the american civil war essays

A Brief Overview of the American Civil War

The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world.

Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of slavery that had divided the country from its beginning. But these achievements came at the cost of 625,000 lives--nearly as many American soldiers as died in all the other wars in which this country has fought combined. The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the onset of World War I in 1914.

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. The incoming Lincoln administration and most of the Northern people refused to recognize the legitimacy of secession. They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.

The event that triggered war came at Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay on April 12, 1861. Claiming this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender. Lincoln called out the militia to suppress this "insurrection." Four more slave states seceded and joined the Confederacy. By the end of 1861 nearly a million armed men confronted each other along a line stretching 1200 miles from Virginia to Missouri. Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.

But the real fighting began in 1862. Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill , Second Manassas , and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland foreshadowed even bigger campaigns and battles in subsequent years, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Vicksburg on the Mississippi to Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia. By 1864 the original Northern goal of a limited war to restore the Union had given way to a new strategy of "total war" to destroy the Old South and its basic institution of slavery and to give the restored Union a "new birth of freedom," as President Lincoln put it in his address at Gettysburg to dedicate a cemetery for Union soldiers killed in the battle there.

For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in chief of all Union armies in 1864. After bloody battles at places with names like The Wilderness , Spotsylvania , Cold Harbor , and Petersburg , Grant finally brought Lee to bay at Appomattox in April 1865. In the meantime Union armies and river fleets in the theater of war comprising the slave states west of the Appalachian Mountain chain won a long series of victories over Confederate armies commanded by hapless or unlucky Confederate generals. In 1864-1865 General William Tecumseh Sherman led his army deep into the Confederate heartland of Georgia and South Carolina, destroying their economic infrastructure while General George Thomas virtually destroyed the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee at the battle of Nashville . By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865, resistance collapsed and the war ended. The long, painful process of rebuilding a united nation free of slavery began.

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 20, 2023 | Original: October 15, 2009

The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused seven southern states to secede and form the Confederate States of America; four more states soon joined them. The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, ended in Confederate surrender in 1865. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin.

Causes of the Civil War

In the mid-19th century, while the United States was experiencing an era of tremendous growth, a fundamental economic difference existed between the country’s northern and southern regions.

In the North, manufacturing and industry was well established, and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms, while the South’s economy was based on a system of large-scale farming that depended on the labor of Black enslaved people to grow certain crops, especially cotton and tobacco.

Growing abolitionist sentiment in the North after the 1830s and northern opposition to slavery’s extension into the new western territories led many southerners to fear that the existence of slavery in America —and thus the backbone of their economy—was in danger.

Did you know? Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned his famous nickname, "Stonewall," from his steadfast defensive efforts in the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas). At Chancellorsville, Jackson was shot by one of his own men, who mistook him for Union cavalry. His arm was amputated, and he died from pneumonia eight days later.

In 1854, the U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act , which essentially opened all new territories to slavery by asserting the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional edict. Pro- and anti-slavery forces struggled violently in “ Bleeding Kansas ,” while opposition to the act in the North led to the formation of the Republican Party , a new political entity based on the principle of opposing slavery’s extension into the western territories. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case (1857) confirmed the legality of slavery in the territories, the abolitionist John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry in 1859 convinced more and more southerners that their northern neighbors were bent on the destruction of the “peculiar institution” that sustained them. Abraham Lincoln ’s election in November 1860 was the final straw, and within three months seven southern states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas—had seceded from the United States.

Outbreak of the Civil War (1861)

Even as Lincoln took office in March 1861, Confederate forces threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12, after Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply Sumter, Confederate artillery fired the first shots of the Civil War. Sumter’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, surrendered after less than two days of bombardment, leaving the fort in the hands of Confederate forces under Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Four more southern states—Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee—joined the Confederacy after Fort Sumter. Border slave states like Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland did not secede, but there was much Confederate sympathy among their citizens.

Though on the surface the Civil War may have seemed a lopsided conflict, with the 23 states of the Union enjoying an enormous advantage in population, manufacturing (including arms production) and railroad construction, the Confederates had a strong military tradition, along with some of the best soldiers and commanders in the nation. They also had a cause they believed in: preserving their long-held traditions and institutions, chief among these being slavery.

