I know that the South wanted to be independent, and some Northerners believed that the North and the South should be separated. However, according to the history book, the majority fought to hold the Union together. Why?
2006-11-25 16:27:28 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Well in the first place, the precedent would have been set that any time a group of states wanted to jump ship and form their own nation, they could just blow off the federal government and call themselves a country. Any new nations formed like this might have been hostile to the Union, might have competed with the Union for import/export trade, and could have highly taxed or even cut off goods that had been supplied by their part of the country. People who had moved to those states from other states could have lost their property, and investors with businesses in those states could have completely lost their assets. And the list goes on.
The worst problem is that the country would have been greatly debilitated. It would have been dangerous for the Union to have been able to be halved at any time that some group became disgruntled. French didn't like us at the time, and if they could have divided our country, they would have tried to kick our tails, and they just might have succeeded. It was during this time that the French attempted to take over Mexico, with Napoleon installing Maximillion as viceroy. The Battle of Puebla is still celebrated on May Fifth (Cinco De Mayo) because the attempt was (temporarily) repelled and the French were put down...but if they HAD taken over Mexico at the time, in all likelihood, they would have sided with the South, and the Civil War would have been taken a totally different course.
2006-11-25 17:39:51 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The North (really the United States) under president Lincoln did not believe states had the right to secede and leave the union. South Carolina had threatened to succeed in the 1830's and President Jackson threatened force to prevent it.
It is an interesting question you pose. Lincoln always considered the Southern states as rebels and not really having left the Union. However the way the war was conducted with destruction and confiscation of civilian property primarily in the South it was fought as "total war". Not something you would consider doing to your own countrymen. The ACLU would have had a grand time of the Civil War. Of course Lincoln probably would have thrown them all in jail.
Starting in 1864 many Northerners grew tired of the war, resented the military draft, and the emancipation of slaves. There were riots in many Northern cities and many Northerners were ready to make peace and let the South go it's own way. If Lincoln would have lost the 1864 elections this definitely would have happened. The Confederate defeat at Atlanta boosted Lincoln's popularity and probably stiffened Northern resolve.
2006-11-25 18:00:49 · answer #2 · answered by mk_matson 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As your text has no-doubt shown, people have never been homogenous in their thinking. Some supported the secession, some didn't care, but many took it as an attack on our federalist system. The reasons for saving the Union, depended on the audience. The domestic audience and the international one.
Northerners were willing to fight to save the Union, but not to end slavery. To keep the Confederacy isolated, Lincoln needed to make the war about slavery to keep Britain and France (states that had already abolished slavery) from recognizing the confederacy. The Emancipation Proclamation is probably best seen as 1/3 idealism (ending an immoral act), 1/3 domestic politics (trying to foment a slave insurrgency or mass flight) and 1/3 real-politik, ensuring that the South wasn't legitimized by the world's two strongest Empires.
2006-11-25 17:05:43 · answer #3 · answered by Mark P 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The country was stronger as a whole. The two sides needed each other. The south mainly produced raw materials such as cotton which they sold in the north to people with factories who turned those raw materials into finished products.
2006-11-25 17:02:54 · answer #4 · answered by j. a. prufrock 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It wasn't the North, it was President Lincoln.
Neither yank nor reb soldiers knew what they were fighting for.
Slavery may have been the buzz issue but there was more to it than just that. Economic issues were plentiful.
2006-11-25 16:59:27 · answer #5 · answered by spland3 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