Civil War question?

Question

What motivated Northerners & Southerners to fight in the Civil War?

Answer 1

For the Northerners - to restote the Union - and not see America fall apart and become a second-rate republic.

For the Southerners - to protect their "property" (which included slaves) and their way of life, which they felt was threatened by a strong Federal government, abolition, and industrialization.

Answer 2

The Confederates were mostly just fighting to protect their homeland. Robert E. Lee, for example, was planning to fight for the Union at the start of the war, and only switched sides when his home state joined the Confederacy. There was also a certain amount of resentment of the Federal government--there were Rebel soldiers who joined up because they "didn't want any damn Yankee telling me how I'm going to live."

On the Northern side, politicians were feeding their people doomsday scenarios, claiming that if the Southern states successfully left the Union, the nation would crumble and die, leaving their homeland in a state of anarchy. Northerners were fighting to prevent these bleak visions of the future from coming true.

And, especially in the early days of the war, a lot of young guys joined the fighting simply for the adventure and excitement of it all. The atmosphere in that time and place was similar to the mood in the US right after 9/11. Everyone was feeling patriotic, and eager to be a hero.

Answer 3

I have to disagree that the preservation of the Union wasn't much to get them going. In the earliest days of the war, it was the cause. Many soldiers actually threatened to desert when the war was changed after the Emancipation Proclamation.
On the other hand, I think it's worth noting that our wars are spread out. In 1775 they went to war for independence, and had a miserable time, but by 1812, perhaps, the stories told their sons had been tidied up, and turned glorious, so the idea of going to war was an adventure. This kind of thing can be repeated from generation to generation, veterans may not have wanted to tell of the horrors they'd witness, because they'd be reminded of them, or because they thought it wasn't proper conversation.
The stories they tell of new recruits in 1861 on both sides fairly running to keep from missing out on the fun.

The southerners, most of them, didn't own any slaves, they were defending their homes. In the movie Battleground (about the Battle of the Bulge) one of the veterans mentions that when they get into Germany it's liable to be much worse. One of the new guys asks if it could get worse than that battle was, the vet asked him how he'd feel if someone invaded the States. It was a much more straightforward war for them, particularly how the different states viewed each other, and still do in some ways.

Have you ever seen the kind of interaction that happens between people who are living in a mostly rural area and those who live in a mostly urban area? If you multiply that "redneck/cityboy" encounter by the size of an army, then you begin to see it.

Answer 4

Northerners lived in a place where it is really cold 6 months out of the year. At that time, all winter clothing was made of wool and cotton. Cotton was king in the South, and sheep ran around in the Appalachian Mountains. Naturally, the Northerners wanted the Southerners to increase their wool and cotton exports. They were happy to oblige until Abe Lincoln told the story about how he cut down the wood for his log cabin all by himself and didn't need slaves to help him. This inspired many Northerners to move to the South and rally the slaves to fight for freedom. Without the slaves to help them, the cotton production in the South dropped dramatically. There was barely enough cotton for the Southerners to make quilts, let alone export to the North. So the Appalachian Mountainers stepped up their wool production by breeding more sheep. Next thing you know, woolens were all the rage up North- they even named the store Woolworths to show how much wool was worth. Since cotton wasn't king anymore, the Southerners were having a hard time maintaining their lifestyle. They decided to invade the Appalachian States- but half of them bonded over moonshine and decided it was all the fault of the Yanks who were trying to rally the slaves and control the states' resources. So they got together and attacked the North. Unfortunately, cotton production was still really low and the wool production wasn't sufficient for the entire Southern army and the cotton they DID have had to be used to keep General Lee dressed in the finest, so most of the Southerners froze to death at Valley Forge and the Yanks won.

Answer 5

Jefferson and Lincoln each convinced their people that the other side had weapons of mass destruction.

Serious answer - beats me, why would anyone take up arms against their neigbours and friends. I guess the John Brown, Harper's Ferry incident may have sparked some outrage in the north but, if I recall, it was the south that fired the first shots on Fort Sumter.

Answer 6

the civil war in the northern perspective was fought to save the union. it was fought by southern states to break away from the union.

Answer 7

well the north really had no motivation to fight, they were fighting to save the union, not really something thats gonna get you going. The south however had motivation, for one they were fighting in the south, so they wanted to protect their land/ families from the invading force, they also wanted to be free from the union they wanted nothing less than states rights and more freedom from the gov't