Civil War Discussion

The question whether the Civil War was fought to end slavery or there were less idealistic reasons to start the bloodshed is often discussed. It is rather problematic to believe that the Americans from the North wanted to free the slaves at the cost of their own lives and the welfare of their families. That is why it is possible to assume that there were more pragmatic reasons to participate in the civil war than to free the black servants.

It is necessary to mention that the idea of fighting for the equal rights for the black population does not correspond to the reality of that time. People were really trying to create the state where everyone will have equal rights, but it was supposed that “everyone” stood for the white male. Women were not treated as equals, as well as children. The Negro slaves were not considered to be the human beings of the same kind as the white people at all. It was a wide spread assumption that a black person is lazy by his/her nature, he/she needs total control and supervision, and his/her intellectual abilities can not even be compared to the ones of a white person. It is rather strange to talk about the desire to free the slaves, who were not considered to be normal people.

Another reason was territory expansion and governmental control. Slavery was important for the Southern agricultural states, while the North welcomes free workers. It became the question of power to understand whose vote weights more in the government. Another issue was that the Southern states wanted to expand slavery westward , which was also against the desires of the North. Political and economical issues gave the start for the armed conflict, and the idea of freeing poor slaves made the homicide more morally acceptable.