Honors Blog History

Honors Blog

Before we talk about why the Civil War is called the Second American Revolution we have to understand what a revolution is. Dictionary.com states that a revolution is, “An overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.” If we take this quote and show see if it fits what happen with the Civil War we will see if it would be considered the Second American Revolution. During the Civil War there were small rebellions and certain events that were throwing the mutuality between the north and the south into chaos, there was also a new government set up including new political parties and lastly there was fighting between the North and the South for there right to independence.

First, we need to look at the issues that split this great country in two. The main issue that both the north and the south had strong feelings for was Slavery. The north believed it was immoral while the south liked how it provided them a cheap way of labor. People believed in there viewpoint and were willing to use force to show people they meant business, this quote talks about a mob that started trying to spur pro slavery in Lawrence Kansas, “Ignoring the pleas of some leaders, its members smashed the presses of two newspapers, the Herald of Freedom and the Kansas Free State.” This quote is showing how the mob was trying to stop anti-slavery publications so Kansas would become a slave state. 3 days after the Sack of Lawrence anti-slavery believers retaliated in a much more brutal way, “Three days after the Lawrence raid, Brown headed under cover of dark toward Pottawatomie Creek with a half a dozen others…they burst into the cabin of James Doyle, a proslavery man from Tennessee with cutlasses drawn…Before the night was done, two more cabins had been visited and two more proslavery settlers brutally executed.” These attacks were starting to become more vengeful as tensions between the pro slavery and anti-slavery activists started to peek. The mutuality between the North and the South was getting becoming almost none existent at the time where South Carolina Senator attacks Massachusetts senator, “Brooks strode into the Senate after it had adjourned, went up to Sumner, who was seated at his desk, and proceeded to beat him over the head with a cane.” These issues show how the North and the South were becoming completely different entities causing the recession of southern states from the union.

Although there was lots of aggression between these two sides it was not always shown through force, there was a political stand point. After the southern states receded they made there own government sort of like how America made there own government when getting away from Britain. The last straw that forced the South to become the Confederates was the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln, the reason they receded are vast but the main issue was Slavery. This quote shows that recession was the South’s last option to protect there liberty, “Secession seemed the only alternative left to protect the southern equality and liberty. Southern Carolina, which had challenged the federal authority in the nullification crisis, was determined to force the other southern states to act.” South Carolina was the driving force behind the recession of southern states, and because of them this happened, “On December 20, 1860, a popular convention unanimously passed a resolution seceding from the union. The rest of the Deep South followed and on February 7, 1861, the states stretching from Carolina to Texas organized the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis president.” This recession of the Deep South caused something much bigger. Because of these southern states receding, other states followed so it was pretty much like a game of follow the leader. Certain things then happened causing more states to recede which this quote will explain, “ When Anderson declined the ultimatum Confederate batteries began shelling the fort… 33 hours later Anderson Surrendered…When Lincoln subsequently called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion, four states in the Upper South, led by Virginia, also seceded. Matters had passed beyond compromise.” With these Upper Southern States the confederacy was a force to be reckoned with and something had to be done.

When the orders were given that the North was going to put down the southern rebellion, Jim Tankham was confident he believed, “The war wont last sixty days,” if he only knew that the war would be a hard fight for the right to have slaves. While this war looked gloom like every where does, this war was different, this war was not going to be any traditional war, it will be a new type with more bloodshed and more lives lost. “ Previous warfare as it had evolved in Europe consisted largely of maneuverings that took relatively few lives… The Civil War, on the other hand, was the first war whose major battles routinely involved more than 100,000 troops.” This change in warfare completely changed tactics and with that changed the overall outlook on the war. People had much better chances of dying and because of this knew that what they were doing was the right thing whether they were fighting for the South or the North. This shows a huge amount of pride and belief in there ideals which is something that wasn’t really seen since the first American Revolution. A quote from Ulysses S Grant after the battle at Shiloh states, “I gave up all idea of saving the Union except by complete conquest.” This shows the determination that was shown by these defenders and how they would willingly give up there lives for there beliefs. This war changed the whole outlook of fighting and the men that were in it changed as well. A Rhode Island soldier says, “ The daily sight of blodd and mangled bodies was common…So blunted their finer sensibilities as almost to blot out all love, all sympathy from the heart.” This shows how this war was not looked at as a war to gain land which is a main reason for wars; it was a war for freedom, liberty, and rights that these people thought they deserved.

Overall the Civil War can be called the second American Revolution for many reasons and truthfully they will probably all be right because of how much this war meant to the people that were in it fighting for what they believed in. This war had a change in politics, a change in warfare and small disputes leading to a bigger event. These are all signs of a revolution, they are almost similar to the events that happened during the first American Revolution and in all reality this should not even be considered a war it should be called the Civil Revolution because of all the things that happened and everything the South did to protect the rights that they thought they deserved.