In the First Battle of Bull Run (known in the South as First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, 35,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson forced a greater number of Union forces (or Federals) to retreat towards Washington, D.C., dashing any hopes of a quick Union victory and leading Lincoln to call for 500,000 more recruits. In fact, both sides’ initial call for troops had to be widened after it became clear that the war would not be a limited or short conflict.

The Civil War in Virginia (1862)

George B. McClellan —who replaced the aging General Winfield Scott as supreme commander of the Union Army after the first months of the war—was beloved by his troops, but his reluctance to advance frustrated Lincoln. In the spring of 1862, McClellan finally led his Army of the Potomac up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers, capturing Yorktown on May 4. The combined forces of Robert E. Lee and Jackson successfully drove back McClellan’s army in the Seven Days’ Battles (June 25-July 1), and a cautious McClellan called for yet more reinforcements in order to move against Richmond. Lincoln refused, and instead withdrew the Army of the Potomac to Washington. By mid-1862, McClellan had been replaced as Union general-in-chief by Henry W. Halleck, though he remained in command of the Army of the Potomac.

Lee then moved his troops northwards and split his men, sending Jackson to meet Pope’s forces near Manassas, while Lee himself moved separately with the second half of the army. On August 29, Union troops led by John Pope struck Jackson’s forces in the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas). The next day, Lee hit the Federal left flank with a massive assault, driving Pope’s men back towards Washington. On the heels of his victory at Manassas, Lee began the first Confederate invasion of the North. Despite contradictory orders from Lincoln and Halleck, McClellan was able to reorganize his army and strike at Lee on September 14 in Maryland, driving the Confederates back to a defensive position along Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg.

On September 17, the Army of the Potomac hit Lee’s forces (reinforced by Jackson’s) in what became the war’s bloodiest single day of fighting. Total casualties at the Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg) numbered 12,410 of some 69,000 troops on the Union side, and 13,724 of around 52,000 for the Confederates. The Union victory at Antietam would prove decisive, as it halted the Confederate advance in Maryland and forced Lee to retreat into Virginia. Still, McClellan’s failure to pursue his advantage earned him the scorn of Lincoln and Halleck, who removed him from command in favor of Ambrose E. Burnside . Burnside’s assault on Lee’s troops near Fredericksburg on December 13 ended in heavy Union casualties and a Confederate victory; he was promptly replaced by Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker , and both armies settled into winter quarters across the Rappahannock River from each other.

After the Emancipation Proclamation (1863-4)

Lincoln had used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , which freed all enslaved people in the rebellious states after January 1, 1863. He justified his decision as a wartime measure, and did not go so far as to free the enslaved people in the border states loyal to the Union. Still, the Emancipation Proclamation deprived the Confederacy of the bulk of its labor forces and put international public opinion strongly on the Union side. Some 186,000 Black Civil War soldiers would join the Union Army by the time the war ended in 1865, and 38,000 lost their lives.

In the spring of 1863, Hooker’s plans for a Union offensive were thwarted by a surprise attack by the bulk of Lee’s forces on May 1, whereupon Hooker pulled his men back to Chancellorsville. The Confederates gained a costly victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville , suffering 13,000 casualties (around 22 percent of their troops); the Union lost 17,000 men (15 percent). Lee launched another invasion of the North in June, attacking Union forces commanded by General George Meade on July 1 near Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania. Over three days of fierce fighting, the Confederates were unable to push through the Union center, and suffered casualties of close to 60 percent.

Meade failed to counterattack, however, and Lee’s remaining forces were able to escape into Virginia, ending the last Confederate invasion of the North. Also in July 1863, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant took Vicksburg (Mississippi) in the Siege of Vicksburg , a victory that would prove to be the turning point of the war in the western theater. After a Confederate victory at Chickamauga Creek, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in September, Lincoln expanded Grant’s command, and he led a reinforced Federal army (including two corps from the Army of the Potomac) to victory in the Battle of Chattanooga in late November.

