During the American Revoloution, we were still one country with Britain, why wasn't it a civil war? In the Civil War, the south was their own country, why wasn't it a Revoloution? My teacher doesn't know and I would really like to find out why.
2007-05-02 09:42:50 · 13 answers · asked by Da Absta 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
yo. The revolutionary war wasn't a civil war because we were a 'seperate' union trying to fight for independence.
In the civil war it was one country fighting against itself. I think u may be on to something, but its mostly just wording.
2007-05-02 09:52:34 · answer #1 · answered by mike b 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Well I would think that the American Revolution is stated as that and not as a civil war because we were not really part of Britain but a series of colonies seeking independence. We were trying to become an independent nation as opposed to taking over Britain itself.
The Civil War although composed of 2 separate nations was really between 2 factions of the same nation. The union objective was to retain the southern states that had left the union. The United States never really recongnized the south as another nation, nor (I believe) did any other nation. In the American Revolution France recognized us. Had the Confederacy won the war it might have then become a revolution if they decided to stay a separate nation and not overtake Lincoln's government. Had they taken over the other government then it would have still been a civil war. The defination of civil war is that the 2 waring sides come from the same soverign nation.
2007-05-02 10:03:53 · answer #2 · answered by tetlitea 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A revolution has to be a group of people against the government of the day. It is nothing to do with America being a colony. So the American Revolution was about how America was governed by the British government., and so most Americans against the government. The French Revolution and the Russian revolution were again 'the people' against 'the ruling classes'. Civil wars are between two groups of people of the same country. Often one side has the government on their side but it is a difference of opinion between the government, and a large group of the population against another group of the population. If the second group is very small it stops being a civil war and becomes an insurrection.
2007-05-02 09:58:27 · answer #3 · answered by happyjumpyfrog 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A civil war is an internal conflict, a revolution is a replacement of an established government or political system. The American Revolution is not a civil war because the U.S was not fighting itself, but against foreign rule by Britain. Whereas the civil war that occured in the later 1800s in the United States can be called such because it was a fight internally between groups within the United States.
2007-05-02 09:54:24 · answer #4 · answered by Kaley D 1 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Some have actually argued that the American Civil War should really be called the Second American Revolution due to the utter destruction of the Southern planter/slave-holding class and the complementary rise of the Republican Party.
See James McPherson's "Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) for the best expression of this argument.
2007-05-02 09:53:41 · answer #5 · answered by Blake M 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A revolutionary war is a war to either change the government, or to gain independence from that government. A civil war is an entirely internal struggle. If the South had won and remained independent then the war would likely be referred to as a revolution, or war of independence. But since the North prevailed it remained an internal matter.
2007-05-02 13:54:46 · answer #6 · answered by rohak1212 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To put it simple:
The civil war was two halves of a whole country fighting against each other....an internal conflict. As for the revolution, we weren't one country w/ Britain....we are a completely separate, external country that was being controlled by them & we were fighting to break free from that. It's kind of like some of the islands surrounding North America...they're considered US territories & I believe have some of our laws/rules but they're not actually part of the country. If they were then we'd have more than the 50 states we have now.
2007-05-02 09:55:46 · answer #7 · answered by Rose 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Civil War, unlike many people think, was not fought to end slavery. The north wanted to preserve the Union, while the South wanted to be allowed to break away (the North did not want them to and thought it was not allowed). It was America against America.
However, during the American Revolution, we were colonies fighting for independence against Great Britain... not really Great Britain against Great Britain, but rather, colonies against Great Britain.
2007-05-02 14:27:50 · answer #8 · answered by Caroline 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We were not 1 country with Britain, we were a colony and we revolted to become our own country. One can argue that the south revolted to try and become their own country as well, but we were one country before the civil war started unlike the revolutionary war.
It's all semantics really.
2007-05-02 09:52:38 · answer #9 · answered by Confused Gamer 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
its true that the americna were in ame country with british but british were rulers american were teh poeple. and also when ur ruler is dfirrent place where u live and u declare war ti reomve hm fro power tahst revolution. civil war is 2 teams of same peopel under same power of their own people coudlnt find way to reason togetrh so they start war
2007-05-02 10:32:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