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Strengths and weaknesses of the north and south during civil war
Ap us history chapter 16 the civil war
The American Civil War In the United States
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A. I think the point of no return was the secession of South Carolina. Without the secession of South Carolina, I do not think the events that happened at Fort Sumter would have happened. If South Carolina would have never left the union, they would have never wanted the US troops to leave the fort. Leading to the South being angry the troops are not leaving and opening fire on them. Making it the point of no return and the civil war as the only option left. B. The north had twice the population the south did and had more advantage in industrial capacity. They produced majority of the nation’s firearms, and had the resources to transport them to the troops. The south had economic issues that lead to inflation and caused damage to morale and
The North entered the Civil War with many distinct assets that rendered them more competent than the Southern states. Those assets consisted of having more men, more financial stability, economic strength, and far reaching transportation systems. According to the book: Why the North Won the Civil War by Donald, David Herbert, and Richard Nelson the primary cause to the North’s success was given by, “the vast superiority of the North in men and materials, in instruments of production, in communication facilities, in business organization and skill – and assuming for the sake of the argument no more than rough quality in statecraft and generalship – the final outcome seems all but inevitable.” In many ways the north, during the Civil, was more economically dominant than the South
The advantages of the Union going into the war are numerous. The system of government had long been established in the North and along with that came the benefits of a treasury and a prepared army and navy. The South had no preexisting system of government or infrastructure prior to the war. While the North was preparing to fight, the South faced the issue of jumpstarting a nation. They were charged with creating institutions and a culture separate from the North that did not rely on slavery as its center. That is, it was not enough for the Confederacy to merely be the Union with slavery; they needed to create a sense of nationalism through an autonomous and cohesive Southern identity. The war effort united Southerners under a unity of purpose in the early days of fighting, but after 1863, as the war waged on and years passed, Southerners began to lose faith in the Confederacy (Perman, 229).
It all began with the secession of South Carolina. After this an understanding was established between the authorities in Washington and the members of Congress from South Carolina. They both agreed that the forts, Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, would not be attacked, or seized as an act of war, until proper negotiations for their cession to the state. At the time of this Fort Sumter was in an unfinished state and did not have a garrison. (www.civilwarhome.com/CMHsumter.htm)
When the war began and the union blockaded all their ports the south was out of luck. They had very little industrial workers and manufactured goods compared to the north so during the blockade they could not make their own weapons or food other than corn. (Doc 2) The north had the advantage because they supplied the south with a lot of important items such as cotton-mills and steamships. (Doc 3) They also had better means of transportation. The north had better boats because they had factories equipped to make them and they also had more railroads to transfer weapons and equipment to soldiers. (Doc 1) The north was meant to win from the beginning and even though it took longer than expected they still beat the south and defeated slavery. No one document will tell you that slavery caused the Civil War, but if it had not been for slavery the war would have never
In conclusion, it is imperative to observe that not many people could have foreseen the outcomes of the war. In fact, for many people who actually lived during the time that this war took place; the civil war to them was a thing that would just happen and end after a short while. The northerners on the other hand did not expect that the south would chose to put up a very spirited defense and the people from the south knew exactly the weaknesses of the northerners that they really felt they could face Washington and coerce the authorities to identify the confederacy. Sadly, both warring sides had an impractical outlook into the war which turned out to take a very long time that any of the factions had wanted it to last.
The North had nearly 3 times as many citizens as the South. With a population of this size the North had an extremely large amount of people that could work in factories. This meant that the North could make 3 times as many mini balls and supplies to help the war effort.(Northern Advantages) With this large amount of people the North's army was also quite large. The North's army consisted of about 2 times as many people as the South.
The American Civil War was fought between the North (The Union) and the South (The Confederates), because of the South wanting to secede from the North. Lincoln's election as president in 1860, triggered southerners' decision to secede believing Lincoln would restrict their rights to own slaves. Lincoln stated that secession was "legally void" and had no intentions of invading the Southern states, but would use force to maintain possession of federal property. Despite his pleas for the restorations of the bonds of union, the South fired upon the federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter, in Charlestown, Virginia. This was the event that decided the eventual beginning of the Civil War. Despite the advantages of Northerners, their victory in the ...