Toward a Union Victory (1864-65)

In March 1864, Lincoln put Grant in supreme command of the Union armies, replacing Halleck. Leaving William Tecumseh Sherman in control in the West, Grant headed to Washington, where he led the Army of the Potomac towards Lee’s troops in northern Virginia. Despite heavy Union casualties in the Battle of the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania (both May 1864), at Cold Harbor (early June) and the key rail center of Petersburg (June), Grant pursued a strategy of attrition, putting Petersburg under siege for the next nine months.

Sherman outmaneuvered Confederate forces to take Atlanta by September, after which he and some 60,000 Union troops began the famous “March to the Sea,” devastating Georgia on the way to capturing Savannah on December 21. Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, fell to Sherman’s men by mid-February, and Jefferson Davis belatedly handed over the supreme command to Lee, with the Confederate war effort on its last legs. Sherman pressed on through North Carolina, capturing Fayetteville, Bentonville, Goldsboro and Raleigh by mid-April.

Meanwhile, exhausted by the Union siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Lee’s forces made a last attempt at resistance, attacking and captured the Federal-controlled Fort Stedman on March 25. An immediate counterattack reversed the victory, however, and on the night of April 2-3 Lee’s forces evacuated Richmond. For most of the next week, Grant and Meade pursued the Confederates along the Appomattox River, finally exhausting their possibilities for escape. Grant accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9. On the eve of victory, the Union lost its great leader: The actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14. Sherman received Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender at Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, effectively ending the Civil War.

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Causes and Effects of the American Civil War

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Themes of the American Civil War

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Themes of the American Civil War offers a timely and useful guide to this vast topic for a new generation of students. The volume provides a broad-ranging assessment of the causes, complexities, and consequences of America’s most destructive conflict to date. The essays, written by top scholars in the field, and reworked for this new edition, explore how, and in what ways, differing interpretations of the war have arisen, and explains clearly why the American Civil War remains a subject of enduring interest. It includes chapters covering four broad areas, including The Political Front, The Military Front, The Race Front, and The Ideological Front.

Additions to the second edition include a new introduction – added to the current introduction by James McPherson – a chapter on gender, as well as information on the remembrance of the war (historical memory). The addition of several maps, a timeline, and an appendix listing further reading, battlefield statistics, and battle/regiment/general names focuses the book squarely at undergraduates in both the US and abroad.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part | 2  pages, part i one and inseparable, chapter 1 | 34  pages, the state of the union, 1776–1860, part ii and the war came . . ., chapter 2 | 25  pages, southern secession in 1860–1861, chapter 3 | 17  pages, the first of the modern wars, chapter 4 | 19  pages, the experience of the civil war: men at arms, chapter 5 | 24  pages, command and leadership in the civil war, 1861–1865, chapter 6 | 27  pages, abraham lincoln, the presidency, and the mobilization of union sentiment, chapter 7 | 18  pages, jefferson davis and the confederacy, chapter 8 | 14  pages, capitalism and the civil war, part iii emancipation: race and gender in the civil war, chapter 9 | 24  pages, fighting for freedom: african-american soldiers in the civil war, chapter 10 | 19  pages, the fight for black suffrage in the war of the rebellion, chapter 11 | 21  pages, “what did we go to war for” confederate emancipation and its meaning, chapter 12 | 18  pages, slavery and emancipation: the african-american experience during the civil war, chapter 13 | 26  pages, “to bind up the nation’s wounds”: women and the american civil war, part iv legacy, chapter 14 | 22  pages, from union to nation the civil war and the development of american nationalism, chapter 15 | 31  pages, individual rights and constitutional powers: the impact of the civil war.

