When a Confederate soldier shot a Union soldier at Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, the United States entered Civil war, which would last four years, cost 750,000 lives, and change the nation forever. Why did the South feel compelled to seize federal military positions and fight for its survival?
The question is particularly relevant today. As the world faces another war and a growing population of people who lack basic services, it is worth considering why the Civil War happened and what it can tell us about how to prevent future conflicts.
Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election triggered a series of secession declarations from seven slave states, whose economies depended on cotton that had to be harvested by slave labor. White Southerners feared that limiting the expansion of slavery could consign it to extinction.
Both sides mobilized on a scale unprecedented in American history. The United States mustered more than 2 million soldiers—half its 1860 military-age population—and more than 180,000 African Americans, who made up 10% of the Union Army. The United States enjoyed decisive advantages in industrial capacity, commercial interests, and financial infrastructure.
Both sides used a variety of political and economic strategies to mount sustained war efforts. In the process, national governments enlarged their powers and encroached on citizens’ privacy in pursuit of war aims. The Confederacy, a republic supposedly committed to states’ rights, experienced increased governmental intrusions while the Union, which claimed to value individual liberty, imposed national taxes and interfered in private affairs through conscription.
