Economies And Cultures During The American Civil War

The American Civil War began at Fort Sumter in 1861 and lasts until 1865. This war has been referred to as the first modern war in which the Union fought the Confederacy. The North went under the label of the Union while the South was the Confederacy. The president in charge during these years was Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War the economies and cultures of the North and the South differed in almost every factor. As stated by Foner “The population of the North and the loyal border slave states numbered 22 million in 1860, where only 9 million persons lived in the Confederacy, 3.5 million of them slaves” (Foner 404) the North had the upper hand in every aspect relating to the war. Since the population differed so did the type of people …show more content…
In regard to slavery “Well before Lincoln made emancipation a war aim, blacks, in the North and the South, were calling the conflict the “freedom war”” (Foner 412) this is due to the fact that Lincoln did not want to make the war about slavery in the fear that some would move towards the side of the Confederacy. Before the Civil War started in 1861 there was tension in the nation with regard to territorial expansion. In 1803 there was the Louisiana Purchase that helped to expand the nation west of the Mississippi River. A few decades later in 1846 through 1848 “The Mexican War was the first in which an American army invaded another country and occupied its capital” (Foner 374). With the U.S. Mexican War and the Louisiana Purchase there was new territory with a lack of jurisdiction. Lincoln as stated before did not want the war to be about slavery but within a couple of years into the war he had no other option then to create the Emancipation Proclamation. Even before the Proclamation was signed there were several compromises set in place …show more content…
What led to the fall of the party system started at the root “The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened a vast area in the nation’s heartland to the possible spread of slavery by repealing the Missouri Compromise and providing that settlers would determine the status of slavery in these territories” (Foner 383). The Kansas-Nebraska Act ultimately led to violence between those against and for slavery in 1856 which is termed “Bleeding Kansas”. “The Republican Party- a coalition of antislavery Democrats, northern Whigs, Free Soldiers, and Know-Nothings opposed to the further expansion of slavery- would become the major alternative to the Democratic Party in the North” (Foner 386). That led to Abraham Lincoln winning the Election of