civilwar

Was the Civil War Really About Slavery?(see resource notes- numbers in parentheses)Well, in part, but not in the way it is claimed today. Not for freeing the slaves, only for preventing the expansion of slavery. And that wasn't the only reason. There were far more reasons that we will get to later.But let's address the issue of slavery.All of our history books tell us that we fought a war and lost over 600,000 men, not counting civilians, over the greatest atrocity the earth has ever known. An atrocity that still goes on today in other countries. However, according to our schools and all of our history books, by having a Civil War, we abolished that atrocity from our country in one fell swoop and it also ended in Europe somehow miraculously because they also ended it soon after. But is that the truth? Or was there another reason we ended slavery? And was there another reason we fought a war that claimed so many lives?Let's look at slavery first.Slavery was nothing new. People from the middle east and north Africa had been raiding the European coast for centuries, prizing the light skinned, light haired women for harems and as concubines. You can see the effects today when you look at the people of the middle east and see the lighter hair and lighter skin among a lot of them.(1) (2)African men were prized in the middle east as eunuchs to guard those harems.(3)In Africa, one tribe was very well known for raiding other tribes and selling off their captives as slaves to any traders who came to their shores. They got rich off of that trade. The Europeans didn't go on slave raids themselves, they bought from certain tribes who lived on the coastal areas of Africa.In Europe, there was another type of slavery known as serfdom. This later evolved into other forms. By the time the American colonies were formed, many were sent there as indentured servants, a form of slavery where they had to work with little or no pay for a number of years, sometimes all of their lives, before earning freedom. (4)When the Acadians were forcibly removed from Acadia by the English, while some were sent to America and some were sent to Europe, some were sent to the Caribbean to be sold as slaves, especially if they were darker than their cousins. In fact, in the colonies, it was a crime to be Acadian and in the Carolinas, some were sent to plantations to work as "pressed labor". In Massachusetts and others, they were sentenced to labor for free in factories and road gangs- slavery. Their children were taken from them and given to "honorable families".Acadians often intermarried with the indigenous population of their islands. Some were able to make it to Louisiana were they settled far from New Orleans and were welcomed by the Native American tribes who helped them adapt to the hot swampy land. (5) (6)So the fact that some African slaves made it to America was a given. But who were the slave holders? History books would have us believe that it was the rich plantation owners. However, the very first person in the American colonies to be recognized as a legal slave holder was a black man named Anthony Johnson. He was from Angola. He had been held as an indentured servant but earned his freedom after several years and was granted land because of that. He became a successful tobacco farmer in Maryland. He later sued for the right to own his slaves and was granted the right. The reason? Because his indentured servants wanted their freedom and he wanted John Casor, his servant to be indentured for life. John Casor became a slave in 1684. (7) (8)This was the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who had committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.His wife and daughters also got a tax exemption for the rest of their lives, unheard of during those times. Back then, Virginia levied taxes on people, not property.The first documented slave was an indentured servant named John Punch - who was an indentured servant who tried to escape. As his punishment, he was made a slave for life. It is significant because he as a negro got lifetime servitude but two white servants who had escaped before him didn't. It was considered one of the first legal cases to make a racial distinction between white and black indentured servants. (9)(10)However, a more outstanding case was in South Carolina. William Ellison Jr, born April Ellison, but he took his father's name, who was a white plantation owner, was the US cotton gin maker and a blacksmith in South Carolina. His father gave him his freedom. He was considered very successful, a major planter, very wealthy. He owned 63 black slaves. During the war, he and his sons fought on the Confederate side. (11)If we look at Louisiana alone, we see a more interesting caste system of slavery. Many slaves in Louisiana came from the Caribbean, reuniting with their Acadian cousins and blending in with the Native and Creole cultures there. Chattel slavery was introduced by the French colonists in 1706 when they took slaves from the Chitimacha who were natives there. In fact, the Natives resented the French so much for the slavery that they later played a huge part in helping slaves escape. This is celebrated today in Mardi Gras festivals.All native tribes were raided and enslaved by the French and Spanish when they held Louisiana, which they traded the area back and forth throughout the history of it. It wasn't until 1710 that the French brought African slaves to the mix. In Louisiana, if your mother was a slave, you were a slave. It didn't matter who your father was. As time went on, there were free people of color, enslaved people of color, white people, and a mixed people known as mulatto. These mulatto could be free or enslaved depending on their mother. Many free people of color owned slaves. Those who managed to escape from their owners and get into the cypress swamps were called "maroons". Runaway slaves could live in the swamps and back country indefinitely, often with the help of friendlies who lived back in those areas.(12)(13)(14)(15)We would be remiss if we didn't mention that Native Americans also owned slaves and not only enslaved other tribes, but as Africans were brought over, wealthier Natives in the "Civilized Tribes" also bought slaves among them.