Civil War Dbq

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The Civil War was first recognized as being a war to preserve the Union. However slavery was always a part of it from the beginning. After diverse events the war turned into a war to abolish slavery. The Civil War initiated as a war to preserve the Union, but traces of slavery were always seen in it. The Civil War turned into a war to abolish slavery because of two main events. These were the Seven Days’ War and the Emancipation Proclamation. This modification caused the war to not be able to be resolved by a agreement. Despite the fact the war was at first a limited war that was being fought to preserve the Union; it did have many features that involved slavery. One was the fact that groups found in both the North and South braced the opposite side. The Border States and the “Butternut” region of southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were all in approval of slavery; they would have eagerly joined the Southern forces if the war was against slavery. The South also gained support from many of the Indian tribes, especially from the Five Civilized Tribes. They supported the South because many of the Indians owned slaves and felt linked to the Confederacy. The “mountain whites” of the …show more content…

McClellan could have effectively seized Richmond during the Seven Days’ Battle in 1862, the war perhaps would have ended in that year. The Union would then be reestablished with little damage to the South. Slavery would also in all probability have tolerated for an extent amount of time. However General Robert E. Lee won, causing the destiny of the war to change. It was now obvious that the war would only end when the South was completely demolished and when slavery was abolished. Lincoln did not want the Confederacy to be able to lose without being considerably harmed; he desired to take away slavery as a punishment for the South. Instead of being a war to preserve the union, the Civil War then turned into a total war to abolish