Books on why the civil war was fought by both sides.

Any Shaara book is a good read. Delves into the mindset of the generals who fought.

Both Michael and Jeff Shaara.

I know they are historical fiction, but they are extremely well researched.

As I understand it, the North became industrial and the South remained agricultural. The North is looking to end slavery and that outlook gained steam over time, especially with books like Uncle Tom's Cabin. The South is like F you guys... you don't care because your economy isn't based on agriculture like ours is. If you outlaw slavery you'll destroy us and our families and our way of life.

The average Southerner who doesn't own slaves (as 95% of Southerners didn't and were mostly farmers), even if they disagreed with slavery, they were apprehensive about free blacks because they feared that blacks would be out for revenge. Not just revenge, but back then they really thought blacks were inferior (so did the North), and they were afraid of what all these uneducated black people being free would mean to society in the South. People were fearful of this gigantic change.

The North keeps poking and prodding the South over the slavery issue in different ways. Taxes and whatnot. The South feels like they are constantly being pushed around by the North, and they eventually had enough and seceded.

Back then, states were very important. Much more so than today. People identified strongly with their state. It was like a collection of countries under the umbrella of "America" like how the countries in Europe are different countries under the umbrella of the European Union. A Brit will always be loyal to the UK over the European Union. And that's how it was to guys like Robert E. Lee. Lee was anti-slavery and anti-secession. But he was a Virginia boy and he would fight for Virginia because it was his people.

And to my knowledge, that's how it all went down. The South felt like they were being backed into a corner until they felt they had no choice but to fight for the survival of the South... the people, their families, and their livelihoods.

They didn't know how to get out of the slavery conundrum without crippling themselves.

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Lee was anti-slavery and anti-secession.

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False. He was a huge racist and hunted blacks for sport

Thats what mitch told me

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What about the money grab by the North for Western territories and concentrating wealth in the Northeast?

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Could be. I don't know enough about all the ways the North may have pushed the South around. I'm not an expert on the topic but I think I have a pretty fair overview of the whole conundrum that led up to the war.

There were many causes of the civil war. Intense republican sectionalism and hate for the south. Lincoln refusing to address and soothe the nation prior to inauguration. Movement to keep southerners from taking their slaves to western territories. It didn't really start off about slavery itself, even the north thought that the south was within their constitutional rights to own slaves. It eventually became about slavery, though.

I'm going to need Dan Carlin to definitively tell me what's what.

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For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War All primary sources, taken from journals, letters, et

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Good recommendation. I've never read it and I think I'm going to do so after reading the reviews.

I'm no history professor or anything, I do love history and enjoy learning about it.


While slavery was a part of it, it wasn't nearly enough to go to war over.

There is a laundry list of contributions which lead to the Southern states leaving the union. States rights being the top of the list. The state's, mostly southern states, didn't like the federal government being able to tell them what to do. This is outlined in the articles of confederation.

While the anti slavery movement was gaining ground in the north, it didn't have the popularity we believe it had today. Slaves that were discovered in the north were often deported back to slavery in the south. This is a major tell of the widespread view of slavery held in the north. If the majority of northerners were against slavery, this wouldn't have happened.

Also an event that paints this picture is the supreme court ruling on dredd scott. He was a slave that applied for citizenship to the US. The Supreme Court ruled that no person of African American blood would become a citizen.

Abraham Lincoln was opposed to slavery, however he was willing to let the south have slavery to prevent the civil war. He knew just how destructive a civil war would be to the nation, both physically and with relations. He once said "If I could save the union without freeing one slave, I wouldn't"

To sum it up is difficult, but mainly the state's succeeded to prevent the federal government to tell them what to do. Slavery was a driving force in this.