5 Results Of The Civil War
Posted : admin On 3/20/2022The Election of 1848
The results of the war were revolutionary in character. Slavery was abolished and the freedmen given the ballot. The Southern planters who had been the leaders of their section were ruined financially and almost to a man excluded from taking part in political affairs. Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict,1855-1865 This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State with additional support from the.
Some historians have called the Mexican War thefirst battle of the Civil War, for it revived intense and heateddebate about the expansion of slavery in the West. Tensions cameto a head when Pennsylvanian congressman David Wilmot set forththe Wilmot Proviso in 1846,proposing that slavery be banned in the West. Not surprisingly,Southerners killed the proviso in the Senate before it could becomelaw.
Nonetheless, the damage had been done, and expansionof slavery remained the hot topic in the election of 1848.The Whigs nominated war hero General Zachary Taylor ona rather noncommittal platform (they didn’t want to lose Southernvotes), while the Democrats nominated Lewis Cass. Hopingto appeal to voters from both regions, Cass proposed applying popularsovereignty to the slavery question, arguing that the citizensliving in each territory should decide for themselves whether theirswould become a slave state or a free state. Taylor won theelection, but he died after only sixteen months in office, and Vice President MillardFillmore became president in 1850.
The Compromise of1850
Because Taylor and Fillmore had never made their viewson slavery in the West clear, the issue remained unresolved. WhenCalifornia applied for admission as a free state, the debate pickedup right where it had left off. In Congress, heavyweights DanielWebster and Henry Clay met for the last timeto hammer out a compromise. After much debate, the North and Southfinally came to an agreement that both sides thought would be lastingand binding.
There were five components to this Compromise of 1850.First, California would be admitted as a free state. Second,popular sovereignty would determine the fate of the other westernterritories. Third, Congress would cancel some of Texas’s debtsand, in exchange, give some of Texas’s western land to New MexicoTerritory. Fourth, slave trading would be banned in Washington,D.C. Finally, Congress would pass a tougher Fugitive SlaveLaw, to reduce the number of slaves who escaped to the Northand Canada every year. Although Southerners had not conceded a lotin making the bargain, Northerners were still offended by the newlaw, and many refused to obey it.
Pierce and Expansion
The pro–Southern Democrat Franklin Pierce replacedFillmore after defeating Whigs and Free-Soilers in the electionof 1852.Playing off manifest destiny and the Southern desire fornew slave states, Pierce supported a variety of proposals to acquiremore territory. He tacitly supported adventurer William Walker’sattempt to annex Nicaragua but backed off after Walker was deposedand executed. Pierce also investigated the possible acquisitionof Cuba from Spain, but the plan backfired after his machinationswere leaked to Northerners in the Ostend Manifesto.More productively, he sent the U.S. Navy to Japan to open tradenegotiations and bought a small strip of land in present-day Arizonaand New Mexico in the 1853GadsdenPurchase.
The Kansas-NebraskaAct
Hoping to attract railroad development through the North,Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-NebraskaAct in 1854 andpushed it successfully through Congress. The act carved the territoryinto the Kansas and Nebraska territories and, more controversially,declared that popular sovereignty would determine the future ofslavery there.
The Deathof the Missouri Compromise
Southerners jumped at this opportunity, because the acteffectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 thathad banned slavery north of the 36˚ 30'parallel. As soon as the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, hundreds ofMissourians crossed the state line into Kansas with their slavesto push for slavery. These “border ruffians” set upa government in Lecompton, Kansas, and rigged elections to get more proslaverydelegates sent to the constitutional convention. Northerners wereshocked and astonished that Southerners had managed to repeal thealmost-sacred Missouri Compromise.
Bleeding Kansas
Fearing that Kansas would become the next slave state,hundreds of Northern abolitionists also flocked to the territoryand set up their own government in Lawrence. A band of proslaverymen, however, burned Lawrence to the ground in 1856.In revenge, an abolitionist gang led by John Brown killedfive border ruffians at the Pottawatomie Massacre.
These two events sparked an internal war so savage thatmany referred to the territory as “Bleeding Kansas.” TheKansas crisis was so shocking and so controversial that it evenignited tempers in Washington, D.C. In the most infamous case, oneSouthern congressman nearly caned abolitionist Senator CharlesSumner to death on the Senate floor for speaking out againstthe act and its authors.
