What Caused the Civil War?

My study is usually a mess, with stacks of books and clippings that frequently to collapse onto the floor. When I am looking for something, I can’t find it. When I discover something, I don’t know where to put it. Today I rediscovered a book that I read decades ago, one that is timely following the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Without a doubt, James M. McPherson is one of the most intelligent scholars of the Civil War. His books are in-depth explanations of different aspects of that conflict between the North and the South. The book that came out of the pile today is different. In a mere 85 pages, “What They Fought For: 1861-1865” make it clear why the two sides fought.

Americans on both sides believed that they were protecting the legacy of 1776, when America declared independence from Britain. Union President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis both believed they were fighting for liberty. What was different was how the North and the South interpreted liberty.

The fighting was primarily over property, rights, and freedom—interpreted differently. It is easy to assume that the war was just about maintaining slavery or abolishing slavery, but the causes were much more complicated than that one issue. The majority of soldiers in the southern army did not own slaves and were not fighting to maintain slavery. They were fighting for liberty, McPherson says, and against being “enslaved” by the North, in the same sense that Americans in 1776 had used “slavery” to describe their subordination to Britain.

America is still fighting that war. It is still dealing with racial issues. It is still arguing in politics about who should make decisions for the country. One can safely conclude that America is not just divided into two; it is shattered into many pieces.

(309 words)

For readers who are interested in various aspects of the Civil War, I recommend the journal in the photo below which is edited by Ogawa Kandai.