The North And South Was Responsible For The Civil War

The North and the South had differing points of view on the Civil War, with the North feeling the war was absolutely necessary and the South believing that the North was responsible for this attack on their freedom and lifestyle. The Civil War was, for clear reasons, a controversial and dividing issue throughout all of America. The North and the South were at odds for a long period of time prior to the war, with various political and social actions and reforms only adding to the tension between the two regions. The war was not caused by a few large events, rather it was the accumulation of various events and actions taken by the North and South that angered the respective opposing side. While many events contributed and led to the conflict,

The proclamation caused external conflict, however unexpectedly some soldiers in the Northern army felt that Lincoln’s proclamation was incorrectly written and decreased the will of the Union to fight. Colonel Marcus Spiegel of the Union army wrote his thoughts on the proclamation in a letter during 1863, stating, “I do not fight or want to fight for Lincoln’s Negro proclamation one day longer than I can help…In fact the whole army is discouraged and very much dissatisfied in consequence of Lincoln’s Proclamation…” (Doc 6). Though he was met with backlash from the entirety of the South and small subsets of Northern citizens and soldiers, Lincoln stayed true to his words written in his Emancipation Proclamation, defending and fighting for the freedom of slaves while utilizing Black soldiers to assist his war effort (OI). The North was mostly in favor of the Civil War and felt that its Union army was fighting for justice and for a just and right cause. Alternatively, the South felt that their economy, political, and social ways of living were under attack and fought against the Union to preserve their way of life, mainly that of the utilization of

After Lincoln was elected and began his presidential reign, the country began to fracture and soon went into war. Lincoln had a tough situation as President because the South seceded from the Union as a direct result of his policies and favoritism to the Union and North, which then meant he would have to lead the North to victory over the military superior South in order to preserve and repair his country’s Union (OI). Southerners did not like Lincoln for a variety of reasons, however they opposed his presidential campaign and rule mainly due to his opposition of slavery, which they felt was a violation and direct attack on their rights and way of life (Doc 7). Lincoln believed slavery was immoral and wrong, so one of his initial contributions to the political environment of America was to proclaim that slavery would, “...become extinct for all time to come, if we but readopted the policy of the fathers by restricting it to the limits it has already covered-restricting it from new Territories” (Doc 1). Lincoln’s Presidency was controversial, and his controversial but effective actions as President would lead the Union to victory and eventually restore the nation to its unified state at the end of the Civil