The Civil War: The Cause By Ken Burns

Throughout history there have been many bloody wars in which people fought their own friends and neighbors. An example of such a gruesome war in the history of the United States is the American Civil War. This war caused the deaths of thousands of Americans when they fought each other for endless hours. People though it would end quickly, but this war between the North and the South continued for years. The Civil War left a major impact on American history and horrible memories in the minds of the people who fought in it. In the documentary “The Civil War” by Ken burns episode one “The Cause,” the main reason that sparked the American Civil War was slavery. Slavery was a huge part of the Southern economy. When the cotton gin was created, the production of cotton increased and this also caused the demand for slaves to increase. The South was dependent on slave labor to keep their economy running. Slaves worked hard in plantations for hours and some slaves would even work for more than fourteen hours. Even though they worked hard they were treated like animals. They lived in small cabins where diseases such as pneumonia, typhus, and cholera bred, which killed many slaves at a younger age. They were also beaten and sold at auctions, yet they

When Lincoln became the president, there were about thirty-three states in the Union, but after a few months there were only twenty-seven states left. Southern states felt that the gathering of power in the North was against them and they no longer wanted to be a part of the Union. One by one, states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Virginia and few others left the Union to become a part of the Confederacy. Soon Jefferson Davis, a Mississippi senator become the leader of the Confederacy. President Lincoln tried to stop secession, but he was not very successful. Secession was separating the country