(16)So when did the Abolitionist movement begin?Opposition to slavery was nothing new. Since the 16th century in America, people had voiced their concerns and wanted to free slaves. They wanted to send them back to Africa to be reunited with their families. They thought this was a solution.Had that happened, however, many would have died. The Congo was raided by the Belgians and thousands of people died. A lot of slaves had come from the Congo area. Other parts of Africa were also under attack as Europeans moved forward to conquer the world.By 1860, however, nearly 12,000 African Americans had returned to Africa. In 1820 Missouri became as slave state, which enraged the anti-slave sentiment throughout the North. The abolitionist movement became more organized and emerged as a force around 1830. (17) (18) (19) There was also a religious movement, a Protestant revival known as the second Great Awakening, which inspired abolitionists to rise up. Ministers preached from the pulpits about the evils of enslaving one's fellow man. Morals and Biblical teachings did more to free African Americans than all of the protests and political movements combined. (20)(21)The biggest threat, however, was that more states were being formed and the North wanted those to be free from slavery. The plantation holders saw an opportunity to expand their failing enterprises and wanted the new states to embrace slavery.Tensions heated up over the arguments of whether the slavers could expand to new states. We will be talking more about that later.So did that bring about the Civil War? Not really. I will explain why.In the middle of all of this, a new party was formed called the Republican party. It formed from the party previously known as the Whigs. Lincoln was the first candidate they put up to run. In 1860, he won the election and became president.(22) Lincoln was a controversial figure. A few years before he had given a speech telling people that if you didn't like the government you should get rid of it and start over. People were a bit worried about his politics. He also hated slavery. He was a Protestant. He didn't want slavery to spread. The South was worried he would abolish slavery immediately if he won.He put those fears to rest in his first inaugural speech:I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.He goes on to assure them he will uphold all of the slavery laws.(23)However, he did make sure they understood they wouldn't be able to spread it to new states. But from a slavery standpoint, it made no sense to leave the Union.(24)He also spoke out about something that was being discussed already by the southern states. Something that had been discussed for a few decades already before he came on the scene. Secession. Why?That brings us to the major reasons for the war.You have to first understand the way taxes were set up back then. Almost all tax revenue going to the federal government was tariffs. There were no personal or corporate income taxes. The Southern states paid the majority of the tariffs- about 80%. The North were filled with small businesses and factories. People manufactured products to sell to other countries and to the southern states. They didn't do much farming. They did have small farms, but they didn't need much labor other than in the factories.In the South, the economy was based on agriculture. They grew cotton, tobacco, rice, and other crops. They had large plantations as well as smaller farms. They required thousands of workers. They often needed more people than were available. They depended on slave labor rather than hiring people, which kept the cost of labor down. (25)(26)So when new states formed, the South saw this as an opportunity to expand their agriculture. By planting their crops year after year and not using the proper principles of alternative planting, they were stripping the nutrients from the soil without putting any back in. In other words, they weren't properly utilizing the land they had. They were ruining it. So the addition of new states gave them the opportunity to expand to new territory with fresh land to ruin. (28)As the land began to produce less crops, the plantations began to see their profits dwindle. Meanwhile, their tariffs rose.Back in the 1800's, there were no income taxes, no property taxes. The states had a personal tax on each person, but the federal government imposed tariffs on goods sold. That was how it got funded. In 1828 there was a tariff passed called the Tariff of Abominations. It was designed to protect the industry of the Northern states. It set a 38% tax on some imported goods and a 455 tax on certain imported raw materials like cotton.The North was suffering from low-priced imported goods from Europe. This affected the South because they now had to pay more for goods coming from Europe. In the South, they didn't manufacture goods. The cost of bringing the goods from the North was often higher than from Europe. As I will explain later, this had to do with the tariffs, which were added to the price of the goods that were shipped. (29) Moreover, it made it harder to sell the cotton, tobacco, and other products to the British and others. This caused a crisis in the South, especially in South Carolina. It was called the nullification crisis. (30)The crisis involved two tariffs that caused such a severe economic hardship that South Carolina declared both were unconstitutional and null and void within the boundaries of the state.After the War of 1812, the United States sought to cripple trade with Europe. This hurt the southern states more than the north. The Tariff of 1832 was called the Protectionist tariff. it was enacted to reduce existing tariffs but still was unsatisfactory to the South because the South still paid 80% or more of the revenue that the Federal government collected from the states. In 1833 it was replaced by the Compromise Tariff.