In reality, the Civil War was not a civil war. In a civil war, two or more factions fight for control of the national government.
But the South was not trying to overthrow the national government, nor was it trying to achieve exclusive control of the government. The South merely wanted to leave the federal government in peace and was willing to pay its share of the national debt and to pay compensation for federal installations in the Southern states. The Confederacy tried to establish peaceful relations with the federal government, but
Lincoln refused to even meet with Confederate representatives.
The Civil War was a war of aggression against the South.
Republican leaders and their Northern industrialist backers used the force of the federal government to destroy Southern independence. Some of these men despised the South. Radical Republicans saw in secession
an excuse to subjugate and exploit the Southern states. Northern business leaders who bankrolled the Republicans feared that their financial empire would be threatened if the Confederate states were able to trade directly with other nations with the much lower Confederate tariff. The Republicans weren’t about to lower the tariff, since they were committed to drastically raising it (which they did soon after the South seceded). Rather than fairly compete with the low Confederate tariff by lowering the federal tariff,
the Republicans and their Northern financial backers opted to destroy the Confederacy by force. Charles Adams demonstrates that after the Confederacy announced its low tariff, influential Northern business interests began to strongly oppose peaceful separation and Lincoln’s cabinet quickly reversed itself and adopted a hardline stance on Fort Sumter (When In the Course of Human Events, pp. 61-70). Simkins said the following about the motives behind the federal invasion, race relations in the North, and what happened when Southern influence was removed from the federal government:
Northern industrial and financial leaders wished to destroy the influence of the agrarian South in Washington in order to use the powers of the federal government to their own advantage. Northern common people wished slavery restricted or abolished because they objected to the competition of cheap labor, not because they wished to make the bondsmen their equals. Both of these groups revealed their intentions when Southern influence was removed from the federal capital and when the Negro was free.
(above from
this link. )
As to why the Confederacy did not win the invasion against it, I merely point to the above. Financially, they were choked out of existence. Consider:
* 90% of developed industry was in the north, but where did most of those raw materials come from?
* The railroad system was far more developed in the north, thus forcing Southern farmers to sell their crops at drastically reduced prices because they simply could not get them to market before they went bad. This reason alone is why many mountaineers in my own region made moonshine. Corn spoils; corn liquor doesn't.
* The tariff was implemented and raised beyond belief to further repress trade competition from Southern states. That should be very plain.
Never ever place any responsibility on the Confederate soldier. Time and again these brave men were cited and noted by nothern military leaders for their uncompromising bravery, marksmanship, and endurance. Robert E. Lee was and remains among the elite military minds of American history. Unfortunately, he stood so far above his field commanders that the decisions made by those besides Lee were ill-fated at best, moronic at times.
Confederate soldiers were, quite literally, fighting for the very ground they stood on and revered. They were invaded. Invaded. Homes destroyed. Wives raped, children slaughtered, home and farm plundered and burned. May Sherman smoke another turd in Hell for it. The majority of the battles occurred on Confederate soil. Think about this...you're a soldier fighting to be free from a governemnt that sold you out to a northern factory owner and neglected to share any of the wealth. You are tired, hungry, scared, and demoralized. You are not that far from home. You know the baby was sick when you left, the family needs you, and you can't help them. You've seen farm after farm just like yours in ashes. Think you might feel a little bit inclined to take off and care for your family? Many did. Some did so and returned to duty when they could.
So in a brief and passing analysis, I lay the largest chunk of responsibility on:
* Economic oppression
* A failed president (Lincoln) who instituted a dictatorship and sold his soul.
* Inferior military strategy
* A war criminal of epic proportions
* Manipulative policy from Washington designed to keep the South inferior and subjugated to the whims of their moneyed contributors
I have not the time at the moment to cite every source for every statement i made. Sue me. The above link, while long, is marvelous. I dare anyone to read it and say they haven't learned something, or that they don't feel lied to by their history textbooks.
Plain and simple, there are those who even today support another attempt at secession. I personally would consider backing it, depending on the other planks in the platform. I have read the entire Confederate Constitution. Aside from the slavery clauses, which is another discussion entirely and is not what you have been spoonfed in school either, I support it 100% and defy anyone to read it and then tell me it was a bad idea...better than what we have now in fact.
But we'll likely never know.
