American_Civil_War

The Confederacy and the Union in the American Civil War “Reading history will inspire wisdom.” Francis Bacon wrote it in The Theory of Knowledge. History is precious experience of human being, people learn lessons from it. The American Civil War is a heavy experience in the American history. This only civil war broke out in the American territory since the birth of this country caused undetermined, massive soldiers’ and civilians’ casualties, the destroyed several cities in South. Lots of people believe that the divergence about the slavery between South and North was the reason of the war. But after reading the texts, I did change my mind. The problem of slavery was only a beautiful excuse. Behind the slavery, there excited two governments with the several differences. What happened for the Confederacy and the Union in the war' And the war finally brought the liberation to the Blackman' The answer can be found through the presentation of its causes, process and consequences. The Civil War was broken out after the presidential election in 1861, because the southerners can not accept a Republican Party who maintains abolishment of slavery won the election. We can understand the secession of South because the slavery is their key labor force, their business and way of life depended on the slave. If the abolishment of slavery was really effected, that would be a choc for the South. But it is strange why the North did not acquiesce the secession of South. It is value to break out a war just to emancipate the Blackman for the North' In that case, I agree with the analysis in “Causes of the American Civil War”, behind the excuse of slavery, there were deep economical, political, social and ideological differences, the slavery issue and the straggle for the new territories in the west. These conflicts existed more than four decades and ended by the war when Lincoln was elected as a president. The southerners’ interpretation for the Constitution is different from the North, they believed that the Constitution war pro-slavery. But the interpretation of the North is that the freedom of human being is extremely important, this point was obviously threatened for the existence of slavery. Furthermore, the business of the South depended on cotton which was exported to Europe, so they wish open the market and reduce tariff. But for the North, their business depended on modern industry. Comparing with the European industry, America’s industry was weak, so the North prefers to protect the market and develop tariff. The North also wanted a good banking and currency system and federal subsidies for shipping and internal improvements. The South felt these were discriminatory and that they favored Northern commercial interests. For the part of political difference, the South always wanted more power to sectional states, which means the decentralization, in order to reinforce their own power and weaken the power of federal government. That can not be tolerant for the federal government, which could not give any opportunity to strong the power of pro-slavery. Federal government needed an increased power to maintain the union of State. This conflict caused the struggle two sides in the new territories in the West, because the intentions of spread of slavery of South were always interrupted by the North. Otherwise, the new states would become the pro-slavery states, which would be a threat for the North. It seems that all the problems link with one issue, which was the slavery. As we know that the economy of south depends on the slaves who were the key labor for the slaveholding planter class, once lose them, the life and business of south will collapse. But at that moment, the focus of North was to ameliorate the human right such as the right of women, of workers, and of being educated. What is more the abolishment of slave in some extreme north states gave much pressure to South. Southerners’ way of life decided that they could not live without slaves, at the same time, Northerners’ interpretation of Constitution decided that they can not accept the slavery. This different interpretation of Constitution and ideology reflected on the politic was that the South wanted the decentralization and the North wanted the centralization. The North and The South dropped in a vicious circle that the slavery issue caused others economic, political and social problems, and these problems graved the conflict about the slavery issue of both sides. The last main conflict was the presidential election. Both the expansionism and the way of life of southerners were threatened by the victory of Republican Party. The abolishment of several extreme north states and victory of anti-slavery party forced the South open fire for protect their life and business. I still remember a scene in the film “Gone with the wind” that men talks the civil war in the house of Ashley, southerners have a complete confidence for winning this war, but Captain Butler does not agree with them, because south do not produce cannons but only cottons, the lack of the military materiel is dangerous for south if the North block market. It seems to me that there were three reasons for the failure of South, there are the lack of military, life materiel and medicament, then the lack of help from Europe and finally the failure strategy for striving for the important borders states. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a great preponderance of strength in manpower and economic resources. In the aspect of industrial production, the Union enjoyed an enormous advantage such as the Union produced fifteen times as mush iron as the Confederacy, had a virtual monopoly in shipbuilding facilities and was able to self-sufficient in war material. The situation for the Confederacy was more worrying because it had to rely heavily on Europe’s supplies for medical, war material. But unfortunately the destruction of transportation and the block from the Union cut the foreign supply. Even so, the independence of Confederacy would be certain if Great Britain and France interfered with the war. I believe that the southerners knew its weakness in comparison with the Union. In fact, the foreign support would be important for them. At the beginning, they believed deeply that the Europe would help them because the latter need their cottons. Even southerners burned the champ of cotton to get the European intervention. But Southern faith in King Cotton was misplaced. British manufacturers stocked a great numbers of cottons, the shortage of cotton did not become acute until 1863. Furthermore, India and Egypt became alternative suppliers instead of Southern. Except for the economic factors, the military situation decided directly the European intervention. The Europe did not intervene until the Confederacy seemed to win. Great Lee’s success in Maryland in 1862 make that British would have recognized the Confederacy, but when he lost war, British changed its mind, France was unwilling to act alone. Even so, the Confederacy would have another chance to win the war if it got the support from four borders states which were Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky and Delaware. Especially Maryland and Kentucky were extremely important for both sides. Why was Maryland important' As Washington had been built in the position balanced between the North and the South, it would soon be in dangerous after the secession of Virginia, in that case, if Maryland also seceded, the capital would be completely isolated. Facing to the rebellion of pro-slavery in this state, the strategy of Lincoln was to suppress it as soon as possible. Finally Maryland was ‘saved’ by the reaction of the Union. The strategy for the Kentucky was different from the one in Maryland, because Lincoln knew the signification of loosing this state. As he said that “I hope I have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky”. The Confederacy would have a strong north border and control several important and useful routes in the war if Kentucky seceded. The announcement of its neutrality gave both sides the opportunity to win this state. This time, Lincoln tried to avoid any policy to push the state into the rebellion. The wait and patient of Lincoln made effort. Kentucky saw the attack from the Confederacy as an aggression. It moved officially into the Union camp. The war ended in the surrendering of the Confederacy in 1865. The role of federal government had been strengthened, the State maintained union. The slavery became history in the United States. Free slaves were given full right of citizen and right to vote in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. Comparing with the northerners, the southerners suffered more pain during the war because most battles took place in the South, their houses, champs were burned. Nearly everything was destroyed during the war. For both sides, the war was a heavy charge because it is expensive to pay for soldiers, guns, food, medical supplies, and transportation. So after the war, government had generally heavy debt. That was an impact for economy. Furthermore, the civil war abolished the slavery but could not abolish the discrimination to the Blackman in heart of white American. This discrimination was transformed into hatred in South. Ku Klux Klan which appeared after the civil war was founded by veterans of Confederacy Army, its purpose was to restore the supremacy of white. From that time, this violent and racism organization begun its terrorist action in State. Even in North, the discrimination against the Blackman had existed for longtime. In a sense, the slaves could be better cared in the period of slavery. “Southerners said that slave-owners provided shelter, food, care, and regulation for a race unable to compete in the modern world without proper training”. The discrimination and lack of the training made the life was even more difficult than before. Poverty became the common phenomenon for blacks. Gap between rich and poor and the discrimination has deepened the conflict between the White and the Black. The deep social, economic and ideological differences between the Union and the Confederacy caused the American civil war. This war was the deadliest war in the American history. As the contestants in the civil war were unevenly matched, the war ended in the victory of the Union. The slavery was abolished and the Blackman was given the right of citizen, but respect and repute can not be given. The conflict between South and North still existed.