What were the causes of the Civil War in US

States’ rights also influenced the war; the Southern states wanted to annul some federal laws they didn't bolster, particularly laws meddling with the South's entitlement to keep slaves and take them wherever they wished. Regional development was another issue of contention that contributed to the Civil War; that the South wished to expand slavery to the western regions, while the North was focused on keeping them open to white work alone (Shi & Tindall, 2016). The Republican party, whose members were ardently opposed to the expansion of slavery into the western region, was picking up prominence and Abraham Lincoln won without a vote from the South; an issue that send disturbing message to the South, that they had lost all impact. The Southern States felt that the political system had secluded them; thus, they decided to secede from the union, a political choice that drove the country directly to war (Shi & Tindall, 2015).

Did the North and South have different primary goals in that war? Yes, the two regions had different goals in the Civil War. South Carolina, one of the richest states in the country, was the first to secede in the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s election on December 20, 1860 (Shi & Tindall, 2015). The Ordinance of Secession cites Northern hostility to slavery and the election of a sectional party as reasons for the state’s action. At the outset of the war, was President Lincoln an abolitionist?  No, he neither confirmed his support for the same. He maintained that he had no direct or indirect purpose to interfere with slavery in the States where it existed. President Lincoln sought to keep a peaceful union by allowing states to hold on to what they preferred on the issue of slavery.

Slavery was a major economic and political subject in the South that the secessionists would never want to abolish it (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Slavery sustained the flourishing Southern economy by providing the mush needed labour. Cotton farming was a labour-intensive activity and therefore, the plantation owners would want to keep slaves to maintain the business. Was the Mexican War any fundamental cause of the Civil War? If so, how? Yes, the war had a fundamental influence on the outbreak of the Civil War. The war, which happened between 1846 and 1848, led to Mexico giving up the South West to the USA. However, the raid was suppressed by the U. S. Marines led by General Robert Lee. The raid ignited national uproar on both sides of the political divide.

Slave states blamed the recently-formed Republican Party and their anti-slavery platform for inspiring the violence. Basically, the North preferred the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. What did Democrats accuse President Lincoln of regarding the resupply of Fort Sumter? Resupplying the fort by force providing manpower, arms, etc. was an option for Lincoln. However, the blatant aggressive tactic would likely draw ire from the eight remaining slaveholding states and possibly many Democrats in the North. The Democrats saw it as a cause for alarm and a threat to the South. Which side was winning in those first two years, and why?  The Confederate secession deferred fundamentally from the US secession from Britain. Firstly, US secession from Britain happened through the American Revolution War, which happened between 1775 and 1783, while the Confederate secession was basically peaceful although there was tension between the unionists and the secessionists (Shi & Tindall, 2015).

Secondly, the Confederate secession was not done at once, having some states which would confirm their secession after some time. Some states seceded immediately after the election of President Lincoln in 1861 simply because they never trusted Lincoln to preserve the institution of slavery while others seceded after the events at Fort Sumter. On the other hand, the US secession by the states happened almost concurrently. Which side finally won in phase 2 by 1865, and why? The Union won the phase two of the Civil War in 1865; took control of the South and took them back to the Union. The Union had more soldiers and weapons as compared to the South and had better strategies in handling the war. Did the strategies of offense vs.

defence play any role in those consequences?  The strategies of offense and defence played an important role in the final outcome of the Civil War. Union troops had to invade and control an unfriendly South and subdue Confederate armies in order to win the war. Robert E. Lee's defeat by the Army of the Potomac forced his Confederate forces to retreat; they never recovered. Lee was emboldened by his victory in Chancellorsville, Va. , in May 1863 and hoped to solidify his seeming advantage in Gettysburg. He was unprepared for the ferocity and strength of the Union forces under the newly named Potomac Army commander, Gen. Why did he and historians call it a wartime measure? The Emancipation Proclamation motivated the Northern war effort and gave the war a higher purpose.

It granted freedom to slaves, but only to those in the areas still in rebellion, which didn’t recognize his authority. It was a war measure, meant to prevent European recognition of the slaveholding Confederacy, and it shifted the war from one to preserve the Union to one that would both preserve the Union and end slavery (Shi & Tindall, 2016). What explains the Union victory by 1865? The reality of the Union’s many long-term military advantages and political victories were significant in creating a Union victory. Though the Confederates believed that their agricultural (especially cotton) production was crucial to wartime success and ultimately diplomatic recognition from the outside world, the Union’s industrial strength and much larger population proved to be just as, if not more, central (Shi & Tindall, 2016).

