In 1862, Frederick Douglass, a former slave and active abolitionist, was travelling across the Union, giving speeches and soliciting signatures for petitions against slavery (Douglass, 413). In February, he published a speech titled "The Reasons for Our Troubles," which he had given in Philadelphia about a month earlier. In this speech, Douglass argues his beliefs on the causes of the Civil War and on how to solve the issue of slavery in America. In contrast, after the Civil War had ended, in 1866 Jubal Early, a former Confederate General, published a record of his experiences and thoughts from the last year of the war (Early, 429). In his preface, Early relays what he believes to be the truth about the war and advocates for his beliefs in
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Douglass believes the war could not have been prevented for two reasons. The first reason is that the birth of our nation began with a moral divide between the North and the South (414). Slavery is what divides the nation. The second reason is that no one stood up against slavery early enough to put it to an end. Even the great men in the government who knew what could happen if slavery was not ended did not try to abolish it. For these reasons, Douglass is far from shocked that Civil War has started in America. Throughout his speech, Douglass over and over pushes the point that this war is not one of political or economical, but of moral importance (414, 16). That is why the only way to resolve this problem is so …show more content…
He claimed that the North had made the war about slavery, when it was never the reason for war in the minds of the South (431). The North had done this to incite rage in a mob, and in the foreign powers of the world. But to Early, slavery was an essential, beneficial and righteous system that needed to be defended. Any opposition to this would result in eternal judgment. He believed that God specifically set aside a whole race of people for the purpose of submission to his race (431). Slavery was not only crucial for America 's economic system, but natural and good for all the
Douglass believes the war could not have been prevented for two reasons. The first reason is that the birth of our nation began with a moral divide between the North and the South (414). Slavery is what divides the nation. The second reason is that no one stood up against slavery early enough to put it to an end. Even the great men in the government who knew what could happen if slavery was not ended did not try to abolish it. For these reasons, Douglass is far from shocked that Civil War has started in America. Throughout his speech, Douglass over and over pushes the point that this war is not one of political or economical, but of moral importance (414, 16). That is why the only way to resolve this problem is so …show more content…
He claimed that the North had made the war about slavery, when it was never the reason for war in the minds of the South (431). The North had done this to incite rage in a mob, and in the foreign powers of the world. But to Early, slavery was an essential, beneficial and righteous system that needed to be defended. Any opposition to this would result in eternal judgment. He believed that God specifically set aside a whole race of people for the purpose of submission to his race (431). Slavery was not only crucial for America 's economic system, but natural and good for all the