The Election of 1856
Bleeding Kansas was the hottest topic in the presidentialelection of 1856.Democrat James Buchanan eventually defeated his Republicanand Know-Nothing foes after many Southern states threatened to secedeif a Republican became the next president. Just days after Buchanantook office, a new controversy hit: Chief Justice Roger Taney,along with a majority of the other justices of the Supreme Court,declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in the 1857DredScott v. Sanford decision. The ruling startled Northerners becauseit meant that slavery technically could no longer be banned anywhere inthe United States.
The Buchanan Years
Several states flat-out ignored the ruling, and StephenDouglas challenged the Court when he proclaimed in his FreeportDoctrine during the Lincoln-Douglas debates thatonly popular sovereignty could decide the slavery question. ButBuchanan backed Taney and also accepted the proslavery LecomptonConstitution, which border ruffians had drafted to make Kansasa new slave state. Douglas and others, however, blocked the constitutionin the Senate.
Buchanan’s presidency was also marred by JohnBrown’s attempt to incite a massive slave uprising by seizingthe federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (in present-day WestVirginia). The Harpers Ferry Raid went awry, however,and resulted only in Brown’s capture. While Northerners mournedhis execution, Southerners cheered.
The Election of 1860
Year Of The Civil War
The election of 1860 tookplace amid this supercharged atmosphere. The Republicans nominated AbrahamLincoln, who was morally opposed to slavery but wanted tomaintain the Union above all else. Northern Democrats wanted StephenDouglas to run, but Southerners in the party refused to back himafter he betrayed the South by opposing the Lecompton Constitution.As a result, the party split: Northern Democrats nominated Douglas,while Southern Democrats nominated Vice President John C.Breckinridge. The Constitutional Union Party,a minor offshoot of the Republican Party, nominated John Bell.
Southerners again threatened to secede if a Republicanwas elected. On Election Day, Lincoln received 40 percentof the popular vote and more electoral votes than all the othercandidates combined.
Secession
South Carolina made good on its threats and secededfrom the Union shortly after Lincoln’s election. Six other statessoon followed. Together, they established a new government calledthe Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia,and chose Jefferson Davis as its first president. Fourslave states, however, chose to remain in the Union. These borderstates proved invaluable to the North in the war.
In April 1861,Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a Union strongholdin the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The Union forces fellafter intense bombardment, and the Civil War had begun. Shortlyafter the battle, four more states seceded from the Union and joinedthe Confederacy.
Strengths andWeaknesses
Both sides initially believed the war would end quickly.The Union had greater population, a larger army, and a robust industrialeconomy. The Confederacy, however, thought it stood a good chance becauseit would be fighting a defensive war with better military commanders.The South also was confident that cotton-dependent Britain wouldtake its side. Illusions of an easy victory vanished for both, however,after the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 andthe bloody Battle of Shiloh in 1862.
A Strong FederalGovernment
President Lincoln pushed the limits of the Constitutionseveral times throughout the war, believing that desperate timescalled for desperate measures. He suspended the writ of habeascorpus, illegally increased the size of the army, and ordereda naval blockade of the South. The Supreme Court often objected,but Congress usually sided with Lincoln.
Congress itself took bold action by passing a series ofprogressive new laws such as the Morrill Tariff, the LegalTender Act, and the National Bank Act. Theseacts helped industry and gave the federal government unprecedentedcontrol over the economy. A draft was also enactedto increase the size of the army, much to the consternation of poorerAmericans. Protests and riots, such as the New York City DraftRiots of 1863,erupted throughout the country.
Antietam andEmancipation
The 1862 Unionvictory at the very bloody Battle of Antietam convincedBritain to abandon the struggling South and find new sources of cotton.Antietam also convinced Lincoln to fire the incompetent General GeorgeMcClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, who wastoo battle-shy to engage the Confederacy’s General RobertE. Lee. Lincoln also used the Antietam victory to issue his 1863Emancipation Proclamation,which nominally freed all slaves in the secessionist South.
1863 and 1864
The Battle of Gettysburg and the Battleof Vicksburg, both in 1863, werethe major turning points in the war: Union troops crushed Lee’sforces at Gettysburg, while General Ulysses S. Grant’svictory at Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi andcracked the South in two.
In 1864,Grant also sent General William Tecumseh Sherman onhis now-famous March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah,Georgia. Sherman’s men destroyed everything in their path, includingcrops, homes, livestock, and the entire city of Atlanta. Sherman’srampage, along with the devastated economy, brought the South toits knees.
