Download One of the most significant issues was the economic split between

Eighty-five years after the United States declared its independence, the
country was at war again. This time, Americans were not fighting
foreigners; they were fighting each other, North versus South. The
American Civil War lasted four years, from 1861 to 1865, and killed
more American soldiers - both Union and Confederate - than would die
in the two world wars combined. What happened to the United States to
make them fight?
One of the most significant issues was the economic split between
the North and the South. In the early 1800s the Northern states,
especially those in New England, turned from farming to manufacturing.
But in the South, farming remained the most important way of life.
Southern planters found cotton and tobacco to be their most profitable
crops, and they farmed large areas of land in order to meet the demand
for these goods. This system was profitable because of slave labor.
Southern plantations used African-American slaves as a huge and cheap
labor force. In the North, people began to regard slavery as wrong, and
abolitionists, anti-slavery reformers, began to preach against the evils of
slavery. The South felt that their way of life was being threatened.
As America expanded west, the issue of whether slavery should be
allowed in the new territories grew heated. Many Northerners were
opposed to expansion of slavery. Abolitionists wanted to end slavery
throughout the entire country. They considered the practice evil and
contrary to the ideals of democracy.
In addition to the conflict over slavery, many Southern states believed
that the laws of the individual states should overrule the laws of the
federal, or national, government. These Southerners didn't want the
federal government to interfere in their state affairs. They believed that
the states reserved the right to reject any federal laws they did not like.
The turning point was the 1860 presidential election. The Republican
Party picked Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for president. Lincoln
was not an abolitionist but he had spoken against the spread of slavery
into the territories, which meant the South considered him an enemy.
Leading Southerners announced that they would demand secession from
the Union if Lincoln won the election. Lincoln did win the election on
November 6, 1860, and a month later, South Carolina seceded from the
United States. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and
Texas followed South Carolina in leaving the Union. The Civil War had
begun.
Originally, the North began the war to preserve the Union, not to end
Slavery. But President Lincoln eventually became convinced that
emancipation, granting freedom to slaves, was necessary to win the war.
He issued the Emancipation Proclamation at the beginning of 1863, after
which the Union considered all slaves in the Confederacy to be free.
The Civil War lasted until 1865 and was finally won by the North after a
terrible cost in lives on both sides - including the life of President
Lincoln. As the North celebrated its victory, Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer.
Following the Civil War, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution (13,
14, and 15) were ratified to outlaw slavery and to guarantee citizenship
and voting rights to all Americans, specifically the recently freed slaves.
Many of the problems involving states' rights were also put to rest, as the
federal government emerged as the supreme authority in the United
States. In addition, before the Civil War the development of industry and
transportation had been slow. But during the grim years of the war,
American industry had learned new ways of manufacturing and had
developed more efficient methods of transporting people and supplies.
Nevertheless, many new problems surfaced. The Southern economy,
which had been almost entirely based on agriculture, had collapsed. The
war had destroyed the plantations and ruined much of the farmland.
Many Southern cities and towns had also been destroyed, and the people
of the South were desperately poor. Second, at the end of the war, the
Southern states found themselves without governments. These states had
to be re-admitted to the Union, but they could not rejoin the United
States until they had established legal state governments. Finally, 4
million former slaves had to start new lives as free people.