Civil War

It all started in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860. The democratic party convention was held to elect the presidential nominee and Southern states delegates insisted the party endorse a federal code to ensure the rights of slave owners. The so concerned Southern delegated walked out when the rest of the convention reject to accept the demand. In that year election, Abraham Lincoln was elected president by 180 electoral college votes. Immediately after that, convinced, the republic administration would appoint antislavery judges, war officer, postmaster, and other officials; on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede followed by six others.

In February 1861, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana with South Carolina then form a new Confederate government and drafted a new constitution in Montgomery Alabama. In contrast to the secessionists, the upper south states were opposing the secession. As Jefferson and his friends did while crafting the declaration of independence; they tried to define and give reasoning for their own declaration by C. Calhoun and said, "The states were sovereign entities that could leave the union freely as they joined." 1 Jefferson Davis, Surprisingly, who used to be the secretary of war and senator became the president of the confederate. He was called the man of the match. William L. Yancey introduced him as, "The man and the hour met. Prosperity, honor and victory await his administration." In the declaration of the confederates, they mentioned and focused on slavery, sovereignty, and God.

Besides the new President of the confederates, Jefferson looked pretty capable, smarter and more experienced than the Northern president Abraham Lincoln amounting to the boost and confidence of the southern. Nonetheless, It didn't take so much time for southern critics know who Jefferson really was. One of the critics said Jefferson was, "False and Hypocritical,…Miserable, Stupid, One-eyed, dyspeptic, arrogant,…cold, haughty, peevish, narrow-minded, pig-headed, [and] malignant." 2 There were such secede threats in the past and many felt there would be similar compromises done before war broke out. And indeed there were two trials done. The statehood of California, the Missouri problem, moreover some of these confederate states threaten to leave the Union during a congressional debate over slavery. But both times, the compromises were against the beliefs of the Republican party core principles and almost all Republicans were against it. And the president-elect during his address to Congress made plainly and bluntly clear that "Entertain no proposition for a compromise in regard to the extension of slavery. The instant you do, they have us under again; all our labor is gone, lost, and sooner or later must be done over…The tug has to come and better now than later." 3 The next move by the confederates was to seize all the properties of the federal government within their boundaries. These include Arsenals, forts and custom houses. President Lincoln decided to retry the supply with an unarmed ship and made it clear for the southern confederates president that only if South Carolina used force then warships positioned outside of the harbor come in action of defending and delivering supplies through Charleston harbor. This premeditated test put the Confederates in a difficult situation to chose and it became a stage where the war will start or not. Before the supply arrived, Jefferson Davis ordered his general to force the surrender of Fort Sumter and after 32 hours of firing and with no fatality; Fort Sumter surrendered and became part of Confederates. And this became a clear message for Lincoln that the Confederates seceded for the sole purpose of slavery.

The president strongly believed and considered Daniel Webster's sentiments of the union to be permanent and Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. This became the beginning of the war between the Unions and Confederates. Another four slave states seceded and joined the confederates after Lincoln raised so much army to fight back and restore the seceded states back to the union. The three months planned war didn't end up like that, however, it took more than everybody's expectation. It happened to be the worst wars Americans fought in history; 600,000 people died and took six years. Both sides fought for their own reasons but it didn't go away without huge consequences. sites Cited: www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=90