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American Civil War - List of Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

The American Civil War, waged from 1861 to 1865, was a seminal event in the United States’ history that stemmed from long-standing regional differences and disputes over slavery. Essays could delve into the political, economic, and social factors that led to the conflict, exploring the disputes between the North and the South regarding states’ rights, slavery, and economic policies. The discourse might extend to the significant battles, military strategies, and the leadership on both sides of the conflict. Discussions could also focus on the Emancipation Proclamation and its implications on the war and the broader struggle for civil rights. Moreover, essays could explore the reconstruction era that followed the war, examining the efforts to reunite the nation, address the legacies of slavery, and establish civil rights for freed slaves. The enduring impact of the American Civil War on the national identity, racial relations, and historical narrative could provide a captivating exploration of this pivotal period in American history. A vast selection of complimentary essay illustrations pertaining to American Civil War you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Nationalism in the Civil War

Introduction The Civil war of 1861-1865 is a central event in America's historical conscience. The war determined what kind of nation America would grow to be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution (1773-1776): whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would […]

Civil War was the Westward

Many historians argue that the catalyst for the civil war was the westward expansion of slavery. In 1845, after the United States annexed it the year before, Texas officially became a state- a slave state. The addition of a slave state allowed the Lone Star Republic into the Union. As a result of Texas becoming a state, the Mexican-American War broke out. After the war, the United States bought a massive amount of land from Mexico. The land later became […]

African Americans Made up

During the 1800's in America, African Americans made up most of the population. The Southern states were inundated with slaves. They labored in farms and on plantations. African Americans received cruel treament. They were brutally beaten and looked upon as being inhumane. The issue of equal rights for African Americans caused great disparities between the states. Our new country found itself at war with one another. This was a war of the North versus the South. The Civil War for […]

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The Civil War was the Deadliest

The Civil War was the deadliest and most brutal war ever fought. How did everything stir up between the states in the first place? Southerners had an Agricultural economy and mainly focused on the way they lived their lives to make profit for their well being; this included slaves for more hands to get more work done in less time. On the opposite side of things the northerners had an Industrial economy and wanted to abolish slavery. The north and […]

Many Causes of the Civil War

During the 1860s, the North and South of the United States had many disputes and conflicts. The South succeeded from the North, eventually leading to the civil war. The Civil War was the most destructive war ever fought in the western hemisphere and lasted from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War led to the end of the Confederacy and helped America to grow economically and socially as a nation. Today, America faces an issue with immigrants and their policies on […]

The Battle of Gettysburg Changed Everything

The Battle of Gettysburg changed everything for the Union. During the Civil War, America was fighting against each other, so there were two sides. The Confederates were mainly from the south and the Union was from the north. The concerning issue involved the North wanting slaves to be free while the south wanted to keep slaves. This conflict started the Civil War and up until the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates were striving. The south was winning every battle, so […]

The Civil War was a War Fought

The Civil War was a war fought between the states. It was fought between the Union and the Confederate States of America. Civil War spies played a major part in how the Confederate (North) won the Civil War (History.com Editors). Spies let generals know when they should attack, where, and whether they should withdraw or not (Mark). The armies of America had been tracked by spies during the Civil War. The spies gathered information on them and in return would […]

The Civil War is Perhaps

The civil war is perhaps the most studied time period in American history. Though the war was only four years, it would alter the course of history and change American culture forever. Among the changes caused by the war, the most prominent were the social and economic changes and the largest being slavery. The country was divided in many ways and all contributed to the start of the war. Most people would say that the war was solely dependent on […]

One of the most Important Events

The Civil War is one of the most important events in the history of the United States of America. It had many important repercussions which went on to have a deep and long lasting impact on the nation. After four years of a cruel battle, from 1861-1865, between a divided nation of the North and South, more than 600,000 people were killed. These lives, however, were not given in vain. Had it not been for the American Civil War where […]

Role of Technology in the American Civil War

The American Civil War is the first real modern war in America. Most of the technology and weaponry used in the Civil War can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution era. The Industrial Revolution was a time of profound transformation that resulted in new manufacturing processes. It was a time of profound transformation that resulted in new manufacturing processes. By the mid-19th century, mass production industries have been developed mainly in the North, which led them to control a […]

The Civil War Ended

The Civil War ended up being a turning point for many women. Women were required to remain at home to cook, clean and take care of their families, while their spouses went to the front line. Even though, women were prohibited from battling in the war, regardless they had critical roles to satisfy. Various women went up against the roles of medical caretakers, spies, promoters of ladies' suffrage, a supporter of social equality, and so forth. But a few women […]

