Civil War
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There were several factors in the Civil War that needed- for the lack of a better word- clarification. The first being slavery. No human has the right to own another human. This statement was the difference between the North and the South. Southerners held that slaves were property therefore protected while the North held that slaves were but men and deserved of freedom.
Economics was by far the more driving force behind the war. The South had cheap labor while the Northern firms had to settle for newly immigrating Irish or others to do menial tasks but always at a cost. Add the abolitionists views and sparks started.
States Rights were the last of the factors. Up until the Civil War discussions had already started about what rights the States had and what part the Federal Government was to play in the process.
Together these three things changed the course of America making irreversible hallmarks on our country. Slavery was abolished but only after a long protracted war; States Rights was more clearly defined; and while the economy of the North triumphed in the end the South proved that with a little grit and a lot of nerve went farther than the most well equipped Union soldier.The Civil War is so important to us as Americans because any understanding of our nation today HAS to be based on the understanding of the Civil War. It defined us as a nation. The Revolutionary War did what it did and so did the other wars we had with Europe. But the Civil War defined us of who we are. And to open us up to what we would become today. Good and bad. It was a crossroad of who we were and who we became.