(31)That stipulated that the import taxes would be gradually reduced over the next decade until they matched the Tariff of 1816 - only a 20% reduction. The Tariff of 1816 had received strong support from the Southern states. However, in 1842, that reduction didn't last long. It was wiped out by the Black Tariff of 1842 just two months later. (32)This raised the rates to almost 40%, stipulated sweeping changes to the tariff schedule and collection system, replaced most ad valorem rates with specific duties, assessed on a good-by-good basis, and replaced the credit system of tariff finance with a cash payment system, collected at portside customs houses.That sweeping change protected the northern states to the detriment of the southern states. It also raised the percentage of dutiable goods from just over 50% of all imports to over 85% of all imports.So why did it hurt the Southern states?Because with the tariffs, shipping fees increased. Because the manufactured goods were not produced in the South, they had to either be imported or shipped from the North. The southern states paid a federal tariff, which was added to the price of manufactured goods only for Southern states. Because importation was cheaper than shipping from the North, the South paid most of the federal tariffs. Make sense now? (33)Most of the tariff revenue collected from the South was used to build the railroads and canals in the North. The Federal government depended on that revenue. Without it they would not have been able to build the infrastructure that the manufacturing industry depended on. So as tension grew in the South over tariffs, talks of secession grew. Meetings were held. States began to consider their options. By 1860, the anger was boiling over. The first threats had come as early as 1776 when the Continental Congress tried to tax the colonies on the basis of the total population. That had come from South Carolina who threatened secession way back then.(34)Later in 1787, members of the Constitutional convention met in Philadelphia to discuss it. The Whigs brought it up a lot in their speeches and theories. It was James Madison who recognized the danger of it. He wanted a clause that would prohibit secession. Yet Madison was the very one who argued for state annulment in the Alien and Sedition Act. (35)This was an act that took aim at those who spoke out against the government. It was something that Madison saw as overreach and a violation of the rights of free speech.At one point the states of New England even considered seceding from the USA to form their own country. That was during the War of 1812 (36)During this time, the South was beginning to industrialize, which caused more tension between the plantation owners and the professional groups. As early as 1858, the South began preparations for secession in earnest.The media was a major component in the opinions that were formed during this time. How so? (37)The South had only a handful of paper mills and no printing-press manufactures. However, those few definitely slanted the opinions of the day. Even though Lincoln had done his best to reassure the South in his speeches, they riled the people up with speculation and innuendo. The North was able, with the help of the New York weeklies, to bring the northern views to a southern readership. Meanwhile some, focused on the taxes, the problems facing the south, and the way the tariffs affected commerce. This did little to help public opinion. Rather than focus on the problems of slavery, they focused on the problems facing all southerners.On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to withdraw from the Union. (38)The reason: frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States.One by one, ten other States followed. Some named slavery in their reasons for withdrawal. Some didn't. In fact, only 6 claimed the primary reason was slavery.Yet Lincoln promised not to abolish slavery. So why did they feel it was necessary to say it? Because the Republican party was an anti-slavery party, as stated in the Georgia declaration. Therefore, even though Lincoln promised to not abolish slavery, and to uphold the laws of the states, because the Republican party was newly formed, the Southern states did not trust them to keep their word. They thought, due to media talk and other influences, that the Republican party would overstep their bounds and enforce their anti-slavery sentiment on the rest of the Union. They stated as much: (39)qquote: A brief history of the rise, progress, and policy of anti-slavery and the political organization into whose hands the administration of the Federal Government has been committed will fully justify the pronounced verdict of the people of Georgia. The party of Lincoln, called the Republican party, under its present name and organization, is of recent origin. It is admitted to be an anti-slavery party. While it attracts to itself by its creed the scattered advocates of exploded political heresies, of condemned theories in political economy, the advocates of commercial restrictions, of protection, of special privileges, of waste and corruption in the administration of Government, anti-slavery is its mission and its purpose. By anti-slavery it is made a power in the state. The question of slavery was the great difficulty in the way of the formation of the Constitution.Although some states didn't agree on slavery as a reason for leaving, all states agreed on one thing. The tariffs that were imposed were outrageous and a violation of the constitution and of the States' rights.So when you look at the overall picture, and realize that the democrats in the South had the protection of the federal government for their slavery and their institutions, you begin to see a much bigger picture. Like democrats today, some Dixiecrats used slavery when presenting a reason because it was the easiest one to use.Some representatives wrote up some documents saying the States were leaving. They claimed slavery was a reason. Not in all states. Just in some states. The real reason that the people went along went it ran much deeper and was far more complicated than that.This all came to a head because of a war that happened 15 years earlier. The Mexican-American War. 700,000 square miles of former Mexican territory was acquired and this caused a bitter battle for the next 12 years over whether the States could bring slaves with them when they moved into the new territories. In the House of Representatives, northern congressmen pushed through a provision that slavery should be excluded from all territories won from Mexico. South Carolina Senator Calhoun insisted that slaveholders had the constitutional right to take their slave property into any territory they wished.