Abraham Lincoln Presidancy

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. At the early age of 7 he and his family moved to Southern Indiana. When he was nine years old his mother passed, and he had to work to help support his family. He had very limited formal schooling because he was working, though he had very little education, he loved to read books and would borrow books from his neighbors. At age 21, Lincoln and his family […]

The American Civil War

The American Civil War was a battle between the South and the North after a number of states in the south seceded after Lincoln's Presidency. The battle started off as states rights but as the battle went on and advanced the battle was fighting to end slavery. Nobody had any idea that this battle would eventually turn into the deadliest battle in American history. This battle cost many people their lives on the battlefield and beyond. Also, it cost a […]

The Civil War is Considered

The Civil War is considered the bloodiest and deadliest wars in the history of the United States. It began in April 1861 when Confederates opened fire on the Union soldiers at Fort Sumter. The war would go on to last four more long years until May 1865. According to American Battlefield Trust, about 2% of the population, or estimated 620,000 men, were lost in the line of duty. As the battle began, there was a shortage of war time labor […]

Civil War and Abraham Lincoln

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The Civil War was Aged

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Longstreet First Fought

James Longstreet was a government official, a U.S Army officer, and a famous lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals and known as "Lee's War Horse." James Longstreet was born on January 8, 1821, in Edgefield District, South Carolina to James and Mary Anne Dent Longstreet. He was the son of a prosperous farmer and mostly raised in Augusta, Georgia and Somerville, Alabama. While he was in […]

The Civil War is Central

The Civil war is central to the history of the United States of America and as part of the historical events that define the American experience, it is vastly represented in several historical movies . Indeed, while 1776-1783 revolution created the US, the Civil war of 1861-1865 is said to be the determinant of what kind of nation America would be in the world . By nature, cinematic historical representations of past events are common and loved by Americans and […]

Post Civil War: Economic Factors Shape Democracy in America

Life differed for everyone after the Civil War ended—farmers, Southerners, former slaves, and more—because America was rebuilding itself in more ways than one. Former slaves were set free upon the end of the war, and they believed that their years of unpaid labor gave them a claim to land and ""forty acres and a mule"" became their rallying cry. Whites were not willing to give their property to previous slaves, and the federal government chose not to redistribute land in […]

American Civil War wasn’t Inevitable

The Civil War was and is one of the most outstanding events in the history of the United States. It was a military conflict that occurred in the United States, between 1861 and 1865 (when Abraham Lincoln is elected president). Where the North States fought against the Confederate States of America, composed of the countries of the South, which were just conforming. The struggle took place because the States of the South wanted their independence, while those of the North […]

The Role of Women in the Civil War

The bloodiest conflict in history of North America was not between other countries, like one would might imagine, it was in fact the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the clash between the North and Southern states. The Northern states was committed to ending the practice of slavery. However, the Southern states wished to introduce slavery into the western territories. During this time of conflict over the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln won […]

Americans Think of African-Americans

When Americans think of African-Americans in the deep south before the Civil War, the first image that comes to mind is one of slavery. However, many African-Americans secured their freedom and lived in a state of semi-freedom even before slavery was abolished by war. Free blacks lived in all parts of the United States, but the majority lived amongst slavery in the south. Freed Blacks continued to be treated as less than a citizen than their white counterparts because the […]

America’s Role in the World after the Civil War

As the civil war came to an end Americas southern territory was in a horrible economic place it was, looted burned, and destroyed by the unions strength to defeat the confederacy. America saw this as a time to reconstruct morally, socially, and economically. During post-war northern Americas industries soared with the help of tariffs passed during war time. It helped corporations like steel and oil to grow and create better technology and mechanics. The growth of industries in America made […]

Outbreak of the US Civil War

The mid-19th Century was not the happiest time in America. Slavery was still very much a thing in the South; the Mexican-American War had devastated the West, tribes of Native Americans were coming into conflict with the Army on the regular, while tensions between the North and South were at an all-time high. All these factors, as well as so many others, would eventually lead to the outbreak of the US Civil War, the bloodiest war in the history of […]

