Introduction
The Civil War has captured the imagination of the American peoplelike no other event in American history. 65,000 books have been writtenon the subject. The biggest reason for this fascination is the size of thecatastrophe. 620,000 soldiers died in the Civil War. What could push anation into such a bloody calamity? Some historians argue that by 1860the northern and southern sections of the United States had become verydifferent societies. Others argue that, when factors like common languageand common history are considered, the similarities outweigh the differ-ences. Whoever is right, one fact remains. Northerners and Southerners
thought they were different, and they were willing to ght about that differ
-
ence whether it was real or imagined. Southerners thought they were ght
-ing the American Revolution all over again. As they saw it, the North hadno right to tyrannize the South just as Britain had no right to tyrannize theAmerican Colonists. Just as the North was playingthe part of Britain, Abraham Lincoln was playingthe part of the tyrant King George III. Southerners
were ghting for the right to self government, as
were the American Colonists. The difference was
the type of government for which they were ght
-ing. The Confederate States of America not onlyexcluded 4 million black Americans from the citi-zenship, they held them in slavery. During the war,the Northern states decided that destroying this type
of government was worth the ght.
The Road to War
Slavery has been associated with civilization since the beginning of recorded human history. Household slavery was the most common form. Inhousehold slavery, wealthy individuals in many societies brought slaves intotheir homes to help with the domestic chores. These slaves added little to theoverall wealth of the society and were often sought after as status symbolsfor the well off. Household slaves often had extensive rights. Householdslaves never represented more that 20% of any society. In 1050, 10% of thepopulation of England were household slaves. The other form of slavery,productive slavery, was rather rare and much more severe. In productiveslavery, ways were found to put slaves to work producing products that madethe society wealthy. Societies organized in such a manner were made up of at least 20-30% slaves, and they spent much of the societies’ energy getting
and keeping slaves. The rst major slave society was Greece. In 400 BC,
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln
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