The Civil War: How It Affects American Society Today?

Introduction

Civil war is one of the most iconic war that no one can describe the history of the United States without mentioning it. This war started on 12^th April 1861 and ended on 13 May 1865. It took place during the reign of President Abraham Lincoln, who had won the 1860 general election. Prior to his election, President Lincoln had been in the forefront in the fight against slavery in the northern American states, of which he had greatly succeeded to convince the Americans in the north to abolish it. One of his major objective was to extend the fight against slave trade to the Southern American states. Actually, his determination to end slave trade, couple with numerous other leadership qualities were the major factors that made him to be voted overwhelmingly by the Northern Americans. However, this paper pays high attention to the analysis of the factors which contributed to the occurrence of civil war, and how it affects America today, including the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments as results.

Causes of civil war

One of the major factors which contributed to the occurrence of civil war was fight against slavery. Precisely, the northern states had enacted laws that abolish slavery, and the economy was more based on industry than agriculture, and this resulted to a steady flow of European immigrants, who would be employed as factory workers at low wages, which in the long run reduced the need for slavery in the North. In the Southern states, the backbone of the economy was agriculture, especially due to the fertile soils and the longer growing seasons. The whites owned large pyrethrum and cocoa plantations and depended on slaves to do tilling and other farm activities. This means that abolishing slave trade in the Southern states was equivalent to telling them to abolish agriculture. In addition, the civil war was also stimulated by the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. The anti-slavery campaigns as well as numerous other political issues that faced this country during that time were diving the political parties and rebranding the established two party system of Democrats and Whigs. The conflicts surrounding the Compromise of 1850 as well as the Kansas had transformed the Whigs into the Republican party, which was established in 1854. On the other hand, the Democratic party was divided between fractions in the South and North. The Republican party which Lincoln represented was seen as both anti-slavery and as an advancement of the American economy. John C. Breckenridge was the Southern Democrat while Stephen Douglas was the Northern Democrat during the presidential election. On the polling day, the country`s divisions were clear, where John C. Bell won the border states, Breckenridge the South, while Lincoln won the north.

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