Civil War and Slavery

The U.S. Civil War began on April 12, 1861 in Fort Sumter, South Carolina. There were several events that led up to this battle. Three major causes of the U.S. Civil War include slavery, states’ rights, and the abolitionist movement. The future of slavery created a consuming issue that prompted the disturbance of the union. That question prompted withdrawal, and severance achieved a war in which the Northern and Western states and regions battled to safeguard the Union, and the […]

Civil War was not about Slavery

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Slavery is an Established Social Institution

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Confederate Soldiers Vs. Union Soldiers: Disentangling Motivations on the Battlefield during the American Civil War

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Lessons from the Civil War for America’s Fractured Present: Part Two

January 28, 2020 | yalepress | American History , Law , Military History , Political Science

Timothy William Waters —

Why Remembering the Civil War Matters: Talking about Belonging in America

How we remember the Civil War matters for thinking about our increasingly fragile union today—how we talk about identity, belonging, and leaving. The war seems to offer an obvious moral model. But that solution dissolves when we remember that how the war ended isn’t how it began—that the Union first fought to preserve itself, not free slaves. And because that Union was a slaveholding power, fighting to preserve itself “as it was” was a more ambiguous proposition than the now-remembered “war against slavery.”

Today, it’s common to conflate the South’s slaving and its secession, calling it treason. But the moral value of treason is different: slavery is an evil absolute; treason is a relational act. Treason can be committed only by someone who belongs to a community and is meaningful only if the thing betrayed has worth. We know the moral value of opposing slavery—but what is the value of union?

You won’t find the answer at the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln’s second inaugural address, condemning slavery on the cusp of the Union’s victory, is carved on its walls. His first, defending both slavery and union, isn’t. It’s a deceptive entanglement, because union requires its own justification. Lincoln’s defense of union for its own sake should remind us of the twin challenges any political community faces: not to treat dis-identity as treason, and not to substitute the existence of the state for its justification. After all, secession wasn’t only a slaveholder’s strategy: before the war, prominent abolitionists proposed secession of free states from slaveholding America. Today we honor them—no one is taking their statues down!—while condemning those who actually seceded not only as immoral slaveholders, but as traitors, not to the Union as it was, but to what we imagine it had been.

If we are indeed to inform present politics with the past, let us remember that past’s full complexity: that in the hour before Fort Sumter was shelled, Fort Sumter was there to be shelled; that the one thing Lincoln did not offer a slavery-maddened South was exit; and that a slaveholding Union went to war to preserve itself, and only along the way did its war become the moral crusade we remember.

We know what we should do if we encountered slavery or its moral equivalent today—and for some, the stakes in our present politics are that high. But if it really came to it, what would be the right response to secession in 2020? We might oppose a new immoral regime. But if the separatists’ reason—their “treason”—were the desire for separation itself, I see no grounds for opposing it. There is no value in union in and of itself.

Because remember, the Declaration of Independence advances two theories—oppression, but also consent of the governed. It seems to me that if a sizable group—a people—no longer wishes to share our political community—no longer wishes to be an “us”—then we have to let them go. As long as they don’t propose to do something immoral, we have no cause to compel their staying. (Or they ours—after all, if things get bad enough, it might be you who wants to leave, not “them.”) That’s the lesson of our Revolution, a lesson our Civil War—precisely because it conflated a moral crusade with the preservation of a state—has hidden.

So what lesson for our present politics, whether we stay together or split apart?

Humility, I should think. We must act upon our convictions. But we should do so in the knowledge that we may be in error—after all, the South is there to remind us that even those who are wrong feel wronged. Unless we truly face the modern equivalent of slavery, the better angels of our nature would instead give those wishing to leave reason to stay, drawing them back with shared values, not guns or walls. And if that does not work, letting those with whom we cannot agree or who will not compromise leave is a possible, moral response. You cannot betray that to which you no longer belong, and so we must be free to ask ourselves, and each other, if we still do.

