CIVIL WAR

The American Civil War

The American Civil War

Introduction

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. It lasted until May 26, 1865. The war caused more than 600,000 deaths, destroyed over $5 billion in property, and brought freedom to four million African-American slaves. Some of the core issues raised by the war are still unresolved, meaning that the political and social legacies of the conflict have not been completely resolved over 140 years later. This research paper discusses the chronology of American civil war and its outcomes on American civilization.

The times of civil war in America were the bloodiest times of the history. Its causes are deeply rooted in the history of the country. Slavery and crystallization were the main causes of this scenario. Initially, slavery was practiced all over the country as "natural" than the rest of the Americas, where the institution was widespread. There were slaves to both Boston and New York and Charleston or Baltimore. But the perception was not the same as it was in the South or the North. In the first, Slavery was seen by those who practiced it as the cornerstone of their economy and, from there, with all their "lifestyle". The mild climate or subtropical South allowed to crops with high added value that Europe consumed but did not abundantly on his land: cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. But these crops require a lot of manpower, for very hard work. Slavery was therefore a boon to Southern planters.

Discussion

The scholarly understanding of civil wars is undoubtedly growing. Researchers are now able to wed rebels' motivations and opportunities with theories about state characteristics and civil war onset. For the advancements to continue, however, there needs to be more focus on a standard conceptualization and subsequent operationalization of civil wars. The problem is that researchers will continue to arrive at conclusions based on different cases, which erodes the ability to broadly apply the lessons learned from these studies.

Of course, much progress has been made, and civil war research is not the only field that faces questions about the concept under investigation: Astronomers argue about what makes a planet a planet; physicists still cannot agree on the correct specification of the atom; and literary scholars still debate the identity of Shakespeare. So to say that the concept of civil war needs refinement, then, is not a harsh criticism at all. Rather, it is recognition that better conceptualization and operationalization could lead to discoveries that become significant contributions to the human pursuit of progress and peace. Understanding the nature of, and causes of, civil wars has profound implications for policy. Presumably, the better scholars understand what factors most likely contribute to civil war, the more likely it is that policies aimed at addressing those factors can be authored and implemented.

Causes of American Civil War

Slavery was the main and immediate cause of the war. The southern states, particularly the eleven states of the Confederacy, depended on ...