The American Civil War was a history changing event that began on the 12 April 1861 and ended on the 9 April 1865. It caused the Union (the Northern states) and the Confederacy (the Southern states) to fight and resulted in the most fatally devastating conflict in the history of North America. Approximately 620,000 people lost their lives, and everyone in the world was impacted. This began at Fort Sumter in Charlestown Bay, where the Confederate Army open fired on the Federal men, forcing their garrison to lower the American flag and surrender. This fight continued to get more vicious over the preceding years, with notable battles like Gettysburg and Antietam. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ (shown …show more content…
The law came into effect and was read out as Union soldiers continued to advance on parts of the South, freeing approximately 3.5 million enslaved people [7]. The war ended officially when Southern General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, the remaining troops surrendered over the following month, The war resulted in many social, economic, and political changes which are still observed in modern American and international society. There are four key causes of the Civil War that historians have identified, which are the election of Abraham Lincoln, State vs Federal rights, the Economy, and Slavery (which links to all previous reasons). Paragraph 1: Abraham Lincoln – election and ethics Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the U.S, elected in 1860. His campaign for presidency was rooted in an opposition to slavery and promoted the release of slaves. According to the official White House government website, historians conclude “As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared “forever free those slaves