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Why Did The South Cause The Civil War Essay

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It started as a fight for slavery, but became a fight for states’ rights. In 1860, the South began to secede from the Union. They were jealous of the North. They saw that the North was prospering more than them and they were given more attention. Not only that, but they thought that the North was not giving back the ex-slaves. With these major problems, they had reached their limit and broke off. At the same time, Abraham Lincoln won the Election of 1860 and was getting ready to take charge. Although he believed afterwards that he had no authority on deciding if slavery should exist or not, he eventually wrote the Emancipation Proclamation suggested freeing the slaves. The South was not happy about this. Not only did they lose their slaves, …show more content…

Jim Kemper said: “what we are fighting for is our freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government… to avoid a central tyranny” (pg 56) The Southerners saw this as a freedom fight. The central government was oppressing the Southerners. They believed that the federal government did not do anything that would profit them. The railroads were in the North, the factories were in the North, and a lot more was there. Since the South was mainly agricultural, the economy was weaker. Since the North blockaded them, they were not able to trade with any countries, causing their economy to become worse. This caused them to hate the North even more. They just wanted to break off and live their own life. The people wanted a ruler that could agree with them. They wanted him to understand their struggles and make decisions in their favor, which was not happening in the …show more content…

He padded shoulders, noted faces. It was very quiet and dark down among the trees. Night was coming” ( pg 177) Here Chamberlain notes that many lives were taken during the battle. There was blood everywhere. The death to rose to fifteen thousand for both parties this day. There had never been a deadlier war. Chamberlain is feeling great grief. He could see the darkness around him, physically and mentally. The loss of all these men was being felt by someone. Them not going home for their kids. Their wives waiting for them at the dinner table. It created not only a space in homes and towns, but also in the armies. This makes both the Union and Confederacy vulnerable to each other. The Battle of Gettysburg created many gaps amongst families, national armies, and a country

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