civil war and reconstuction essays

civil war and reconstuction essays Although some historians feel that the Civil War was a result of political blunders and that the issue of slavery did not cause the conflict, this interpretation fails to consider the two main causes of the war itself: the expansion of slavery, and its entrance into the political scene. By considering the personal opinions of people living in both the North and the South at the time of the war, as well as the political decisions made, one can understand the reasons behind the war, and then The revisionists believe that the issue of slavery was not a major cause of the war. Some argue that the war was caused by careless decisions made by politicians, who caused people to react with emotions that were out of proportion with the issues involved. Others feel that the slavery problem could have been solved without war. The problem with these theories is that the revisionists do not recognize slavery as the main difference between North and South. They also fail to realize that it was not simply political blunders that caused the war, but the discussion of slavery publicly among politicians. In his theory of the war, Michael Holt primarily considers the timing of the conflict. He feels that the breakdown in the two party system created a panic among citizens and that this panic erupted into war. The only problem with this theory is that it is not the citizens of a country who decide whether or not to go to war, it is the politicians. The reason that slavery could exist without war in the United States until 1861 was because up until that time there was always enough land to expand. It was when the amount of land available for expansion became scarce that the North and South began to feel friction as to who would control more states, free or slave. The South wanted more slave states, where the North wanted more free states, to give them more land and power in ...