The United States And The Civil War

America, since its creation, has been a mostly thriving nation shaped by events throughout history. From the revolution to today, America would not be the same without its wars, movements, and uprisings. A very turbulent time for America was the early 1900s, where finding a foothold among giants was a risky business. Starting with World War I was a culture shock to the country in general but pushed America into accepting Women’s suffrage. Past this, the 1920’s introduced the clash of old versus new.

Throughout history, conflicts have risen regarding the handling of certain events. Often, these conflicts have played major roles in the development of the United States; two examples are the conflicting views of slavery between numerous states during the 19th century and the different viewpoints on how the United States would treat the South after the Civil War ended. [look over old assignments and see how you expanded these] Both of these disagreements have shaped U.S. history and drastically changed the life of citizens.

The United States post-Civil War era from 1875 to 1900 experienced massive economic and industrial growth, especially in the North. The rise of new machines, industries (railroad, oil, steel), and buildings contributed to a major upsurge in the prosperity of the American nation. In 1860, no American city had a population over one million; by 1890, three cities had passed the million mark. New York City became the second largest city in the world after London in 1900. The substantial growth of the U.S economically can be contributed to a group of wealthy capitalists that ran businesses/industries and stimulated economic growth. However, historians have argued over whether these capitalists were “robber barons” that were corrupt and took advantage of the American people or “captains of industry” that helped the U.S grow at unparalleled speeds. Wealthy capitalists such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were indeed “captains of industry” who enlarged American industry and businesses, used their wealth to better their communities, and elevated the United States to new heights as one of the leading industrial powers of the entire world.

After the Civil War, the fact that slavery was abolished might seem to be the end of the story; however, the problems derived from the abolishment of slavery had yet to be addressed. During the Reconstruction Era, these problems were reflected on the political, social, and economic aspects. Which played several major roles in shaping America from the late nineteenth into the twentieth centuries.These three aspects, political, social, and economical, affected one another so much that they were inseparable. The beginning leniency of Andrew Johnson all the way to the Confederates and later the political conflict between Johnson and the Radical Republicans, and lastly, the political struggle between Republicans and Democrats. It all resulted in the ever-changing policies toward the freed people. These different policies had strong effects on the society, especially the freed people. Although some of the policies, such as the abolition of slavery and several Constitutional Amendments were beneficial to the rights of freed people, the sudden increase of freed people brought about the separation of black and white and many other social issues. Thus the real equality among people still had yet to be achieved. The economy also affected the society and the politics. The depression of the economy after the Civil War made people focus on their own situations, instead of worrying about the freed people. For example the people were distressed about getting money and how to provide for

After the Mexican War ended on February 1848 when the US and Mexican government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the US had the concept of manifest destiny, belief that the US would continue to spread west with ideas of the advancement in factories and a dispute over the issue of slavery. In that same year, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania composed the Wilmot Proviso, stating that slavery cannot exist in any territory acquired by Mexico, which upset many Southerners leading to events such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Compromise of 1850 on how the issue of slavery would prevent the US from westward expansion and factory production. Eventually, the issue of slavery would cause the US nation to break into two groups called the

One of the key demographics that many say that the South was different from the North would be their means of economic ambiguity. Many saw the North as a purely industrialized region compared to the South as being purely driven by agriculture. However, not all of the North was industrialized as not the entire South was based on agriculture. There were northern farmers who specialized in specific crops that couldn’t be grown in the South, as there were crops harvested in the south that couldn’t

The biggest war that ever happened was the Civil War. This was the most deadliest, and hurtful wars between the North and the South. This war lasted for four years straight from 1861 to 1865. So many events led up to this war which made it so brutal. I believe that the events that took place to start the civil war could have been easily avoided by just a little communication that they did not use around that time. I do not believe everything that happened in those four years should have happened the way that it did.