The Republican-dominated Congress greatly opposed Johnson’s Reconstruction program and in March 1867 passed the Tenure of Office Act over the president’s veto; an act that would later be used against him (Shi & Tindall, 2015). Why was President Grant elected? Ulysses S. Grant had great appeal in the North especially his heroic achievement as a leader of the Union armies in the Civil War. Grant benefited from votes among the newly enfranchised freedmen in the South, while the temporary political disfranchisement of many Southern whites helped Republican margins. What were the Enforcement (or Klan) Acts of 1870-1? The Enforcement Acts of 1870-1 were laws enacted by the US Congress to combat attacks on the suffrage rights of African Americans from state officials or violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction Era.

It also drove down silver prices further, even as new silver mines were being established in Nevada, which stimulated mining investment but increased supply as demand was falling. Silver miners arrived at US mints, unaware of the ban on production of silver coins, only to find their product no longer welcome. Act of 1873 was met with great opposition by farmers and miners, as silver was seen as more of a monetary benefit to rural areas than to banks in big cities (Shi & Tindall, 2016). In addition, there were US citizens who advocated the continuance of government-issued fiat money to avoid deflation and promote exports. What was the Compromise of 1877, and did one side get the better of that compromise? The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.

The laws brought back white supremacy (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Ultimately, is it possible to answer which side was “the victor” in the Civil War? Yes, the North won. Confederate generals of the southern states surrendered to President Ulysses S. Grant after much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially the transportation systems (Shi & Tindall, 2016). The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million black slaves were freed. The navy had the capacity to counter Germany in the waters (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Did President Wilson and his party have any other policy to gain, other than his foreign policy, by entering the war? President Wilson and his party would gain power to participate in the peace talks at Versailles that would redraw the map of Europe, and it is clear that wartime manufacturing greatly benefitted the American economy.

It contributed to America’s industrialisation process. What were the consequences of that war for the US, after the victory of 1918? The Great War had various effects on USA. It facilitated political, economic and social changes. 1919 saw a massive wave of strikes in what was called the Red Summer in the USA. Did those consequences of the war also have any long term consequences, into the 1930s and 40s, according to most historians? The consequences of the war had also long term consequences into the 1930s and 40s. There was a boom in the economy and industries were enjoying an increase in profits. However inflation was high and, in an attempt to reduce operating costs, businesses laid off workers and reduced wages.

This caused socioeconomic problems in the 1930s and 1940s (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Farmers struggled to make an annual profit to keep their businesses afloat. The agricultural slump affected the financial climate of the country. The following Panic caused the financial sector to crumble as everyone rushed to withdraw their money. Did economic historians reach a relative consensus on its cause, by the end of the Cold War? The economic historians never reached a relative consensus on the cause of the economic crisis of 1929 (Shi & Tindall, 2016). However, the historians have documented a number of causes including the inflation following the Great War, government taxation policies, free market capitalism as well as poor regulations on the financial institutions. But until 1937 Roosevelt had claimed responsibility for the excellent economic performance.

That backfired in the recession and the heated political atmosphere of 1937 (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Were his policies to blame in any way? The New Deal, introduced by FDR, was blamed and termed as very hostile to business expansion in 1935–37, had threatened massive anti-trust legal attacks on big corporations and by the huge strikes caused by the organizing activities of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the American Federation of Labour. Did his New Deal cure the Depression? The New Deal was a hurdle in the recovery from the Depression. The business community felt even more strongly so. Formal relations were cool until November 1938, then turned very cold. The key event was American revulsion against Kristallnacht, the nationwide German assault on Jews and Jewish institutions (Shi & Tindall, 2015).

Religious groups which had been pacifistic also turned hostile. What did you learn from our lectures about that? Germany and U. S. What was the state of the New Deal at this time, and what happened to that FDR policy of Federal control over the US economy during the war?  The New Deal was crumbling. Remembering their experiences in World War I, African American soldiers and civilians were increasingly unwilling to quietly accept a segregated army or the discriminatory conditions they had previously endured. Northern black troops sent to the South for training often had violent encounters with white citizens there. Black-owned newspapers protested segregation, mistreatment, and discrimination (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Labour leader A. America also refused to share nuclear secrets with the USSR and therefore brought about some tension between the two sides (Shi & Tindall, 2016).

Did that World War somehow cause the Cold War? The WWII contributed largely to the Cold War in the sense that the introduction atomic bombs by the US created fear in USSR as well as its refusal to share secrets about the bomb with the USSR would create tension between the two sides. What was the Cold War? The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and happened for about 45 years from March 12, 1947 to December 26, 1991. Did it involve hot wars? Cold War did not involve direct confrontation between the antagonists but there a series of insurgencies and conflicts that characterised the Cold War including; the War in Vietnam (1945 – 46), First Indochina War (1946 – 1954), and Korean War (1950 – 53).