US History to 1877 - Essay Example on the American Civil War

The American Civil War took place between the years 1860 and 1861 and resulted from the decision of the Confederate States to secede from the Union. This was due to the belief of the Southern states that the election of Abraham Lincoln posed a threat to their way of life based on slavery. The Civil War was between the Union that was under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, that comprised of 23 Free states and 5 Border States and the Confederate states that comprised of 11 southern slave states under Jefferson Davis as their president. The war started on April 12, 1861 to 1865 at Fort Sumter in South Carolina and resulted to the death of 500,000 men and wounding 9,000,000 people including the slaves. In this war, the Union had a population of 18.5 million and had 234,000,000 dollars in bank, the Confederacy had a population of 5.5 million and had 74,000,000 dollars and the Border States had a population of 3.5 million people and had 29,000,000 dollars in the bank. The war was of great significance to the Americans and this proves the need to examine its advantages, disadvantages, key people and events and its turning points.

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Advantages of the Civil War

There were various advantages of the Civil War to America; in this case, there were northern and southern advantages that affected either faction. One of the advantages to the Northern states is that it led to the production of more and better firearms such as the cannons and this led to the increase in the number of firearms by 97 percent. The advantage of the Civil War to the Northerners is that it led to the improved expertise of the soldiers. A big number of the experienced military leaders in the South resulted due to the Civil War. Additionally, the eight military colleagues in American came from the south and this was due to the improved competency that the leaders had to develop from the Civil War. The improved experience of the soldiers resulted due to the need to negate the effect of heavy weaponry of the Northern States. Another advantage that resulted in both the Northern and the Southern states is that there was development of infrastructure and this is evident in the building of the railways, more industries, more ships, better banking system and better balance between farming and industry.

Disadvantages of the Civil War

There were various negative effects of the second war and the first is the high number of casualties and this is evident in the way the war led to the death of 500,000 and wounding 9,000,000 people. This dealt a big blow to the development of the economy as the high numbers of casualties affected every sector of the economy. This slowed the process of development in the country. The second challenge that resulted from the Civil War is that it led to the loss of cotton exports and this greatly affected the economic development. Finally, the Civil War led to increase in racial strife and divided the Americans the more; the racial tensions resulted from the sudden and forced abolition of the same.

Key people, events and the turning points in the Civil War

There were key people and events during the Civil War and one of them is Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer who became the sixteenth president of the United States in the election of the year 1860 and was majorly associated with abolitionist cause. Secondly, Jefferson Davis also had a great impact during the Civil War; he was a former senator from Mississippi and was elected the first president of the Confederacy in the year 1961. The third most influential person during the Civil war was Ulysses. S. Grant and he was the top general agent in the Civil War and became the eighteenth president of America. He was so influential in the Civil War and had the nickname of Unconditional Surrender due to his effect of waging total war against the South in the years 1863 and 1864. The fourth key person was Robert E. Lee, he was considered to be the most brilliant person in the United States and was famous for turning president Lincolns offer to command the Union forces in exchange of commanding the Army of Northern Virginia. His defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point and was an advantage to the North. He won several battles but surrendered unconditionally to General Grant at the Appomatox Court House leading to the end of the Civil War.

There were various key events and turning points during the Civil War and the first is the election of Lincoln as the president in November 1860; Lincoln won in the Electoral College but lacked the popular majority as he had 1.9 million votes against the total 4.7 million votes cast which led to the division of the nation. The second key event was the formation of Confederacy in February 1861; this resulted in the seven states writing their own constitution and planning their own independence. The third key event was the battle of the Bull Run which was the first major battle and proved that the war was going to be costly and very long. The battle of Antietam was also a major event and a turning point as it was the bloodiest day in the history of US and led to Emancipation Proclamation. Next was the battle of Gettysburg which was another turning point of the Civil War and led to the death of 50,000 people; the battle proved that the North would win because the South lost the chance to attack the North. Finally, there was the surrendering of Lee on Aril 9, 1865 where he surrendered to Grant and Southern troops were given generous terms of surrender.