The Civil War

2/12/16

Blane Hamon

History 1305

The Civil War

A. The Civil War was by far the most bloody and gruesome war in American history up until today. McPherson informs us on how fascinating the Civil War is. He seems to portray the message that the past isn’t dead. The Civil War seems to outweigh any other wars due to the amount of casualties and devastation brought to all of the families. A war that was supposed to be fought for liberty but the amount of deaths hindered that reasoning. McPherson states that the war was triggered from the economic differences between the north and the south. In The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln recognizes those who have fallen in the worst battle of the Civil War. He focuses mainly on human equality. He also reminds people that even with all of the causalities, there were many achievements.

B. There was an abundance of social, economic, political, and cultural problems with the Civil War. I believe that economic differences were among the most important. Agriculture thrived in the South. They lived off of cash crops such as tobacco and cotton which made it difficult to feed everybody. While the North had an abundance of food and weapons along with good transportation. The South relied mainly on slaves. Since the South lost, all of their cotton exports were depleted which pretty much crushed their economy. On the other hand, the northern economy was a little better picture. They had plenty of weapons, food, and transportation. They had a variety of factories in which the armies needed. The main disadvantage for the North was that the government was running low on money.

C. A primary source is an original document. It is usually someone who has first hand experience with the event or conditions that are documented, such as the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence. While a secondary source is written after the event has already occurred detailing the primary source. The secondary source usually...