Posted on Jul 24, 2015
Who here read their history books and knows the real reason for the Civil War?
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I'm asking this because everytime I turn around another city or town is taking something down with the confederate symbol or flag....and blaming it on Slavery and the hurt/pain it's caused.
Why then was the Civil War fought?
As with most wars, there's no single answer. But the predominant cause was taxation.
Before his election, Lincoln had promoted very high tariffs (federal taxes on foreign imports), using the receipts to build railroads, canals, roads, and other federal pork-barrel projects.
The tariffs protected Northern manufacturers from foreign competition, and were paid mostly by the non-manufacturing South, while most of the proposed boondoggles were to be built in the North. Thus the South was being forced to subsidize Northern corporate welfare.
Certainly the Southerners were concerned about the future of slavery. But there was no threat in 1861 that the federal government would be able to outlaw it.
When Lincoln was elected, South Carolina saw a grim future ahead and seceded. Other Southern states quickly followed suit.
Lincoln asserted that no state had a right to secede from the Union — even though several geographical regions had considered secession before. Few people thought the Union couldn't survive if some states decided to leave.
Upon seceding, the Confederates took over all federal forts and other facilities in the South, with no opposition from Lincoln. The last remaining federal facilities were Fort Pickens in Florida and Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln at first promised to let the South have Fort Sumter, but then tried to reinforce it. The South moved to confiscate it — shelling the Fort for many hours. (No one was killed or even seriously injured.)
Why was Fort Sumter important? Because it guarded a major tariff-collecting facility in the harbor at Charleston. So long as the Union controlled it, the South would still have to pay Lincoln's oppressive tariffs.
Although there had been only scattered Northern opposition to the secessions, the shelling of Fort Sumter (like the bombing of Pearl Harbor almost a century later) incited many Northerners to call for war against the South. The South's seizure of Fort Sumter caused many Northerners to notice that the South would no longer be subsidizing Northern manufacturing.
As the war began, the sole issue was restoration of the Union — not ending slavery. Only in 1863 did the Emancipation Proclamation go into effect, and it didn't actually free a single slave — just like so many laws today that don't perform the purpose for which they were promoted."
The other biggest reason was STATE GOVERNMENT.
The North believed that the federal government should be much stronger than state government. The South felt that the states should have more power. The south believed that a strong central government would take away their right to decide if they should have slavery or not. For southerners the institute of slavery was a right that their state had picked to have, thus representing the freedom of states to choose their own laws. This was actually an argument that began before the Constitution was even ratified and continued until after the Civil War. Most Southerners did NOT own slaves, in fact it was a very small minority who did. Fact: Many from the North actually owned slaves...FACT: there were Black slave owners in the North..... Most of the people who fought for the South in the Civil War were fighting not to keep slaves (most didn't have any) but to keep the North and the Central Government from telling them what to do.
http://www.confederateamericanpride.com/whocares.html
Why then was the Civil War fought?
As with most wars, there's no single answer. But the predominant cause was taxation.
Before his election, Lincoln had promoted very high tariffs (federal taxes on foreign imports), using the receipts to build railroads, canals, roads, and other federal pork-barrel projects.
The tariffs protected Northern manufacturers from foreign competition, and were paid mostly by the non-manufacturing South, while most of the proposed boondoggles were to be built in the North. Thus the South was being forced to subsidize Northern corporate welfare.
Certainly the Southerners were concerned about the future of slavery. But there was no threat in 1861 that the federal government would be able to outlaw it.
When Lincoln was elected, South Carolina saw a grim future ahead and seceded. Other Southern states quickly followed suit.
Lincoln asserted that no state had a right to secede from the Union — even though several geographical regions had considered secession before. Few people thought the Union couldn't survive if some states decided to leave.
Upon seceding, the Confederates took over all federal forts and other facilities in the South, with no opposition from Lincoln. The last remaining federal facilities were Fort Pickens in Florida and Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln at first promised to let the South have Fort Sumter, but then tried to reinforce it. The South moved to confiscate it — shelling the Fort for many hours. (No one was killed or even seriously injured.)
Why was Fort Sumter important? Because it guarded a major tariff-collecting facility in the harbor at Charleston. So long as the Union controlled it, the South would still have to pay Lincoln's oppressive tariffs.
Although there had been only scattered Northern opposition to the secessions, the shelling of Fort Sumter (like the bombing of Pearl Harbor almost a century later) incited many Northerners to call for war against the South. The South's seizure of Fort Sumter caused many Northerners to notice that the South would no longer be subsidizing Northern manufacturing.
As the war began, the sole issue was restoration of the Union — not ending slavery. Only in 1863 did the Emancipation Proclamation go into effect, and it didn't actually free a single slave — just like so many laws today that don't perform the purpose for which they were promoted."
The other biggest reason was STATE GOVERNMENT.
