The War between the States

The War between the States
Today the war between the states has fallen far from common knowledge due to intervening history. As little as fifty years ago it was worth a chapter or two in grade school American history books. Today a mention of President Lincoln is often not to be found. It is not my intention to rectify that here. There are many places to research it in libraries and on the web. What I would like to do here is motivate you to that research. My method in that is to provide you with a provocative and contrary exposition of that war. The slant taken here is to attack the gross simplification that so often today passes for an understanding of the causes of that war. So this will not be about battles, troop movements or technology. Rather about the political and social conditions. Along the way I hope to point out enough factual material to shake any simplification you may have come to believe. The first thing to recognize is that there has never been a civil war in the US. A civil war is one that is for control of the central government and therefore for the entire country. When the southern state seceeded they were simply leaving the United States not contending for control of it. Another clear fantasy is that the South, the Confederacy, fired the first shot at Ft. Sumter. South Carolina fired the first shot, not the Confederacy. It was no different from the Connecticut militia firing and someone claiming the US had fired. Addressing some basic issues first For example, secession was related to slavery but slavery was not the cause of it, rather it was a constitutional issue. The war was related to secession but the war was not caused by secession. Related documents The Constitution of the Confederate States of America Commentary upon the CSA constitution

Today the war between the states has fallen far from common knowledge due to intervening history. As little as fifty years ago it was worth a chapter or two in grade school American history books. Today a mention of President Lincoln is often not to be found.

It is not my intention to rectify that here. There are many places to research it in libraries and on the web. What I would like to do here is motivate you to that research.

My method in that is to provide you with a provocative and contrary exposition of that war. The slant taken here is to attack the gross simplification that so often today passes for an understanding of the causes of that war.

So this will not be about battles, troop movements or technology. Rather about the political and social conditions. Along the way I hope to point out enough factual material to shake any simplification you may have come to believe.

The first thing to recognize is that there has never been a civil war in the US. A civil war is one that is for control of the central government and therefore for the entire country. When the southern state seceeded they were simply leaving the United States not contending for control of it.

Another clear fantasy is that the South, the Confederacy, fired the first shot at Ft. Sumter. South Carolina fired the first shot, not the Confederacy. It was no different from the Connecticut militia firing and someone claiming the US had fired.

Addressing some basic issues first

For example, secession was related to slavery but slavery was not the cause of it, rather it was a constitutional issue.