The Civil War

The Civil War

In the United States, the southern states' economies were mainly based on agriculture, but not any normal kind of agriculture, they were based on the agriculture of slave labor. Slavery was deeply ingrained in the culture, so much that only a war could stop it. This war was a gruesome war, made far worse because of the advent of modern rifles, combined with an ignorance of advanced military tactics and lack of medical knowledge. At the time, the method common method of warfare was to line up on a big field and stand up and then shoot. The time that the war occurred was pre-germ theory, methods of antiseptics were unknown. This made it so that great damage would be inflicted upon a person, but there would be no way to properly heal treat it. This combination of factors made this war a particularly bloody and devastating one.

A main factor of this war was that the social entrenchment of slavery ran particularly deep. The institution of slavery had been in place since the first colonies were established in the Americas. Early in American history, when the Constitution of the United States was drafted, slavery was also part of the institution. The southern states wouldn't have ratified the Cons if slavery were outlawed. The Constitution of the United States was held to be the most holy of documents regarding law. Yet even these "high principled people" and "educated and sophisticated hierarchs" that approved and created the constitution left grievous discrepancies that later cause a terribly bloody war. If they had taken a clear stance on anti-slavery, the southern states would never have joined the Union. They discretely mentioned slavery in three different sections, but never out right say that it is legal, or illegal. It gave people the right to sue against slavery. And that put doubt (whether they should be in the union) and fear into southern slaveholder's hearts. This fear and suspicion was only deepened by the growing abolitionist movement, and gin. The cotton gin was of particular importance because much more cotton could be processed. That meant that more acreage could be planted and harvested. This created a huge increase in the amount of slaves wanted for labor. And because of active abolitionism, any significant increase in slavery automatically meant that the north's resentment toward the south would be increased exponentially. Only a few years later in 1787 congress began to outlaw international slave trade involving the United States. Because of this violation of state rights to choose what they wanted, to choose their own course, the south resentment became grew because it was so much harder to acquire new slaves.

In an effort to make a legal barrier, between the north and the south, congress imposed the Missouri compromise. This made the northernmost states automatically free states, and the southernmost states automatically slave states. There had to be an even ratio of slave to free states. This not only intended to serve as a partial buffer, but to keep the power in a divided congress even.

Many Supreme Court decisions furthered the rift between states. In The Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford state: "It is the opinion of the court that the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning [enslaved persons] in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned [, the Missouri compromise,] is not warranted by the constitution and therefore is void." This was considered to be a great victory for the south. There is always a backlash for any victory. John Brown's raid on a United States arsenal was the first violence on a large scale that preceded the Civil War. John Brown was an avid abolitionist who thought that it was his God given duty to free slaves. While trying to incite a slave rebellion, he and his party got attacked by a contingent of US marines. John Brown's entire party was killed, and John Brown himself was tried by a Virginia court for treason. He was sentenced to hang.

Congress increased tariffs on many essential utilities that the United States (particularly the south) deemed essential. South Carolina threatened to secede. The state of South Carolina said in an official document titled "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union"that "an increase in hostility