The Civil War is one of the significant events in the history of America. This war solved two essential problems that the Revolution created: whether the United States provided a declaration where all men would have an equal right to liberty and would continue to live as one large slaveholding country. Secondly, whether this nation would continue as an indivisible nation with one sovereign national government or have a dissolvable confederation of different sovereign states.
The reason for the Civil War
The primary reason that led to the start of the Civil War was the uncompromising differences between the slave states and free states. They wanted the national government to stop slavery once and for all, especially in the areas that were still to become independent states. Soon, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican President in 1860 and pledged to banish slavery. His decision creates the uprising of seven slave states that formed a new nation altogether. Today, you know the nation as the Confederate States of America.
Although this was favorable news for many, there were others that strongly opposed Lincoln’s administration. In fact, a significant part of the Northern people did not accept the legitimacy of the Confederate States of America. They believed that this decision would bring discredit to democracy and also bring about a fierce precedent that would make the United States one of the smallest and insignificant countries in the world.
April 12, 1861, is a sad day in the history of the United States. This was the day that triggered the Civil War. The Confederate army at Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Bay started firing the federal garrison. They forced them to surrender and lower the American flag. It prompted Lincoln to call the military to stop this barbaric act. However, another four slave states decided to join the Confederacy by then. This resulted in an epic war with over a million men confronting each other on an open land stretching from Virginia to Missouri over 1200 miles.
This stretch has now become an iconic place, thanks to the many battles it has seen over the years. The Civil War started in 1862 and continued for more than three years, killing thousands of innocent people and making millions homeless. Battles of Gaines’ Mill, Fredericksburg in Virginia, Second Manassas, Antietam in Maryland, and Shiloh in Tennessee are etched in the memories of the historians and the descendants of the people who fought in the war.
What started as a limited war aimed to restore the Union converted into a total war that destructed the lives of thousands and millions. Robert E. Lee’s army managed to stave off most of the attacks and invasions between 1862 and 1865. Towards the end of 1865, most of the significant Confederate armies surrendered. The Union cavalry was taken into captivity, and as the resistance soon collapsed, the Civil War also came to an end. It marked the beginning of rebuilding a nation that was free from slavery and torture.