Civil War Dbq

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The Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict in history. So many people felt it was necessary to fight though. Their efforts helped redefine what it meant to be an American, and their efforts weren't in vain. "We have come to dedicate portion of the field, as a final resting place for those who have gave their lives that that nation might live," on page 432 of Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address".
Before the Civil War, the north was well established with manufacturing and industry, and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms. While on the other side, the South's economy was based on a system of large-scale farming that were extremely dependent on the labor of African American slaves to grow certain crops, specifically cotton …show more content…

Before Lincoln had been elected as president, John Brown hosted a raid with a band of followers on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. At Brown’s trial, he denied this act, but the collected evidence indicated otherwise. After his trial, Brown was tried for treason against Virginia and hanged. Southerners reaction was that Brown’s acts were those of a mad fanatic, of little consequence. However, when the Northern abolitionists made a martyr of him, Southerners began to believe this was proof that the North was intending to wage a war against white Southerners. Even as Lincoln took office in March 1861, Confederate forces threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12th, after Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply Fort Sumter, Confederate artillery fired the first shots of the Civil War. Fort Sumter's commander, Major Robert Anderson, surrendered after less than 2 days of the attack, leaving the fort in the hands of the Confederate forces. After the bombardment, 4 more southern states joined the Confederacy. Border states didn't secede, but there was much more Confederate sympathy among the states' …show more content…

The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused seven southern states to secede and form the Confederate States of America; four more states soon joined them. The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, ended in Confederate surrender in 1865. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, and much of the South left in ruin.” as read on the website history.com. “An estimated 750,000 Americans died in the Civil War from battle wounds and disease, and more than a million others carried to their graves wounds from their war service — this out of a population of 34 million.” as read on the website

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