In the relatively short span of the history of the United States there can be no more compelling single event than that time when Americans fought Americans, brothers fought brothers. That four year span when we fought against ourselves, we struggled to find our economic, cultural and moral values. The greed of the southern states caused them to fight for their way of life, that way of life relying on slavery.
The South lost the Civil War, not that the North won, because of their political beliefs. When Abraham Lincoln became president, the southern majority in the government lost power, meaning they had no way to preserve their way of life in the south. The history of the United States records that the ultimate winner was the north, but that statement alone oversimplifies the complexities of that time and the ramifications of this conflict that still resonate in our country today. The result of the Civil War was not that the North was the victor, but the South was defeated due to the Confederate government political views, economic short comings and lack of resources, because of these issues at that time, it was never the South??™s war to win. With the conflict of the North vs. South the passion to prevail rested with the South, because their way of life was threatened by the possibility of the abolishment of slavery which was the foundation to their whole economy. The South had to create a single government out of many; they needed to find a way to finance the war and had to overcome the superior numbers of the Union army.
Exploring the weaknesses and strengths of the South in the political, economic, and military areas will provide support for my statement. First, the south had to form a new government, while the north had a well established, working government. The political issues were that the north wanted an end to slavery but slavery in the south had become a way of life, they relied on the slaves for their ability to grow their primary source of revenue, cotton. The southern leaders believed the people in the north were denying them the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, with the slavery issue a major factor. Second, the southern states way of life relied heavily on slavery for their crop production which, in turn was the main source of their economy. The southern states relied on the slaves for their cotton revenue, and the export of cotton to Europe.
When the Union blocked the southern ports to the English ships, it resulted in a lack of revenue. The southern states also did not have any factories for production of goods, and only had one munitions plant for the production of ammunitions for the war.
