north and south??

Question

what are the different views on the war?? like for people who believe that the south was right for leaving the union.. why?? and people who believe they were wrong.. why?? i have to write a paper on the different views from each side. Thanks a lot :]

Answer 1

The North viewed the Southern states leaving the Union as a rebellion that had to be put down. The United States was a federal republic, a "federation". The South considered the United States a collection of independent states, a "confederation" The first United States government during the Revolutionary War was just that under the "Articles of Confederation". But it soon proved inept. So they met in Phila. "in order to form a more perfect government" The new government was a "federation". But the former colonies still kept the name of "states". The South felt it had the right to secede from the Union because of differences with the North over "states' rights", slavery and high or low tariffs. The South saw the Civil War as a "second war of independence".
So the South formed the Confederate States of America, a "confederation". That's where they got the name of "Confederacy". An interesting fact is that during the Civil War, the state of Georgia seceded from the Confederacy! Southerners considered their states their countries. That's why Robert E. Lee turned down the offer to lead the Union armies in the Civil War. He considered the state of Virginia his country. I hope this proves helpful to you.

Answer 2

The primary issue of the Civil War was states rights. Slavery was the main but not the only issue to fall under this category.

The South wanted most decisions made by the individual states. For example, slave or free, high tariff or low tariff, etc. The North believed these questions were the responsibility of the Federal Government.

Once the southern states left the Union, most Northerners were not fighting to free slaves, but to restore the Union. The north never recognized the South as an independent nation, therefore the were fighting a war of rebellion. The South believed they did hace the legal right to secede so they believed they were fighting a war of independence.

The freeing of slaves was not done for moral reasons. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states that were in rebellion. He did not free slaves in the border states. The north believed that the South would have to use military resources to keep the newly "freed" slaves in check therefore shortening the over all war.

Answer 3

The North didn't necessarily care about the 'rights' of the slaves in that they didn't care if the slaves were 'equals' just that they were 'free'. For the North the war was more romantic b/c they North was fighting for 'freedom'

For the South, slavery was their way of life. For the majority of the South they didn't see anythign wrong with Slavery b/c that is all they knew. For the South the war was not 'romantic' but a personal attack on their lifestyle.

Other than the big ticket item of 'slavery' the war was also about the economy (slaves were free labor and since you didn't have to pay for the labor you got bigger profits and lower prices ~ if you had to pay for the labor then the prices of the items made would go up.)

Hope these ideas help you get started. You could always use these ideas and compare them to issues that are going on now in the world.

Answer 4

Well, I'm not sure that you have the time or energy, but I recently saw a great exhibit in Mahhattan at the New York Historical society that discuss this exact topic--it discussed how New York profited from slavery, even though they abolished slavery in 1822, they continued to profit, but preferred to keep their noses clean by hiring people who employed people who owned slaves to produce cotton in the south. New Yorkers who did profit from slavery, also did not endorse the abolition of slavery. Besides this being an interesting topic, it will be a great way to get a unique point of view about slaver and the civil war. Did you know there had to be a draft in the city, where there were plenty of union soldiers who did NOT want to fight, and terrorized the free blacks living in the city, blaming them for the Civil war?? Many working class Whites didn't like the pressence of free Blacks, because of the competition of jobs. This is an excellent way to go to get a unique perspective of the war. Check out the New York Historical Society sight, I hope you can find more information about New York in the civil war.

Answer 5

didnt the civil war mostly do with slavery? the south wanted slaves to work the plantations but the north was against it