On April 18, 1861, in the town of Chambersburg, Virginia, there was held a large gathering of civilians who were ready to support the Union in going to war with the Confederacy, much similar to other meeting that occurred all throughout the Union. In a Valley Spirit newspaper article recounting the events of that day, it is stated, “ There is but one sentiment--one purpose--one determination among men of all political parties form, and that is, to stand up for the Government and sustain it in all efforts to put down rebellion and re-establish the Union”. Right away, the Union’s mission in going to war is stated. Their reason for going to war is to fight for the Government, in hopes of being able to reunite to Union with the Confederacy that had formed.

In the year of 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. The U.S. prime objective was for the true Cuban independence. In pursuing such goal, the string of conflicts began with the inhumane treatment of Cuban civilians in concentration camps by the Spanish, ‘yellow journalism,” and the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. The United States involvement in the war was a combination of all of these factors; however, the most influential factor was the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. The outrage of American citizens advanced throughout the country. Ultimately, the firm perception of a deliberate attack on the Maine pressured the United States into the war. Without a clear rationale, the American public compelled the United States to avenge the Maine. After a short four-month war, United States won the war and emerged as a dominant force in the world.

By 1860, there were nearly 4 million slaves in the United States, with about 470,000 slaves in Virginia alone . In the ten years before this, tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters had grown, sparked by critical moments such as the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery in the Northern territory, and the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which, ruled on by a judges from a majority of slave states, took away blacks’ rights to become a U.S. citizen and threw out the Missouri Compromise. A great deal of controversy and political turmoil surrounded these changes, intensifying divides in the nation. “Many Southerners ignored the differences between free soil and abolitionism saw the entire North locked in the grip of demented leaders bent on civil war.” One particular event, John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, seemed to confirm Southerners’ false perception of the North.

Succeeding from certain countries is often a common solution that many would agree on in order to avoid problems within a nation. A war that includes this action is the civil war. After several disagreements of lifestyle, the South had succeeded from the United States of America. However, Abraham Lincoln’s initial goal was to keep the Union as a whole, as he continuously worked on achieving this goal. There are many accountable reasons for the Civil War, but the disagreement on slave vs. free states and the election of 1860 were the two main causes to the succeeding of the south.

The word “freedom” has always been a cornerstone of the numerous transformations of the American society. It is the notion that is found in speeches of both Republican and Democrat politicians, the idea that connected the mind of an affluent Southern plantation owner and that of a radical abolitionist. Generally, the understanding of any period in the United States history as a whole relies heavily on acquiring the knowledge of the way of life, and the patterns of thought of the American public. The meaning of freedom provides a unique insight into social models, and can be considered a crucial factor when examining the impact of the key events in the history of the United States, namely the Civil War. The three speeches by the prominent American politicians and presidents from 1850’s throughout the Civil War era will be compared and analyzed with respect to their definition of freedom in order to demonstrate the different perceptions of this concept in the 19th century American society.

In the beginning when America was uniting and trying to form its official government the northern states and the southern states had already different greatly from each other. The North was industrializing and working on expanding west and the South was booming with farming and its famous cash crop. The North wanted to abolish slavery and the South did not. Since the North and South had so many differences and could not keep a steady compromise, heavy tensions arose between the North and the South which then caused the Southern states of America to decide to leave the American Union and create their own Southern Confederacy. This tore our nation apart. The American Civil War had begun and the very people that were once neighbors had each

In 1861, a horrific war began. Nobody had any idea that this war would become the deadliest war in American history. It wasn’t a regular war, it was a civil war opposing the Union in the North and the Confederate States in the South.. The Civil War cost many people’s lives on the battlefield and beyond. In addition it cost an extreme amount of money for the nation which possibly could have been avoided if the war had turned to happen a little differently.

The United States wasn’t as united as they would like to be. Over about a ten-year period the United States started to divide into the Confederate States and The United States. This division wasn’t all of a sudden out of the blue movement, many debates brought upon the division and the start of the civil war. The biggest issue between the North and South was the issue of Slavery and what it entailed. The American Civil War was the United States way of figuring out what kind of nation it would be, one nation that abolished slavery or a nation that still had slavery. All the events leading up to the end of the war and the North winning lasted four years. Starting with the succession of the southern states to the last of the confederate armies surrendering in the war, the civil war was one of the most iconic wars that were fought on American soil.