As could Southerners.
The Yankee war was plain and simple, an act of agression and suppression.
The war was started by the South.
While black men were serving in the Confederate Army, black men in the North were segregated and served primarily as menials, “Glory” notwithstanding.
So by all means please outline how the vast majority of black men were serving the confederate army without being menials. This ought to be good.
1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South.
With Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. This machine was able to reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. However, at the same time the increase in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor, i.e. slaves. Thus, the southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. This disparity between the two set up a major difference in economic attitudes. The South was based on the plantation system while the North was focused on city life. This change in the North meant that society evolved as people of different cultures and classes had to work together. On the other hand, the South continued to hold onto an antiquated social order.
2. States versus federal rights.
Since the time of the Revolution, two camps emerged: those arguing for greater states rights and those arguing that the federal government needed to have more control. The first organized government in the US after the American Revolution was under the Articles of Confederation. The thirteen states formed a loose confederation with a very weak federal government. However, when problems arose, the weakness of this form of government caused the leaders of the time to come together at the Constitutional Convention and create, in secret, the US Constitution. Strong proponents of states rights like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were not present at this meeting. Many felt that the new constitution ignored the rights of states to continue to act independently. They felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea of nullification, whereby the states would have the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. However, proponents such as John C. Calhoun fought vehemently for nullification. When nullification would not work and states felt that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession.
3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents.
As America began to expand, first with the lands gained from the Louisiana Purchase and later with the Mexican War, the question of whether new states admitted to the union would be slave or free. The Missouri Compromise passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri. During the Mexican War, conflict started about what would happen with the new territories that the US expected to gain upon victory. David Wilmot proposed the Wilmot Proviso in 1846 which would ban slavery in the new lands. However, this was shot down to much debate. The Compromise of 1850 was created by Henry Clay and others to deal with the balance between slave and free states, northern and southern interests. One of the provisions was the fugitive slave act that was discussed in number one above. Another issue that further increased tensions was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It created two new territories that would allow the states to use popular sovereignty to determine whether they would be free or slave. The real issue occurred in Kansas where proslavery Missourians began to pour into the state to help force it to be slave. They were called “Border Ruffians.” Problems came to a head in violence at Lawrence Kansas. The fighting that occurred caused it to be called “Bleeding Kansas.” The fight even erupted on the floor of the senate when antislavery proponent Charles Sumner was beat over the head by South Carolina’s Senator Preston Brooks.
4. Growth of the Abolition Movement.
Increasingly, the northerners became more polarized against slavery. Sympathies began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders. This occurred especially after some major events including: the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the Dred Scott Case, John Brown’s Raid, and the passage of the fugitive slave act that held individuals responsible for harboring fugitive slaves even if they were located in non-slave states.
5. The election of Abraham Lincoln.
Even though things were already coming to a head, when Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its “Declaration of the Causes of Secession.” They believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of Northern interests. Before Lincoln was even president, seven states had seceded from the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. - http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm
*******
During his inauguration, Lincoln gave a speech saying that he would use military power to keep control of the Federal Government’s possessions in the states that seceded. One of the most key forts in the South was Fort Sumter, because controlling it was necessary to controlling Charleston harbour, one of the busiest ports in the South.
The Man with a Plan
The day after his inauguration, Lincoln was reminded of Fort Sumter when he received a message from the commander of Federal forces in the fort, Major Robert Anderson. The message told him that there were supplies were running out at the fort, and would last only six more weeks.
Meanwhile, the southern government wanted to get Union forces and forts out of their new nation, starting with the weakened Fort Sumter. Lincoln knew this, and decided that a battle at Fort Sumter was inevitable. He had supplies sent to the fort. He also notified the governor of South Carolina, Francis Pickens of his intention to do so. Of course, the South wouldn’t let the fort be resupplied. They would have to use force to make the fort surrender, before the supplies arrived.
This was part of Lincoln’s plan. The South would have to fire the first shots of the war, which was good politics for the Republicans. It would portray the Confederacy as the aggressive force.
The Firing
Pierre Beauregard, a Confederate General at Charleston, was told to order Major Anderson to evacuate the fort. Anderson resisted evacuation, but said he would leave the fort at noon, 15 April... unless of course he received instructions or supplies from the US government. The supplies were to come before 15 April, so Beauregard rejected this time. As the Confederate messenger left, Anderson said-
If we do not meet again in this world, I hope we may meet in the better one.
On 4:30am, 12 April, 1861 the Confederates began firing 43 guns onto Fort Sumter. This woke citizens in Charleston, who came into the street to pray, cheer, watch and cry. The Federals at Fort Sumter didn’t return fire until about 7am. Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first shot, and the six usable guns in the fort were fired slowly, because ammunition was low in supply. The tired and malnourished US troops had to continually put out fires. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3245140
Here we go again, refighting a long ago war. Face it, neither side will ever concede that the other side is wrong.
Leave it at that and worry about the future. There may come again a time when Americans are fighting eac other, with bullets. Until then, we need to prevent it.
One way would be to concede that there was merit in both positions and that it could have been averted by either side. To prolong the battle will most certainly guarantee a repeat.