Civil War Dbq Analysis

The Civil War was the bloodiest war the United States has ever fought - killing over 620,000 Americans and causing more destruction than any other war. Long standing conflicts and disagreements made the violent war seem inevitable years before it happened, and led to it becoming a major turning point in US history. Americans have struggled with sectionalism since the colonial days, as seen in the issue of slavery and states rights, and the passing of documents and compromises such as the Articles of Confederation in an attempt to unify the colonies. During the period around the Civil War, the universal idea of manifest destiny reignited sectionalism between states because of arguments over whether to admit new lands in the West as slave or
free, and political parties further separated the nation between North and South. The Civil War left destruction in its wake, however, it did lead to the end of slavery and the era of reconstruction under the radical republicans. From 1840 to 1865, societal factors such as disputes over slavery and increasing sectionalism led to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Union was eventually victorious in the war due to their well established infrastructure.

Slavery was extremely influential in causing the Civil War, as it further increased the already-standing conflict of sectionalism and deepened the cut between the Northern and Southern states.
An example of disagreement over slavery can be seen in the Bleeding Kansas conflict, when Southerners committed voting fraud in order to have Kansas be admitted as a slave state. The conflict was seen by political figures in the North such as Charles Sumner as a violation of equal rights and the embodiment of the South’s “madness for Slavery” regardless of the Constitution (Source 4). When considering the point of view of documents which criticize the South’s actions on the topic of expanding slavery such as this one, it is important to note the bias of Northern politicians against the South and increasing opinions against slavery. Kansas was a new territory added to the United States at the time, one of the many territories that would cause a problem over whether to permit slavery or forbid it. In an attempt to resolve the clash over slavery, the Compromise of 1850 was created, giving populations in newly acquired territory the right to popular sovereignty - to vote for whether they wanted slavery or not (Source 1). In context, this would prove fatal and lead to the breaking of the Missouri Compromise line, and caused an even tighter rivalry between North and South over where to allow slavery. Slavery was so influential on the Civil War that even in the middle of the war, it was still
so much of a problem that Abraham Lincoln addressed the issue in the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, stating that slaves in the Confederate states were free and that those who are able must to fight with the Union (Source 8). The purpose of this famous text was not simply to free slaves in the Confederacy, but to use slavery to unite the Union behind a common cause to fight in the war and instill the fear of rebellion in the Confederate states. The supreme court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford is another instance of slavery causing tensions that would lead to the Civil War. The Dred Scott case happened a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War, and ruled that even slaves who lived in so called “free” states were not completely free - blurring the line between what constitutes a slave state and a free state, and therefore causing more national headache over slavery. These examples show that slavery was a baseline for the Civil War because it was the root of political disagreements between the North and South both before and during the war.

Another immediate cause of the Civil War was sectionalism between northern and southern states (which was influenced by slavery, among other things). The Election of 1860 made the separation between the North and South more tangible and distinct, with the South almost entirely supporting the Southern Democratic candidate (Breckinridge) and the majority of the North supporting Abraham Lincoln (Source 2). The context surrounding this political separation is that the South wanted to preserve their rights and their way of life, but they believed that Lincoln would not do that, so they threatened to secede if Lincoln won the election. The other half of the country didn’t agree, causing the sectionalism and extreme measures taken by the South that led to the Civil War. The problem of states rights was an origin of sectionalism, as outlined in the ideals of democrats in Virginia, who believed that it was the government’s duty to protect the rights of states (Source 3). This text specifies the beliefs of the democratic party that supported Breckinridge shortly before the Civil War, when manifest destiny and the issue of popular sovereignty was causing further sectionalism in the US. The platform was also written in Virginia, a state that would end up seceding from the Union during the war, showing the outcome of political sectionalism. Another example of sectionalism dividing the North and South and eventually leading to the Civil War can be seen in differing economic platforms of the two sections. The Southern states wanted to continue their plantation based economy but it wasn’t moving them forward, and the North quickly surpassed the South in technological advancements (such as railroads), causing the South to feel left behind and separated from the Northern states (Source 5). Sectionalism is deeply settled in American history, dating all the way back to the early colonies. Along with slavery, it foreshadowed the outbreak of the Civil War in the form of political parties, government documents, and violent outbursts.

Eventually, the Union was victorious due to their superior and well established infrastructure of technology and government.
The Union had a much more developed and strong government and various technological advantages over the Confederacy. For example, the North had over triple the amount of factories that the South had, six times the workers in those factories, and over double the railroad mileage compared to the South (Source 5). Contextually, these advantages in manpower and technology in the North were long term consequences of the North taking advantage of advancements in technology and having a solidified government in comparison to the South, which stuck with a plantation model based on growing cotton and had little to no government after their secession from the Union. The North’s dominance over technology and manpower gave them a more stable base of resources going into the war than the South, which basically only had cotton and not enough food or manpower. The Union’s use of their technological power gave them the ability to win battles by a landslide and leave cities as large as Atlanta, Georgia completely leveled in the wake of military advancements such as General Sherman’s March to the Sea (Source 7). The photo of the destruction left by the Union army shows the capability of the technology that they possessed in comparison to the Confederacy, and how organized the Union army was because of their strong leadership. Contrastingly, Confederate leadership was
weak and underdeveloped; their first president, Jefferson Davis, gives an underdeveloped plan for the Confederacy and essentially says that they need to make some government and have an army, without going into more detail (Source 9). Davis focuses on criticising what the Union has done wrong to the South rather than trying to establish a government to lead the Confederacy to victory. Contextually, this speech was given right at the beginning of the Civil War, when Southern states were the most furious and began seceding. The South at this time needed organization for them to enter the war confidently, but they didn’t have said organization while the North did, leading to victory for the North. The Northern government was so strong that those who opposed Lincoln saw him as a phoenix rising from the ashes of tenets of the government such as states rights and free press (Source 6). Some saw him like this because of Lincoln’s Andrew Jackson-like “abuse” of his presidential power in order to focus on winning the Civil War. Lincoln ignored supreme court rulings and violated the right to free press, and although these actions might have been abusing his power, they gave the North stronger leadership in the war and showed Lincoln’s drive to win. The Confederate government further proved itself to be inept compared to the Union when they attempted “King Cotton” Diplomacy in order to gain the support of European nations. The South experienced great economic inflation during the war because of poor government choices (paper money), and tried to get other countries to help their war effort by offering cotton, the only thing they had an abundant supply of. This effort was a complete failure, further illustrating that the South had a weak and ineffective government in comparison to the North’s mature infrastructure.

Sectionalism and slavery were the two elements of US society that led to the Civil War, and the North’s superior infrastructure brought them to victory in the end. In the larger context of American history, the Civil War shows the US struggle with big questions and disputes over long periods of time, and our everlasting dedication to fight for liberty and freedom. Civil wars caused by things like sectionalism are not uncommon in history, even recently. The Syrian Civil War and the beginning of the Korean War are a few examples of civil war, however, the American Civil War is different in that it killed more Americans than any other war the nation has fought combined, and was partially caused by slavery - an institution that had largely faded away in other influential nations at the time, and is not a cause of more modern civil wars. While the specific cause of the Civil War is still debated over by historians today, two clear factors were increasing sectionalism in the country and conflict over slavery. The strong government of the Union brought them to triumph, ending the bloodiest war in US history and creating a turning point for the nation.