The American Civil War:
A Short Summary
The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865, and is perhaps the most significant episode in the nation’s history. It is estimated that 620,000 soldiers died, although the true figure could be much higher. What is for certain, however, is that this was the most deadly conflict in the nation’s history, costing more American lives than the American Revolutionary War, First World War, Second World War, and Vietnam War, combined. Such a sobering death toll begs the question, what could possibly have been worth such sacrifice?
A War About Slavery
The causes of the war have been hotly contested since the first shot was fired, and the debate will likely continue for as long as history is studied. Some have argued it was triggered by conflicts over states’ rights and the encroaching national government. Others point to the clash of rival economies, as the industrialising North wrestled with the largely agrarian South. Nevertheless, at its core, the American Civil War was fundamentally about slavery. The issue had divided the country for decades as the South, the economy of which depended on slaves, sought to spread the “peculiar institution” to more American territories, whilst the North desired to prevent this. The situation came to a head in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln, a Republican that stood on a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, was elected president. Despite receiving all but three of the free states’ electoral votes, Lincoln did not carry a single slave state. In ten of them he failed to get even a single recorded vote, and nationwide he achieved only 40 percent of the popular vote. Before Lincoln even took office, seven slave states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The North refused to recognise the legitimacy of secession, and war soon followed.
Results of the 1860 election.
Abraham Lincoln, November 1863. He gave his famous Gettysburg Address that same month.
However, just because the conflict was about slavery does not mean that it was a war to end it — even though that was the ultimate outcome. Although Lincoln personally believed that slavery was wrong, he was not an abolitionist; despite his reputation as “The Great Emancipator,” his main concern was the preservation of the Union. In August 1862 he explained that “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.” A few months later the president issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but this technically freed no slaves as it only applied to areas that were rebelling against the Union, areas that Lincoln therefore had no real jurisdiction over. All the same, slaves flocked to Union camps, and almost 200,000 black soldiers served in the Union military by the war’s end.
A Nation Reborn
The Civil War was a turning point in American history as it determined what kind of nation the country was going to be. As a result of the conflict, the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery in 1865, giving America the “new birth of freedom” that Lincoln had prophesied at Gettysburg, the full extent of which is still being realised as the fight against racism continues to this day. Furthermore, the nation that emerged from the ashes of war was reborn in other aspects, as Northern victory paved the way for rapid industrialisation and a stronger national government. Indeed, in the aftermath of this monumental episode, the United States ceased to be referred to in the plural sense, as all but the most stubborn Southerner stopped saying ‘the United States are’ and started saying ‘the United States is’.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified December 6, 1865.
