Necessity Of The U.S. Civil War- Essay, Research Paper
Necessity of the U.S. Civil War-
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the
south saw their economy and way of life threatened. They didn’t like
Lincoln, and didn’t want him to be their president so 7 states
seceded from the Union and formed a Confederacy. They were determined
to establish themselves as an independent nation. However, in order
for them to be that, they have to be recognized by foreign countries
as an independent nation and they have to survive as one long enough
to prove they are capable of it. At this point, Lincoln had two
choices. He could have left the confederacy alone and let them
attempt to become and independent nation. His other choice was to
prevent recognition of the confederacy as an independent nation by
defeating and occupying regions of the confederacy therefore proving
that they cannot defend themselves and cannot survive as an
independent nation. Lincoln chose to go to war with the confederacy,
which became the civil war. But was this a good choice made by
Lincoln? Should Lincoln have fought the Civil War? Yes, Lincoln
should have fought the civil war.
For one thing, one would argue that Lincoln should not have
fought the Civil War because of the great number of casualties. While
this may be true, there were too many unnecessary casualties, Lincoln
had no idea there would be so many. Many people thought the war was a
joke at first. People even dressed up and picnicked along the
battlegrounds of the First battle of Bull Run and watched the
fighting as if it were a theatre show. When Lincoln had first called
for volunteer soldiers, the terms of enlistment were only for three
months. No one had any idea the war would last for five years or end
with so many people dead or wounded.
Also, as president, it was Lincoln’s job to keep the nation
together as a nation. If those states wanted to secede from the
Union, they had every right to. However, they were a part of the
united states and if it took a civil war to make them become a part
of the united states, then that’s what Lincoln should have done.
In conclusion, Lincoln made the right decision when he decided
to engage in (what would eventually become) the Civil War. He had no
idea that it would last so long and result in so many casualties. He
probably thought it would be an easy task to go and take over the
confederacy. He could not predict what the war would have resulted
in, all he could think about was how to prevent the confederacy from
getting foreign recognition as an independent nation. The only way to
do that was to declare war.