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Origins of the American Civil War: A Summary
Origins of the American Civil War were a series of significant events which greatly affected States' Rights,
the Union, African Americans and accelerated the American Civil War. These historical events are commonly referred to
as the "Causes of the American Civil War" and are listed without significant order: States' Rights (Bill of Rights and the 10th Amendment), High Tariffs, Nullification Crisis, Missouri
Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska
Act, Manifest
Destiny, Dred
Scott Case, Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850, Bleeding
Kansas, Crittenden
Compromise, John
Brown, and President Abraham Lincoln's election.
American Civil War: The Soldiers' Motives
"I apprehend
that if all living Union soldiers were summoned to the witness stand, every one of them would testify that it was the preservation
of the American Union and not the destruction of Southern slavery that induced him to volunteer at the call of his Country.
As for the South, it is enough to say that perhaps eighty percent of her armies were neither slave-holders, nor had the remotest
interest in the institution...both sides fought and suffered for liberty as bequeathed by the Fathers--the one for liberty
in the union of the States, the other for liberty in the independence of the States." Reminiscences of the Civil War, by John
B. Gordon, Maj. Gen. CSA
(General
Gordon was shot 5 times during the Battle of Antietam but did not die until January 9, 1904. Regarding General John Gordon, President Theodore
Roosevelt stated, "A more gallant, generous, and fearless gentleman and soldier has not been seen by our Country.")
"A great majority of the people were poor and had no interest
in slavery, present or prospective. But most of them had little mountain homes and, be it ever so humble,
there is no place like home...but when the Federal army occupied East Tennessee and threatened North Carolina..." Lt. Col. William W. Stringfield: Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-'65, Vol., 3, p.
734.
Secession: Constitution and Legality (Summary)
No one has ever "proven" secession to be either constitutional or unconstitutional. The question never reached
the United States Supreme Court, which would be the only lawful arbiter. The outcome of the Civil War did decide that secession
was not lawful AT THAT TIME, in that it was tried and it failed to succeed and secede. If it is tried again and this time
the attempt is successful, then it will be "lawful" for the time being. But in the end, only a court decision can decide the
matter. It is pretty ambiguous. (This excerpt is from a letter William C. Davis wrote to me and the caps and
quotations are his).
Jack is the senior consultant for 52 episodes of the History Channel's "Civil War
Journal" (A&E Television Networks). Davis has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History
and is the only three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award given for book-length works on Confederate history.
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