(40)This was just the match that lit an already seething powder keg of resentment. Already hurting from tariffs, already suffering from overly burdensome taxation, already losing crops because of ground with plantations and agriculture in decline, the south was ready to explode.Pulling out of the Union did not happen overnight. It did not happen because of only one issue. It came as a result of a culmination of issues. It often takes only one issue to become the straw that breaks the camel's back.So in 1860, 11 States seceded. Did they really want to? No. Did they plan to go to war with the Union? No. Did they even want a war with the Union?Out-manned, outgunned, and with far less ability to manufacture the equipment needed, they knew they would be no match for the North. War was the last thing on their minds.However, Lincoln saw it differently. He needed the tariff revenue he had now lost from the Southern states. He couldn't just let them go. After all, the primary financier of all of the infrastructure of the Union was the South. That was a lot of money to let slip through his hands. The Union would blame him.His top generals urged him to not go to war. General Winfield Scott said “Let the wayward sisters depart in peace,” (41)Secretary of State, William Seward also advised him to let the states go and avoid actions that could upset the states of the upper South. (42) It wasn't until war was declared that the states of the Upper South, deciding they couldn't fight against their relatives, joined the rest of the South in seceding.In addition to loss of tax revenue, the South's free trade position would have had dire consequences for Northern ports. In his inaugural speech as Governor of South Carolina, Francis W Pickins pledged the state would "open her ports free to the tonnage and trade of all nations" if they seceded. (43)Soon after the Southern States announced the secession, the Morrill Tariff of 1861 was announced, further sealing the deal. It was passed just before Lincoln was inaugurated- during Buchanan's term. (44)(45)(46)Not long after Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederate States of America, he sent a commission to Washington, DC to try to negotiate a treaty with Lincoln in February 1861. Lincoln, in his arrogance, refused to see them. To understand Davis better, we would have to understand that he opposed secession. He believed that given time and given negotiation, differences could be settled. It was with a heavy heart that he agreed to become president of the newly formed country.(47)With a fear of bankruptcy, the Northern states were wanting Lincoln to bring the Southern states back into the fold. Lincoln saw only way to do that. Put down the rebellion.He thought there would be a quick victory, an easy win. He set his sights on what he thought would be a weak point in the resistance.Then in March, 1861, Lincoln sent armed ships to resupply the Union garrison at Fort Sumter. On April 12, Davis gave the order to bomb the fort. This was a strategic move by Lincoln. He knew that the South could not sit back and allow the Union to reinforce a garrison in their states. Ft Sumter was in South Carolina, which was the first state to withdraw from the Union.Fort Sumter was not the only Fort to be supplied at this time. Fort Pickens in Florida was also resupplied. (48)By resupplying the fort, he knew that the South would have no choice but to strike. This allowed him to start the war, claiming that the war was started by the South. Two days later, Lincoln called for 75.000 volunteers, which brought about the secession of Virginia and three other states from the Union.In several of his speeches, including in his second inaugural speech, Lincoln reiterated that he had never expected the war to last so long, take so many lives, or be so expensive. He often lamented his lack of experience. (49)His cabinet was one of great concern. He had chosen to put people in his cabinet who were actually enemies, because he valued different opinions from his own. Sound familiar? As a result he was surrounded by snakes, vipers who wanted to get rid of him. Even while he wanted to save the Union, there were those in his cabinet who sought to undermine him.The press were not his friends. They presumed they owned him. In fact, Joseph Medhill of the Chicago Tribune once said "We made Abe, and by God, we can unmake him". (50)On Sept 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation proclamation which declared that as of Jan 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union will be forever free.Was it done to abolish slavery? Not really. The proclamation was to punish the South for not yielding. It didn't free any slaves held in the North, and there were quite a few contrary to popular opinion today. It only applied to the enslaved people in the South. But there were approximately 4 million men, women and children held in slavery in the North. If the war was about slavery, why didn't he free the slaves in the North? (51)This makes it the most misunderstood document in American history. Slavery wasn't ended until the 13th amendment was ratified - on January 31, 1865. More than two years later.So, along with other punishments, this document was no more than that- a punishment for the rebellion of the South. The idea was to cripple the Confederacy and to hopefully prevent England from joining them in their fight. (52)It wasn't until February 3, 1865 that the North and South met to form a peace treaty. Known as the Hampton Roads Conference, it took place on a steamboat near Hampton, Virginia. It was a failure. The officials wanted independence, Lincoln wanted surrender.After the fall of Richmond, on April 2, 1865. the South realized they were not going to win. On April 9, a week later, Robert E Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia to Gen Ulysses S Grant. The army was starving and weak.April 15, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play at Peterson House by John Wilkes Booth.Sixteen months later, after the battle of Appomattox, on August 20, 1866 President Andrew Jackson, who was now president of the United States, issued a proclamation ending the Civil War. (53)