Civil war 8
Civil war 8In 1860, arguably the world's greatest nation was locked in Civil War. The
war divided the country between the North (Union) and South (Confederate).
The war lasted five years and by 1865 the Confederate forces were truly
beaten. Out of this horrendous war though, where some 600,000 men died grew
a greater sense of nationalism than is today, unrivalled around the world.
The American Civil War is interpreted differently by many historians but
most see the catalyst as slavery, the motivation as economic, the outcome
was a unified national identity.
Slavery was a major issue that triggered the American Civil War. Slavery
started out, as a few individual slaves coming from England that were
generally white. This changed however, and soon the Southern slave traders
began 'stealing' blacks to take back to the South. The slaves were forced
to work 16-hour days, slave women were only seen as breeders and there were
no laws against the rape of a female slave. In 1860 slaves accounted for
one third of the South's population and even still they had no rights (see
appendix one). The Unionist North many people believed it was immoral to
own another human being. These people were called Abolitionists. The South
relied strongly on the slave trade and when the North spoke of abolishing
it, the South spoke of forming there own country, The Confederate states of
America. The South began to see that the North was going to take action
against the South's inhumane slave policy. In early 1860, South Carolina
formed under a new flag, Confederate States of America flag, so that they
could continue to operate their slave trade. What followed was an ordinance
of succession which saw the other slave populated states also swear an oath
to the Confederate States of America, also so that they could continue
their slave trade. This situation was found to be unworkable and it divided
the country in two. So in the words of Abraham Lincoln, 'A house divide
against itself can not stand. I believe this country can not endure
permanently half-slave, half-free.' Slavery formed two opposing societies
and could not have been abolished with out the Civil War.
The North was very industrialised and had a stable economy in comparison
to slave-dependant South. During the mid-1800s immigration to the North
skyrocketed. Jones says, 'the immigration (many escaping the Irish potato
famine)...
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