Civil WarThe Northern states began focusing on manufacturing, therefore they didn't need many slaves. Southerners owned plantations that needed tending to by many hands so they owned slaves. The Union did not believe in slavery. The North and South had many contrasting ideas which led to the South ceding the Union. Abraham Lincoln was furious that they had left, especially since he'd just become president. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." House Divided Speech, June 16, 1858). The Civil War broke out to restore the Union and bring back the South.
|
At first, the Union was winning because they had a trained army and more supplies. However, the Confederates quickly figured out their strategies. They started making surprise attacks on the Union’s camps and trying to split the them. During the war, many ideas of abolition came up but Lincoln accepted none. Lincoln’s only thoughts were to save the Union. He later realized it would take ending slavery to bring the Union back together, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. "I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." ~Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
|