Every war, though happens for a reason and bring a better change, is often gruesome. The Civil War broke America in two groups and, at the time, was the war with the most casualties and injured men. As the fight to preserve the Union progressed, so did a number of other areas, such as weaponry and artillery. The advanced technology produced through the Civil War assisted in increasing number of casualties. The North was more fortuitous than the South in multitudinous ways. One of which includes the fact that their industrial society allowed them to produce a larger amount of weapons of a higher quality. One of the major reasons the Union triumphantly defeated the Confederate army was because of their more superior types of weapons.
...ate flag flew over Fort Sumter. The Civil War that was tamed since the Missouri Compromise of 1820 finally broke out. After four years of fighting, the war was over and the Union won. There were many events, laws, and people that provoked the Civil War. The main problem in every event leading up to the Civil War involved the issue of slavery, making slavery the main cause of the war. The initial blame of the war can be pointed at America 's founding fathers who knew slavery violated every aspect of America’s liberty, but yet they still did not prohibit slavery. If it was not the election of President Lincoln that caused South Carolina to secede from the Union allowing other states to follow, a different event would have triggered the war, making the Civil War inevitable. All in all, the Civil War was bound to happen and it became the bloodiest war in American history.
...om’s Cabin in 1852, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and the outcome of the Presidential Election of 1860—created conditions where Southerners felt the need to secede from the United States (they felt that their “way of life” was being threatened), as well as created conditions where the Northerners decided to go to war against the Southern Confederacy in order to maintain the Union. It is not surprising, however, that the Civil War occurred; since the Industrial Revolution, the Industrial North had always been different than the Agricultural South. If each region paid more attention to resolving the issues that separated them, instead of trying to prove themselves right, they could have stopped the bloodiest battle in American history (even though this is using hindsight knowledge).
Each of the military leaders on both sides of the Civil War had their strengths, and weaknesses. In the North Abraham Lincoln had great difficulty in picking a commander that would be aggressive enough, but at the same time that not throw his resources away recklessly. His biggest concern was what became known as the “Army of the Potomac,” which was understandable for several reasons. This army protected Washington, as well as states such as Pennsylvania, and Maryland, but was also the main force that could thrust into the South, and their capitol in Richmond. Even in the South where Robert E. Lee held command of the “Army of Northern Virginia” command issues were not unknown, but they did not involve the incompetence of the top commander. The North gave away many advantages that it might have had early in the war simply because of the inability their military commanders to perform. While at the same time in the South, commanders, many of whom were some of the brightest and best to come out of West Point, did their everything they could to end the war in their favor.
The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict of the north and south. Other problems existed that led to this succession but none were as big as the slavery issue. The only way to avoid the war was to abolish slavery, but this was not able to be done because slavery is what kept the south running. When the south seceded it was said by Abraham Lincoln that “ a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Because slavery formed two opposing societies and slavery could never be abolished, the civil war was inevitable. These were all the reasons why the south seceded from the union, this succession was eminent and there was no plausible way to avoid it.
To understand the importance of the debate on if the Civil War was preventable or not, it is crucial to note how influential this event was on the nation as a whole. At Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the Confederate artillery fired the first shots that begun the Civil War. There were numerous battles, like the Battle of Gettsburg and Chickamauga that resulted in millions of causalities. In fact, according to civilwar.org, “The Battle of Antictam (September 17, 1862) remains American’s single bloodiest day” with 3,652 deaths. This four years war from 1861 to 1865 was “proved to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and the population and territory of the South devastated” (“American Civil War”). Interestingly enough, war was never in the plans of either of the leaders at the time.
...f wearing down the north's patience. The south's idea of northerns as "city slickers" who did not know how to ride or shoot was wrong. Many of the men who formed the Union forces came from rural backgrounds and were just as familiar with riding and shooting as their southern enemies. Finally, the south's confidence in its ability to fund through sales of export crops such as cotton did not take into consideration the northern blockade. France and Britain were not willing to become involved in a military conflict for the sake of something they had already stockpiled. The help the south had received from France and Britain turned out to be a lot less than they expected. In conclusion, while all the south's reasons for confidence were based on reality, they were too hopeful. The south's commitment to a cause was probably what caused their blindness to reality.
The essay “Homeward Bound” By Janet Wu reminds us that we can have feelings towards people who we are so different from us, also it shows us the importance of having this kind of relationship no matter the contrast. Wu talks about her and her grandmother. Her father was separated from his family in the 20th century, which made him move to the US. But her father has tried to contact his family for 30 years, until he came to know that his mother and brother were alive, so the first thing he did was to gather his family and go to China. When Wu first met her grandmother, they both had feelings towards each other, Wu says “And yet we communicated something strange and beautiful. I found it easy