Issues During the Civil War

In Chandra Manning’s What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery and the Civil War, the author explains how when all is said and done, what was remarkable about the Civil War (which occurred from 1861 to 1865) was the prominence of issues other than slavery in the minds of the Northern, Southern, Black and White soldiers who fought in it. Slavery was a huge issue during the Civil war, but there were other issues that circled around as well.

The Civil War opened up both economic and political issues that divided the North and the South. According to Craig Symonds in article in the New York Times, “Though a number of issues divided North from South in the decades before the war, the issue that proved both paramount and insoluble was slavery.” Although slavery was clearly the primary situation that was faced, there were smaller issues the country had focused on prior, and also during the Civil War.

Many people struggled with feelings of racism and hatred, which led to several hate crimes, particularly towards African Americans during that time period. It was very difficult to overcome, and so, many African Americans set up protests and organized silent sit-ins in order to express their opinions without the use of violence. Another deeply divided issue during the Civil War was the United States’ rights and minority rights. The population of the North was growing more rapidly than the South, and it would not be long before the North took over the federal government.

In conclusion, the Civil War was a big issue in the United States throughout the late 1800’s, but there were also many other important issues that the country needed to work on as well, including violence and crimes pertaining to racism and hatred, and rights of minorities.

Work Cited

Symonds, Craig. “American Civil War.” The New York Times. 20 Nov. 2013. Web, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/civil_war_us/index.html.