It’s no coincidence that talk of division has arisen at the same time as calls for closing borders: both are about who belongs. Those invoking American greatness too often traffic in exclusivist notions about who constitutes that greatness; but those on the other end of our political divide exhibit their own exclusions, scorning the sanity and moral fitness of those who see, and voted for, a different future for this, our still-shared country.

Talking about belonging can be a good thing—though not, I think, the way too often done now, forgoing the hard work of justification and denying the moral value of others’ consent. The language of treason feeds an easier but darker narrative: it makes disunity cause for fighting, rather than a claim we must answer.

It’s the answer that matters. It’s risky to start talking about division, because taking it seriously makes it more serious. But a necessary risk: we can’t have a conversation about belonging—who we are, what we require of each other, what we are prepared to give—if we close the borders to ourselves.

You can find Part One of this two-part series here .

Timothy William Waters  is professor of law and associate director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at Indiana University. Author of numerous scholarly articles and op-eds on international law and politics, he also edited  The Miloševic Trial: An Autopsy .

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The American Civil War Essay Examples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: United States , America , Lincoln , Organization , Slavery , Violence , Government , War

Words: 1100

Published: 01/02/2020

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The American Civil War

The American civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865 and is believed to have consumed more lives than all other wars combined. The war was anticipated for over 40 years after the American Revolution due to conflicts between the North and south. There were many issues between the two sides, but slavery was the central issue. Another cause was taxation of goods imported from foreign countries. The taxes were called tariffs and the southerners felt oppressed since they imported more goods than the northerners. Goods exported from the south were heavily taxed, which was not applicable to goods of equal value exported from the north. These irregularities existed because the northern and Midwestern states had become very influential and their populations were increasing. Southern states were not very populated, which made them lose their power. This created sectionalism where the states were distinguished by differences in economy, culture, and values (Ford, 2004). The issue of slavery formed the center stage in the conflict leading to the civil war. Slaves provided labor in the plantations and farms owned by the whites. The southerners had more acceptance of slavery since the colonial period than the northerners. People from the north felt that the institution of slavery was uncivilized and should be abolished. Slavery for the southern Americans was protected by both the federal and state laws. The first confrontation occurred in 1819 when Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave state. This upset the balance of power in the senate, which constituted of 11 Free states and 11 slave states. The admission of Missouri increased the number of slave states to twelve. In 1820, Senator Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to keep the balance of power (Glatthaar and Gallagher, 2001). The fugitive slave law passed in 1850 required all Americans to return runaway slaves. In 1857, the Supreme Court failed to grant freedom to Scott Dred who was a slave. This ruling was controversial to the northern anti-slavery leaders. In 1859, John Brown was executed for his attempt to steal weapons from the federal armory. This incident proved that the southern interests were not well represented in the senate, and the southerners wanted to secede from the north. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, who was a republican and anti-slavery activist was viewed as a blow against secession by southern democrats (Ford, 2004). However, South Carolina and six other states managed to secede in 1860 and early 1861 and formed the Confederate States of America. These states attacked Fort Sumter in 1861, which belonged to the Union and was supported by the North. Lincoln called upon 75,000 from 23 states loyal to the Union to quell the rebellion of the south. States loyal to the union and those in the south began raising volunteers to serve in the armies. This marked the beginning of the civil war between the north and south. The war came to an end when three constitutional amendments were passed by congress. The 13th amendment of 1865 abolished the institution of slavery. The 14th amendment of 1868 granted citizenship to freed slaves and the 15th amendment of 1870 gave them the right to vote. The war had changed the political, social, and economic setup of America in less than 10 years. The ruling from the Scott case had concluded that African Americans could not attain partial or full citizenship whether free or slaves. This separated the country along racial lines since Africans were not entitled to constitutional rights enjoyed by the whites (Ford, 2004). The Blacks were considered inferior and could not interact with the whites either socially or politically. The 13th amendment aimed at forestalling the secession but was interfered with by the war and replaced in 1865 with the amendment that abolished slavery. The abolishment of slavery was not a goal of the government since Lincoln raised armies to preserve the Union and not to abolish slavery. Abolishing slavery was eventually assimilated as an aim for the preservation of the union by 1863. The end of the civil war ended the institution of slavery and secession by the southern states. The Confederacy was founded by Alexander to fight for the rights of slaves. The institution of slavery was built on racism, and it was difficult for the confederacy to fight for their rights. Racism continued even in the Reconstruction Era between 1865 and 1877. This undermined the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments. The rights of the African Americans eroded in the following decades, and they were marginalized and segregated politically and economically. The white supremacy in the south was still evident after the civil war. Three black Americans could be lynched every week in the south between 1890 and 1920. Black Americans had to pay taxes but were denied the constitutional rights enjoyed by the whites (Glatthaar and Gallagher, 2001). The government had forgotten the rights of slaves in a rush to prevent the secession of the south. The southern philosophers considered slaves to be contented in slavery since they were committed and faithful to their masters. This made the southerners fight for the existence of the institution of slavery, but they were overwhelmed by the military strength of the Union. This ideology of slavery remained among the southerners as the country progressed to the industrial age and the Progressive Era. The south developed the Great Alibi since its defects became virtues of the war and their defeat turned victory long after the war had ended. The northern states considered themselves to be the savior of the nation by instilling morality to the southern states. Slavery continued to dominate the disagreements between the north and the south in the 19th century. The southern states took long to reconstruct due to destruction by the north that was better armed and had bigger troops than the southern forces. The civil war erupted in 1861, but the differences between the two sides began with the Declaration of Independence. The declaration did not address the abolition of slavery effectively, and the African Americans were granted fewer rights than the whites. These rights were still debatable between the abolitionists and the southern masters. The war stopped in 1865, but its legacy still exists in the current society. The war granted freedom to the slaves, and it gave them constitutional rights even though they were fully entitled to these rights several decades after the war.

