The American Civil War Interpretations of Democracy Essay

One of the most convoluted themes in history is that of the meaning of war. The American Civil War specifically offers many differing explanations as to the true cause for which over 600,000 men dedicated and lost their lives. The Civil War was particularly so, in that there was no universal acceptance of the objectives or causes of the war from either side. Leaders from the Union and the Confederacy delineated distinctly different reasons for fighting, magnifying the hostility between the two regions both before and during wartime. The Confederacy insisted that, based on overwhelming sentiments, its secession was an inevitability that was within the bounds of constitutional law. The South justified this secession and subsequent violence†¦show more content†¦However, Davis by no means implies that the Confederate States are reliant upon foreign nations for economic survival, as he explains that any lack of exchanged goods between the two nations would only â€Å"serve to di vert our industry from the production of articles for export and employ it in the commodities for domestic use† (Davis, 99). The Confederacy strove to appear both capable of acting as an independent and valuable body in an international market and also oppressed by a tyrannical national government. The South called upon the idea that they had simply attempted to lawfully and peacefully separate from the â€Å"disparaging discrimination, submission to which would be inconsistent with their welfare† of the Union that worked against their best interest (Davis, 45). Through these points, Davis sought validation of the Confederacy from European nations as a means of international legitimacy, thus strengthening their cause and power. Leaders of the Confederacy maintained that the meaning of the war was a defense of natural rights and American liberties rather than an offensive attack on the national government. In contrast, it was Abraham Lincoln’s intention to convince foreign nations that the Confederacy was merely an illegitimate rebellion, and to dissuade them from recognizing it as a separate entity from the Union whatsoever. Lincoln made a point of convincing foreign powers that the Confederacy’s supposed attempt to â€Å"lawfully†Show MoreRelatedCivil Rights : An Appearance1338 Words   |  6 PagesProfessor Roe US History 1 October 2014 Civil Rights as an Appearance The United States prided itself on personal and collective freedoms during the Cold War, despite actively denying the same inalienable rights to the African American population during that time. Mary L. Dudziak’s book Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy and Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s article â€Å"The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past† interpret civil rights history in two compatible waysRead MoreThe Civil War Has Changed The Country987 Words   |  4 Pagesthrough the wars it has entered and how these wars have irreversibly changed the country. â€Å"The Civil War made modern America†¦ [and] we remain connected to this war† (Suri, Lecture 1). 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