Institution of slavery and civil war

A civil war is war between political actors in control of local territory and the state. This mostly occurs at the end of a cold war. This involves powerful individuals in the political field opposing the facts of the state governance this mostly yields to violence.  Civil war involves intense conflict which is well planned, large scale and sustainable. The American civil war is the known war that fully involved the slaves. Eleven southern slave states withdrew from the U.S. and formed the confederate government of America.  The fought the federal government of America which was supported by the Free states and the five border slave states.

Slavery started during the colonial era where colonial families were exported slave to their countries colonies. The colonial families had little control over their lives, and their children were considered slaves at birth.  Slavery cost wealth and income to the slaves; they made no wages though incentives for good work done were given in form of bonus. Slavery was accompanied by physical and psychological trauma .slaves underwent brutal sufferings where chronic conditions due to overwork, scanty rations and insufficient clothing were a common thing to them. Slaves couldn’t be educated in or out of schools hence very few accessed school and formal education.  They could not change employers hence never used the skills gained else where, find improved working conditions or purchase shares in businesses. Although they lacked union and grievances procedure they sometimes managed to complain about overseers to their bosses (Ditto, 2007).

The slaves had no choice of what to do or not to do; they were working under bad conditions and under paid. The northern states were fighting for the abolition of slavery but the southern states wanted it to remain. This sustained the conflicts between the states.  The northern leaders refuted the proposal of a new southern nation with the control over Mississippi River and the west. This led to the outbreak of the civil war, which suggested an end to slavery in America.  In 19th century, August Lincoln has an objective to save the union without freeing even a single slave which only succeeded for slaves within the confederacy.  Slavery divided not only the north and the south but also divided them along wealth status because slaves were a sign of wealth.

 A confederacy was signed to use the Africans as soldiers though it was never implemented. On deliberation to stop the slavery they found out they had no manpower for their farms and industries.  This called for the slaves to remain though this time with a little freedom per say to choose where to be. When given an option the slaves indicated clearly they needed freedom. Considering the work in the mines was harder than in the plantations, the majority of the slaves remained in the country side in the plantations but these slaves from the interior found ways of demonstrating their desires.  They didn’t stop working but the out put was lower than before the war.  This reduced food production output in the southern states and this caused an increased emphasis food production.  The northern state made the civil war to be war against slavery.

 Although slavery was a central cause of civil war it wasn’t the only cause of civil war, there was a multitude of differences arising from the issue of slavery that impelled the southern states to split. There were other causes to civil war the northern states and the southern states had differences in the constitution.  They had major difference in the economy, slaves worked in the south plantation while women worked in the textile industries. These other factor accelerated the civil and even the slaves the determinants of wealth were an important factor (Deford, 2006).

On the other hand civil war contributed tremendously to the end of civil war.  When the war ended nation changed forever, it affected industries in the north and businesses in the south. There civilized countries which still allow slavery today if there were no civil war may be slavery would still be widely practiced.   There was a thought from the northern to restore the union without much change. This would call for other gradual changes but it ended up with a Emancipation Proclamation.  This was counted a landmark min history of America but it was the cause of greatest loss of property in terms of wealth. This made the cost of slave increase rapidly hence only the very wealth would afford. Despite the war, in Texas slavery still continued in farms and plantations. Many hired overseers to ensure orderly production in the farms.  When the white left to join armies in the war fields the responsibilities of the farms were left in the hand of women and children this changed the whole perspective of slavery. The slaves asked for freedom though still it created tension imagining themselves as slaves in the morning and freed people in the evening hence most of them ended up remaining near their employers. Even though they remained closer to their former employers they ventured away from the plantations (Goodwin, 2008).

Even up to today we can’t say why the south got a defeat or the north’s worn, they agree and the final union shows the leadership of Lincoln.  The war was disastrous to the south, defeated and occupation by the union forces. There was a lot of uncertainty for them, the next step was to rebuild and restore the union. The civil war changed the society by ending slavery and rebuilding the union.

Slavery has for a long time been b lamed for causing civil war, it may be true and proven through several ideologies. But this only added taste to the broth because there were other underlying factors which were been linked to slavery. On the other hand, civil war acted as tool to curb slavery in the United States, though this as not the best way to follow. It brought great loses of property and wealth hence dragged the economy backwards.

Reference:

Tim Ditto, 2007 Civil War and Slavery retrieved on 24th Nov, 2008 from: http://blogs.indews.com/politics/civil_war_and_slavery.php

Goodwin R, 2008 Texas Slave Narratives and the Civil War retrieved on 25th Nov, 2-008 from: http://us-civil-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/texas_slave_narratives_and_the_civil_war

Deford D.H, 2006 African Americans during the Civil War (Slavery in the Americas) ISBN-13: 978-0816061389