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Civil War
As I sat thinking about what to write about i started to realize that
slavery and war were the two things that at leat keep me going and I knew i
could say alot on both. I couldn’t quite figgure out how i was going to join
the two until i did some research and other reading and started to remember
the civil war and it’s purposes. I not one to into history but i came across
some very interesting information which i felt could bring my points of
view out quite effectively. So here it is my feelings and viewpoints on
Slavery during, within, and after the civil war.
The Civil War was doubly tragic because it was completely
unnecessary. Slavery had been ended in other nations with the stroke of a
pen, and yet in the mighty United States the country was willing to go to
war over the issue of whether slavery should remain. The southerners felt
that it was their constitutional right to own slaves and did not see a time
when they should be required to give up that right. However, upon the
election of Lincoln as President, the southerners felt threatened, and felt
their slave holding rights were being threatened, and in an effort to protect
these rights they chose to secede from the union. Why would any one
person want to own another human being with the same intestines, some of
the same feelings yet a different color for their own good . This was quite
crazy if you ask me , I feel that the southerners should have felt threatened
and that if what they were doing were so right why feel so threatened about
doing it.The northerners and Lincoln saw the importance of maintaining a
united country, set out to bring back the seceded states. Thus the Civil War
began. During the civil war many Americans were either killed or wounded,
this number was only surpassed by World War II. While the civil war
originally began as a quest to bring the southern states back to the union.
However, the goal of the war did soon change to that of abolition. While the
war may have seemed necessary to the soldiers and governments who were
participating, in retrospect it was unnecessary. In three separate European
countries, slavery had been abolished prior to the American Civil War, and
each without arms being raised. Slavery had been abolished in Britain in
1838, Sweden in 1848, and in Holland in 1863. It indeed could have
similarly been abolished in the United States. However, the southerners,
who were dependent on the slave institution, refused to give up their right to
own slaves easily. Had the South been more progressively thinking many
lives would have been saved and blood need not have been shed in the name
of slavery. This is particularly true because if the south had given up their
right to free labor (slavery), they would have soon received the gift of
mechanical labor. Indeed they might have profited more from the use of the
machines which were soon to be invented, as they did not require housing,
and food. However, the southerners were deeply rooted in their institution
of slavery and were prepared to go to war over their feelings. Did it ever
come to mind that the slaves were to willing to got o war over their own
freedom. If one were to ask that question then that would have been a war
too unforgotten. Duuring this war the battlefields were transformed into
shambles where during the duration of the war 634,703 union soldiers were
killed or wounded, and 335,524 confederate soldiers were killed or
wounded. Indeed this was the second most intense war second to World
War II. In the civil war 3,846 soldiers from both the union army and the
confederate army were killed per month of fighting. This clearly shows the
intensity of the battle and the strong will which drove both sides to continue
fighting in the face of such catastrophe. The financial burden endured by
both sides was astronomical for the time period. The union force spent a
combined 3.2 billion dollars which in terms of current currency values is
27.3 billion dollars. The confederacy spent two billion or 17.1 billion
dollars. This is the price both sides were willing to pay in the name of
slavery. The North and South went to war over the issue of slavery and
endured a great expense in terms of human lives, and money. They could
however have followed the example of Britain, Sweden, and Holland and
simply signed away the institution of slavery and saved thousands of lives,
and billions in dollars. However, the south was too deeply rooted in the
institution of slavery, and when the Emancipation Proclamation came which
freed the slaves they still treated them as they did before, often outside of
the legal limits. Even after the 14th amendment which legally made people
of color American citizens, there were strong racial and prejudicial feelings
which ran rampant in the south, for example the KKK, and Jim Crow Laws,
and literacy tests for the right to vote. African Americans endured these
hardships for years and slavery still exixts in some way, form, or fashion out
there in the world today in the year 2001. Slavery was one of the number
one events in our country that was not a whole cause but part of a cause for
war in the united states. It also is a n event that has disgraced and put shame
to the culture of african americans.Even though not everyone owned slaves,
one bad apple spoils the bunch. Hopefully people will learn from history,
and immoral actions or events like slavery will not take place again. As I
conclude this paper I would just like to add taht I feel that alot of the things
in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s could have truly been prevented if
people were willing to compromise. But it seems as if the stubborness of the
people today is literally deeply rooted from the ones’ before us. Do you
think the war were fighting now could lead to the financial burden and the
next recession as it did during the other wars fought in or country? I ask you
that because i’m quite unsure but I do know the world is supoosed to be a
better place and it is getting crazier and crazier by the minute like were
starting all over again.
Word Count: 1087
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