The Election of 1864
As the war dragged on into its fourth year, many Northernersbegan clamoring for peace. None were as loud as the PeaceDemocrats, or Copperheads, who wanted to negotiate a settlementwith the South. They nominated George McClellan to run against Lincoln forthe presidency in 1864.Lincoln and the Republicans, on the other hand, campaigned for continuationof the war until the South surrendered unconditionally and the Unionwas restored. Lincoln won, with 55 percentof the popular vote.
The Final Months
Lincoln’s reelection spelled doom for the South.Unable to control his government, secure any outside help, or evenfeed his people, Davis requested peace negotiations as a final attemptto save the Confederacy. Lincoln, however, rejected his requestsat the Hampton Roads Conference in February 1865,because Davis was unwilling to accept anything less than full independence.A month later, retreating Confederates burned Richmond to preventUnion troops from taking it before Grant cornered and defeated theremains of Lee’s bedraggled army. Lee’s unconditional surrenderat Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, ended the war.
Advantages and disadvantages of the civil war
Background
The American civil war (1861 – 1865) is considered as the bloodiest internal battle ever fought in the United States. Simply put, it was as a result of significant differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. At the time, slavery was mainly concentrated in the southern states whereby they were used them as farm hands and hence formed the nerve center of the predominantly agricultural economy. The northern states were mainly industrial, and many citizens here viewed slavery as immoral and inhuman. The Southern states felt threatened that slavery was soon to be abolished. Eventually, they were convinced that the common government would attempt to abolish slavery nationally. This led to a total of eleven southern states seceding from the Union and forming their own parallel Confederate States of America to protect their support of the institution of slavery. Consequently, this led the Northern United States of America led by the then President Abraham Lincoln, to initiate a war that ravaged the country for four years. The president was firm to ensure the country was united and obviously refused to recognize the southern states as an independent nation. It is critical to note that the African Americans also came forward voluntarily in support of the cause of the Union. This was as a result of the issuance of the emancipation proclamation. These events and uncompromising differing views set the table for a war that left a major impact on the American History forever.
With that in mind, we will now delve into the advantages and disadvantages brought about by the war.
5 Results Of The Civil War Inevitable
Advantages
Political and social advantages
The main one here being slavery abolishment after the constitution was amended. This was done after the inclusion of the 13th amendment to the constitution. Furthermore, other amendments were added including the 14th amendment that guaranteed every citizen would receive equal protection under the law, this prompted women rights gaining momentum and some recognition and finally the 15th amendment that granted all males voting rights regardless of color.
Medical sector
Many consider and know that medical care at the time had a barbaric reputation but the Civil War set the stage for the advancement of modern medicine. During a war, casualties and fatalities are expected. Certain techniques deployed to aid the wounded soldiers, led to progress in pain management to those who were injured or had contracted diseases. Doctors developed new ways to treat nerve injuries and chronic pain, initiating the start of contemporary neurology. It is also this period that the ambulance system was conceived as it was a means to ferry injured soldiers from the battlefield to hospitals. Injuries that resulted to amputations at that time now lead to X-rays, bone setting and a four to five-week recovery period. Finally safer surgical techniques were birthed during this war as initially the surgeons never washed their hands which led to many contracting infections due to the unhygienic tools of surgery.
5 Consequences Of The Civil War
Advancement in war artillery and tactics
Frankly, both the secessionists and the Union were developed regarding weaponry and soldiers. It would be unfair not to credit that some tactics contributed to the progress of modern warfare. Though some equipment was not fully refined, they later would be used in later years and conflicts. Such advancements include the use of submarines, soldier ID tags, the use of landmines, trench warfare, repeating rifles, and iron-clad ships just to mention but a few.
Last but not least, without going into much detail, systems to honor war veterans and first cemeteries are also other advantages that were brought about by the civil war.
Disadvantages
On the flipside, the American Civil War also had a myriad of disadvantages.
Loss of lives
Number one on the list is the loss of countless lives due to injuries, starvation, and diseases. A total of more than 620,000 men died in the war. That’s an entire generation wiped out.
Destruction of property
Destruction and loss of property also occurred heavily. The south was left bankrupt as most bank halls were bombed or ransacked. Most of the roads, livestock, farms and factories were left in catastrophic disarray and destruction.
Environmental destruction
Environmental destruction also occurred as most soldiers camped in the forests. They cut down trees for fire and also being a human camp, shady and unhygienic pit latrines were constructed. Guns and explosives used left a chemical imprint in the environment leading to low yields of farm produce.
Spread of diseases
This led to spread of diseases e.g. dysentery and diarrhea.