Ford, C. T. (2004). The American Civil War: An overview. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers. Glatthaar, J. T., & Gallagher, G. W. (2001). The American Civil War. Oxford: Osprey Military.

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• Library of Congress
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Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Minorities in the United States Civil War: A Resource Guide

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American minority groups took part in the Civil War in important ways, especially as soldiers and sailors fighting in the war. Hundreds of thousands of immigrant Germans and Irish fought for both the Federal and the Confederate causes, most of them for the North. Around 200,000 African Americans served in the Union Army and Navy. Ethnicity and race were used as reasons and requirements in forming military units.

Bigotry and racism were the central reasons that influenced the formation of segregated African American units such as the 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Louisiana Native Guard/Corps d'Afrique (Union), the 1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, and the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Most of these Union regiments became part of the United States Colored Troops when the Bureau of Colored Troops was formed in May, 1863. This new structure changed their numeric designations. For example, the Louisiana Native Guard/Corps d'Afrique regiments were mustered into the 74th and 75th United States Colored Troops regiments, and the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers became the 35th United States Colored Troops.

Many Europeans initially joined units comprised of others who spoke the same language. Examples of companies and regiments organized by Irish, Italian, German, and other distinct cultural groups abound. The Louisiana Tigers of the Confederacy (English, French, Irish, Italian, German, Spanish, and Swiss). The Union Army's XI Corps (largely German American). The Irish Brigade of the Union Army and the 10th Tennessee Infantry of the Confederacy (Irish). The 39th New York Infantry-Garibaldi Guard (Italian Americans). A number of individuals within these cultural groups were not recent immigrants or from long-established immigrant families. These individuals remained citizens of countries they returned to after their service ended. Along with recent and established immigrants, these foreign citizens are included in each cultural group when identified.

[Major General Carl Schurz in uniform] . ca. 1862 and 1865. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs.

[Unidentified African American soldier in Union infantry sergeant's uniform and black mourning ribbon with bayonet in front of painted backdrop] . ca. 1863 and 1865. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

[Private Lewis Downing of 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles (Confederate) and 3rd Regiment of Indian Home Guards (Union) in uniform] ca.1862 and 1865. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

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The Civil War in America

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