South states were owned by a smaller number of wealthy slave owners as the price of slaves increased.

The American Civil War lasted four years. Measured in physical devastation and human lives, it was the costliest war the American people have experienced. When the war was over 620,000 men had been killed and at least that many more had been wounded in a nation of about 35 million. The north lost a total of about 364,000 soldiers (nearly one of every four soldiers). Also more than 37,000 black soldiers lost their lives fighting for freedom during the American Civil War. The conditions of the war were so bad more men died of disease and sickness than on the battlefield.

After the war, over 4 million slaves were freed. They didn't know what the future had in store for them. With freedom came hunger and homelessness. Some slaves stayed on the plantations, but others went north. Either way, thousands of former slaves were without homes, clothes, food, jobs, and didn't have any education. The importance of the Civil War can be found in most arguments in the ending of slavery in the United States. This important moral and cultural changing of attitudes was complimented by many other important outcomes.

These include the surviving of the American democracy, the rise of a collective American economy, the rise of changing political parties, the strengthening of the federal government, the improving of race relations and the legacies of Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. www. buzzle. com/articlea/slavery-during-the-civil-war. html / Slavery during the war / Prabhakar Pillai / Timothy H. Donovan, Thomas E. Griess / the American civil war/- 2002 http://www. harlingen. isd. tenet. edu/coakhist/cwar. html /