Term Paper on "American Civil War"

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During the days of the American Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution, the North and South were bonded by their common interest in establishing a new nation, and differences seemed insignificant in comparison, however sectionalism steadily grew stronger. By the nineteenth century, the South had remained almost completely agricultural, and its economy and social order was largely founded on slavery and the plantation system. The North also had its great agricultural resources, however it was more commercially advanced and was also expanding industrially.

Hostility grew considerably after 1820, the year of the Missouri Compromise which was intended to be a permanent solution to the issue in which that hostility was most clearly expressed, that is, the question of the extension of prohibition of slavery in the federal territories in the West. Difficulties over the tariff that led John C. Calhoun and South Carolina to nullification and to an extreme states' rights stand, and problems concerning the internal improvements were also involved, however, the territorial issue consistently loomed the largest issue. By the 1830's, moral indignation was increasing in the North due to the rise of the abolitionists, and since slavery was not "adaptable" to much of the territorial lands that would be admitted as free states, the South became more anxious about maintaining its position as an equal in the Union. Thus, Southerners strongly supported the annexation of Texas, which was certain to be a slave state, and the Mexican War, and even called for the annexation of Cuba.

Before the Civil War, the Constitution provided a basis for peaceful debate of the future of the government and had been successful in regulating conflicts of interest and conflicting visions for the new and rapidly expanding nation. Compromises had been made to balance the number of free states and slave states in order to balance the Senate. The last slave state admitted to the Union was Texas in 1845, and between 1846 and 1859, five free states were admitted, with Kansas due to enter as a free state in 1861. The rise of mass democracy in the industrializing North, the breakdown of the old two-party system, and increasingly virulent and hostile sectional ideologies in the mid-nineteenth century made it very unlikely that peaceful compromises could be reached to avoid crisis.

The Compromise of 1850 is regarded as the end of the era of compromise, and the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852 left no leader of national stature, only sectional spokesmen, such as W.H. Seward, Charles Sumner, and Salmon P. Chase in the North and Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs in the South. With the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the consequent struggle over "bleeding" Kansas, the factions first resorted to shooting, as the South became more alert to protecting its "peculiar institution" even though many Southerners were aware that slavery was an anachronism in a supposedly enlightened age. Passions aroused by arguments over the fugitive slave laws and over the issue of slavery in general were increased by the activities of the Northern abolitionist John Brown, and by leading pro-slavery activist William L. Yancey.

The issue of slavery caused wedges that split large Protestant sects into Northern and Southern branches and dissolved the Whig party, which led most Southern Whigs to join the Democratic party, which was one of the few remaining nationwide institutions. The new Republican party, "heir to the Free-Soil party and to the Liberty party," was strictly a Northern phenomenon. The critical point was reached in the presidential election of 1860, when Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, defeated three opponents, marking the signal for the secession from the Union of South Carolina, followed by six other states, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. This raised the immediate question of federal property in these states, especially the forts in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and the issue of the forts was still unsettled when Lincoln was inaugurated.

There had been several futile efforts to reunite the sections, notably the Crittenden Compromise offered by Senator J.J. Crittenden, yet Lincoln resolved to hold Sumter, and the new Confederate government under President Jefferson Davis and South Carolina were equally determined to oust the Federals. The slow boil over the issue of slavery in American culture had erupted into an overflowing kettle by 1861.

On February 8, 1861, the Southern states had adopted a provisional constitution for the newly formed Confederate States of America, with Davis chosen for a six-year term of office. The Constitution of the Confederate States was reported by the committee and adopted by the Provisional Congress on March 11, 1861, and ratified without delay. The Constitution was very similar to the Constitution of the United States, preserving carefully the fundamental principles of popular representative democracy and confederation of co-equal States.

These events set the stage for the bloodiest and saddest war in American history, a conflict that combined elements of the Napoleonic Age with features of the new Machine Age, as Americans fought for constitutional principle, sectional differences, economic self-interest, and moral righteousness. As a defining moment, the Civil War has no equal in the history of the United States, which is perhaps why it still remains such a fascinating subject.

A month after the Constitution of the Confederate States was adopted, on April 11, 1861, Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard formally requested that Fort Sumter be surrendered, however, the Federal commander, Major Robert Anderson, refused, and at 4:30 A.M. On April 12, 1861, Captain George S. James fired the first shot of the war from a Confederate artillery battery. Exchanges of artillery continued through April 13, when terms of capitulation were finally agreed upon, and at noon on April 14, the fort was evacuated by steamer. The next day, Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 militia to serve for ninety days to put down "combinations too powerful to be suppressed" by the ordinary mechanism of government, and the Civil War had begun.

The population of the eleven Confederate states was roughly nine million, one-third of whom were slaves, while the population of the twenty-two remaining Union states was twenty-two million, with a steady stream of immigrants. The South had only two main east-west railroad lines and limited ability to manufacture locomotives or rolling stock, while most of the known deposits of coal, iron ore and copper were in the North, together with 92% of the country's industrial capacity.

Moreover, the Navy remained loyal to the Union and the majority of the merchant shipping was Northern-owned.

There were innumerable battles and skirmishes of the American Civil War, however there are ten that are considered the costliest battles of the war. In Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863, with Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee leading 75,000 Confederate troops, and Union Commander George G. Meade, leading 82,289 Union troops. The Union army won the battle, resulting in 51, 112 casualties, 23,049 Union and 28, 063 Confederate. The Confederacy won the Battle of Chickamauga, in Georgia, which was fought September 19-20, 1863, under the Confederate Commander Braxton Bragg and Union Commander William Rosecrans. There were 66,326 Confederate forces and 58,222 Union forces engaged, and casualties were 34,624 total, 16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate. The Confederacy won the Battle of Chancellorsville, in Virginia, that was… READ MORE