The North believed that the federal government should be much stronger than state government. The South felt that the states should have more power. The south believed that a strong central government would take away their right to decide if they should have slavery or not. For southerners the institute of slavery was a right that their state had picked to have, thus representing the freedom of states to choose their own laws. This was actually an argument that began before the Constitution was even ratified and continued until after the Civil War. Most Southerners did NOT own slaves, in fact it was a very small minority who did. Fact: Many from the North actually owned slaves...FACT: there were Black slave owners in the North..... Most of the people who fought for the South in the Civil War were fighting not to keep slaves (most didn't have any) but to keep the North and the Central Government from telling them what to do.
http://www.confederateamericanpride.com/whocares.html
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In my opinion it's VERY important to fully separate the reasons why the POLITICIANS of the Southern States voted for Secession, why the NORTHERN Politicians decided to respond with military action and why the MEN from both sides fought. The Average soldier on both sides didn't go to war to defend or stop slavery (although they both refused to accept that blacks were equal). Johnny Reb considered the union to be invading his home and Billy Yank considered the Union to be a sacred institution that couldn't be broken up.
In my opinion and from what I read the average Yankee Soldier did come to the realization that Slavery should be ended, but for a more practical military reason. By freeing slaves the North would "punish" the upper class of Southern aristocracy who had invested heavily in it. Slaves also provided Labor that harvested crops, built fortifications and assisted the confederate military. Thousands of ex-slaves also enlisted in the Union Army (Some 185,000) and these numbers would help make a difference,
In my opinion and from what I read the average Yankee Soldier did come to the realization that Slavery should be ended, but for a more practical military reason. By freeing slaves the North would "punish" the upper class of Southern aristocracy who had invested heavily in it. Slaves also provided Labor that harvested crops, built fortifications and assisted the confederate military. Thousands of ex-slaves also enlisted in the Union Army (Some 185,000) and these numbers would help make a difference,
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Sgt Kelli Mays I just saw this question today. I have over a hundred books and articles on the US Civil War since the early 1960's. When I was a cadet at West Point we studied teh military campaigns of teh civil war in detail. In other courses we examined the causes of the US Civil War:
1. the struggle between states rights and the Federal government was the primary cause of the souther states wanting to break away from the union.
2. The north was more industrial and purchased products from Europe while the south was more agrarian and sold raw and processed cotton, tobacco products and other items to Europe. Economic tension helped draw Europe to the side of the south to protect "free trade" with the south.
3. Slavery. In the decades prior to the civil war, after England outlawed the slave trade, slaves were shipped in large number from Virginia to the deep south where they worked in the cotton fields and other harder labor. The abolition movement gained steam in the north but was resisted formly generally across the south.
1. the struggle between states rights and the Federal government was the primary cause of the souther states wanting to break away from the union.
2. The north was more industrial and purchased products from Europe while the south was more agrarian and sold raw and processed cotton, tobacco products and other items to Europe. Economic tension helped draw Europe to the side of the south to protect "free trade" with the south.
3. Slavery. In the decades prior to the civil war, after England outlawed the slave trade, slaves were shipped in large number from Virginia to the deep south where they worked in the cotton fields and other harder labor. The abolition movement gained steam in the north but was resisted formly generally across the south.
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There wasn't ONE reason for the Civil War. It was a combination of many things to include slavery and the rights of the states. There are thousands of books, articles, written by folks claiming the reason, in fact, it was probably a combination of all of those reasons. That era in our countries history doesn't define us as a nation, it just shows us how divided we were during that time. History is there to remind us of how far we have come as a country and with the hopes of not repeating the same mistakes. You can't wipe it out, just because you now decide you don't like it. Yet, here we are again, becoming more and more divided each day. We allow our feelings to be swayed by politicians and the media to push whatever agenda they are pushing. We need to unite as Americans. How in the hell did the Confederate BATTLE FLAG become the symbol for racism? Just because a narrow minded group of people wave it during their hate rallies? Aren't we bigger than that? Here is the reported meaning of the Confederate Battle Flag (the final version of the 4 that were created). http://mscivilwar150.homestead.com/confederate_battle_flag.pdf
So if the Confederate flag actually represents racism and we need to wipe it's existence off the face of the earth, why are we NOT going after things related to cowboys and the early settlers that treated the Native Americans so terrible? What about the 12 Presidents that owned slaves, 8 while serving as President? The last U.S. President to own a slave was Ulysses S. Grant, elected in 1868 after he had commanded Union forces to victory over the Confederacy in the war that led to the abolition of slavery, lived on an Missouri Farm. It is now part of the National Parks Service. Do we wipe them out of the history of our nation as well? What about the 127,000 Japanese Americans being thrown in prisons (call them internment camps, but they were prisons) during WWII? How do we get rid that from our history, what symbol needs to go?
It saddens me to see that after all of the things this country has overcome, that we seem to be going backwards.
So if the Confederate flag actually represents racism and we need to wipe it's existence off the face of the earth, why are we NOT going after things related to cowboys and the early settlers that treated the Native Americans so terrible? What about the 12 Presidents that owned slaves, 8 while serving as President? The last U.S. President to own a slave was Ulysses S. Grant, elected in 1868 after he had commanded Union forces to victory over the Confederacy in the war that led to the abolition of slavery, lived on an Missouri Farm. It is now part of the National Parks Service. Do we wipe them out of the history of our nation as well? What about the 127,000 Japanese Americans being thrown in prisons (call them internment camps, but they were prisons) during WWII? How do we get rid that from our history, what symbol needs to go?
It saddens me to see that after all of the things this country has overcome, that we seem to be going backwards.
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