The Real Reason the Civil War Started

Many people are now trying to right those wrongs by spreading the correct information as to how the American Civil War really began, as well as explaining why it is important to know the truth. 

Many attempts have been made to either rewrite or eradicate history. In Charlottesville, Virginia, demonstrators began pulling down Confederate statues because of what they represent. Former President Donald Trump then condemned this, saying, “History and culture of our great country [are] being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.” But were the demonstrators re-writing history, or was this the fault of the people represented by the statues?

The answer is no. Historians have long regarded the lost cause as a myth, created to preserve the honor of the South by painting Confederate Generals in the best light possible. 

This interpretation of the Civil War reminisces on benevolent slave owners and happy enslaved people before the war. It downplays the dark history of slavery and attempts to preserve the honor of those who fought for the Confederacy.

The Confederate States government asserted its right by seizing federal property within its states’ borders. Despite this feeling like the immediate cause of the conflict, the actual reason is a much more pressing issue.

The war began because southern states were outraged over the election of Abraham Lincoln, who wanted to restrict slavery. Instead of respecting democracy, these states decided to start a war in the hope of keeping slavery how it was. 

Many of these disagreements between the North and South are still at play today, just not as much as they once were. It was a combination of all of these differences, but primarily the role of slavery is what eventually led to war breaking out. 

The Constitution’s 3/5ths clause allowed the Southern states to include three of every five enslaved people in their population. This gave the South far greater representation in national government than they would have had based on their free population.

By 1840, the American South gained more money from cotton than any other export. Southerners became unable to separate their way of life from the labor of enslaved people. The South was adamant about preserving a republic based on slavery.

These reasons were a mix of personal, social, economic and political values, all of which motivated them to keep up the fighting to try and get their own way. 

They attempted the Compromise of 1850, a series of bills to try and solve the problem, but ended up helping no one. The 1852 publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin pushed Northerners against slavery even more, while the 1857 Dred Scott Decision determined that enslaved people were not U.S. citizens and prevented Congress from banning slavery in federal territories. 

Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, denied that all men are equal. Stephens said: “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea. Slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”

Slavery is believed to have begun in the U.S. in the early 1600s when a Portuguese ship brought 20 enslaved Africans to present-day Virginia. Over time, the number of slaves in the U.S. grew to the point where it was legal in all 13 colonies during the fight for independence from England in 1775. 

The majority favored emancipation, which would be a much more gradual process. However, a much smaller group, known as abolitionists, were against this idea and wanted the slaves to have an immediate release into freedom. 

While the term ’40 acres and a mule’ is an oversimplification of the reparations, Field Order 15 would reserve 400,000 acres of Confederate land for the newly freed population. This was the first instance of a government official asking Black Americans what they wanted for themselves.

Johnson returned the 400,000 acres of Confederate land to its owners. Professors such as Roy L. Brooks argued that Johnson was a segregationist who wanted to return formerly enslaved people back to a position of subordination.

While some Black people became landowners against all odds, most could not become financially self-sufficient and accrue the multi-generational wealth that White landowners could pass on to future generations.

There is the other issue of conservative Southern politicians. Many believe that the end result of the Civil War is a failure, even going as far as to implement restrictive voting bills that will hit Black Americans the hardest.

Four years later, a district in Virginia could be the first to restore the names of Confederate leaders to schools. Board member Thomas Streett said the original change “was not done right” and was a knee-jerk reaction that lacked “loyalty” to the community.

Despite outrage from community leaders, the curriculum still states that enslaved people were not the victims of their enslavers, and some personally benefitted from the skills they learned such as smithery or fishing.

In 2013, the Supreme Court defanged the 1965 Voting Rights Act in their ruling on Shelby County vs. Holder. They did this by freeing jurisdictions of “preclearance”, where they would need federal approval to change their election laws. In her dissent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said throwing out preclearance “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

In recent years, Arizona and Georgia have joined Texas as the states with the most bills that restrict voting access introduced in the 2021 legislative session.

In his maiden speech in 2021, Sen. Raphael Warnock said: “We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights, unlike anything we’ve ever seen since the Jim Crow era. This is Jim Crow in new clothes. At the time of his speech, lawmakers in 47 states introduced over 360 bills to restrict voting access.

Learning about history is an important part of everyone’s education, but the myths that creep in only cause more divisions, as was seen during the Civil War. This is why the truth must always be out there because, without it, society will become more divided than ever.