Introduction to the Cvil War

Civil War

North
Between 1815 and 1861 the economy of the Northern states was rapidly modernizing and diversifying. Although agriculture—mostly smaller farms that relied on free labour—remained the dominant sector in the North, industrialization had taken root there. Moreover, Northerners had invested heavily in an expansive and varied transportation system that included canals, roads, steamboats, and railroads; in financial industries such as banking and insurance; and in a large communications network that featured inexpensive, widely available newspapers, magazines, and books, along with the telegraph.


South
By contrast, the Southern economy was based principally on large farms (plantations) that produced commercial crops such as cotton and that relied on slaves as the main labour force. Rather than invest in factories or railroads as Northerners had done, Southerners invested their money in slaves—even more than in land; by 1860, 84 percent of the capital invested in manufacturing was invested in the free (nonslaveholding) states. Yet, to Southerners, as late as 1860, this appeared to be a sound business decision. The price of cotton, the South’s defining crop, had skyrocketed in the 1850s, and the value of slaves—who were, after all, property—rose commensurately. By 1860 the per capita wealth of Southern whites was twice that of Northerners, and three-fifths of the wealthiest individuals in the country were Southerners.

Over the course of the decade, the two sides became increasingly polarized and politicians less able to contain the dispute through compromise. When AbrahamLincoln, the candidate of the explicitly antislavery Republican Party, won the 1860 presidential election, seven Southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) carried out their threat and seceded, organizing as the Confederate States of America.

  

THE UNION
During the American civil war the Union was the term used to refer  to the United States of America and specifically it´s national government.
Twenty-slave free states and five border states made up most of the Union is often referred  as the ¨North¨ as most of the union states  are in Northern U.S. The union strongly believed  that black people were meant  to have free will and fought to abolish slavery.
Brigadier general Henry Livermore, he was killed in action.

THE CONFEDERATE

The Confederate States of America (CSA) commonly referred to as the confederate States of the Confederacy, was a government set up in 1861, by seven slave states in US.  The slave states were all in the Southern US. Giving them the name ¨The South the confederacy was rejected by the larger Union and was seen as illegal . The confederates strongly believed that black people were nothing more than slaves and would always be that way.

Confederate generals

General Robert E. Lee Comander of the army of Northern Virginia, known as the most successful and accomplished Confederate General.

General Thomas J.¨Stonewall Jackson¨The only person who is greater than general Thomas is general Lee.