Civil Wars and Secession Essay: How Are Civil Wars Remembered?

Civil Wars and Secession
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Civil Wars and Secession
Essay: How Are Civil Wars Remembered?
The civil war shaped the United States of America (USA) to be the country it is today. Were it not for the war, maybe northerners and southerners would be living in conflicts in the present day. The economy and social structure differences of the South and North significantly contributed to disputes between these two colonies dating back to over a century. In addition, the Confederate States differed from the Union on the issue of slavery. The former supported it since southerners benefited from cheap labor. The American Civil War ushered a better country where people understand one another and solve disputes without causing conflicts, which are the reasons why civil wars are remembered since they facilitate positive changes.
A civil war is remembered since it is the most effective way that two opposing sides can settle their disputes or come to a common ground. For instance, the Union and the Confederate States had several disagreements, one of them being on the issue of slavery. Notably, it is clear that southerners were large-scale farmers and had large plantations. They distributed raw materials to industries in the north and European countries. For this reason, they supported the slave trade since it was the only way they got cheap labor. Although the Confederate States expected that Europe would join them in the war to secure their supply of cotton, no one intervened (Golson, 2007). As the North was fighting with the South, the latter realized that slavery was inhumane and that it was not the only way to get their farms ploughed in the right way. That is the reason why Emancipation Proclamation was passed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, which required all people held as slaves to be set free.
Civil wars are remembered as a beacon of peace. Although the relationship between state-building and peace-building is context-dependent, contingent, and complicated, it is clear that states respect each other if they had been involved in conflicts in the past (Call & Cousens, 2007). As stated earlier, civil wars enable two regions to unite and come to a common ground. For instance, the Union and the Confederate States had never been involved in war again since they settled their dispute in 1861. However, peace was achieved when the two states agreed to abolish slavery and came up with other, more effective ways to facilitate large-scale farming. In reality, a war makes everyone involved to suffer. For this reason, civil wars help opposing sides to know that fighting is not the only option to eliminate disagreements. Since the civil war of 1861, the North and South implemented better strategies to eradicate disputes and prevent wars in the future since they would want to experience their adverse consequences again.
Civil wars remind people that they are united and that they should come together to overcome challenges that face humanity. From 1945-1994, which was the period with numerous civil wars, there were no neutral interventions that were aimed at offering the required humanitarian assistance to foster peace settlement (Lockyer, 2011). The majority of foreign interventions...