many reasons for what is often referred to as the American Civil War.
One such cause was that there were many more people who could vote in the North than in the South. The larger population in the South was negated by the fact that four million of those people were slaves and had no vote. The result of this lopsided population disparity was that the Northern states had more representatives in the House of Representatives and could get laws passed that favored the industrialist economy.
In order to reduce the asking price of the Southern grower’s cotton crops, for instance, the Northern industrialists had laws passed that imposed a tax on slaves. They then reduced the tax on imported cotton from England and increased the tax on cotton from the southern states. Ironically, Lincoln was a much hated President well before his assassination because many in the South considered him to be against slavery. They feared he would end slavery, which would impose a terrible economic burden on the growers.
In December of 1860, South Carolina led the way for the South by voting to break away from the Union when it became too much for the southern states to bear. On that fateful day of April 12, 1861, General Pierre Beauregard gave the order to fire on Fort Sumter and the misnamed “Civil War” began. It was also known as “The War Between the States,” “The War of the Rebellion,” and the “War of Northern Aggression.”
The irony in terming it a “civil war” is that it technically wasn’t; the Southern States actually had the right to secede. The North, recognizing the future financial potential of the South, simply refused. As a result of this well-debated point and many others, the young men of the day sat in groups, expressed their bravado, and yearned to get the war started. Both sides were initially convinced that the war would be short lived, a few months at the outside. No one believed the war would be as devastating as it turned out to be in the end.
Brother against brother, idealists against realists, and in the course of a few years, a generation of men were removed from the population of the United States. They died on battlefields, mowed down by rifle salvos and the terrible effectiveness of the cannon and its grapeshot, which rendered flesh worthless in a moment of stark terror for those Soldiers who were exposed to it. Legs and arms were seen stacked up in front of the surgeon’s tent as amputations were carried out endlessly.
In the end, the South was mortally wounded and left to dig itself out of a financial hardship formerly unknown to any of them and it took a hundred years to come full circle financially. Regardless, more than 600,000 men died from both sides by the time it ended on April 9, 1865 when General Lee surrendered his sword at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
In the beginning, young men like Eli jumped at the opportunity to “teach those damn Yankees a lesson!” As the war dragged on and hundreds of thousands were laid in their graves, or left where they fell, it became apparent that the might of the industrialized North would prevail against the predominately agrarian South.
Eli came through the war broken in spirit but with one burning resolve. He was going to move from the ravaged South and go West to where the opportunities didn’t include the unscrupulous tactics of a Union bent on punishing the South for its sins of the war.
He was especially wary of the insidious northern outsiders who often appeared out of seemingly nowhere to exploit anyone by whatever means possible. With questionable objectives, and unscrupulous tactics, they often meddled in local politics, manipulating and controlling former Confederate States for their own financial and power gains. Given the name “Carpetbaggers,” which reflected the material from which their luggage was crafted, they often bought up plantations at fire-sale prices and lined their own pockets at the expense of many people Eli
One such cause was that there were many more people who could vote in the North than in the South. The larger population in the South was negated by the fact that four million of those people were slaves and had no vote. The result of this lopsided population disparity was that the Northern states had more representatives in the House of Representatives and could get laws passed that favored the industrialist economy.
In order to reduce the asking price of the Southern grower’s cotton crops, for instance, the Northern industrialists had laws passed that imposed a tax on slaves. They then reduced the tax on imported cotton from England and increased the tax on cotton from the southern states. Ironically, Lincoln was a much hated President well before his assassination because many in the South considered him to be against slavery. They feared he would end slavery, which would impose a terrible economic burden on the growers.
In December of 1860, South Carolina led the way for the South by voting to break away from the Union when it became too much for the southern states to bear. On that fateful day of April 12, 1861, General Pierre Beauregard gave the order to fire on Fort Sumter and the misnamed “Civil War” began. It was also known as “The War Between the States,” “The War of the Rebellion,” and the “War of Northern Aggression.”
The irony in terming it a “civil war” is that it technically wasn’t; the Southern States actually had the right to secede. The North, recognizing the future financial potential of the South, simply refused. As a result of this well-debated point and many others, the young men of the day sat in groups, expressed their bravado, and yearned to get the war started. Both sides were initially convinced that the war would be short lived, a few months at the outside. No one believed the war would be as devastating as it turned out to be in the end.
Brother against brother, idealists against realists, and in the course of a few years, a generation of men were removed from the population of the United States. They died on battlefields, mowed down by rifle salvos and the terrible effectiveness of the cannon and its grapeshot, which rendered flesh worthless in a moment of stark terror for those Soldiers who were exposed to it. Legs and arms were seen stacked up in front of the surgeon’s tent as amputations were carried out endlessly.
In the end, the South was mortally wounded and left to dig itself out of a financial hardship formerly unknown to any of them and it took a hundred years to come full circle financially. Regardless, more than 600,000 men died from both sides by the time it ended on April 9, 1865 when General Lee surrendered his sword at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
In the beginning, young men like Eli jumped at the opportunity to “teach those damn Yankees a lesson!” As the war dragged on and hundreds of thousands were laid in their graves, or left where they fell, it became apparent that the might of the industrialized North would prevail against the predominately agrarian South.
Eli came through the war broken in spirit but with one burning resolve. He was going to move from the ravaged South and go West to where the opportunities didn’t include the unscrupulous tactics of a Union bent on punishing the South for its sins of the war.
He was especially wary of the insidious northern outsiders who often appeared out of seemingly nowhere to exploit anyone by whatever means possible. With questionable objectives, and unscrupulous tactics, they often meddled in local politics, manipulating and controlling former Confederate States for their own financial and power gains. Given the name “Carpetbaggers,” which reflected the material from which their luggage was crafted, they often bought up plantations at fire-sale prices and lined their own pockets at the expense of many people Eli
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