The American Civil War

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The U.S History
Introduction
The American Civil War
The American Civil War was one of the costliest wars in the history of the world. The war that occurred after a sectional conflict arose in the United States of America led to the death of many people. The war occurred after a section of 11 Southern states declared their secession from the American union forming the Confederate States of America. This was after the election of Abraham Lincoln as the president of the United States of America in 1860 (Hardesty, Book 4: Sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction (1837 - 1877), para 2). The war originated due to complexity in issues that were related to slavery, politics, disagreements that arose due to differences in views over the scope of the states rights versus the federal power, sectionalism, mob wars, economics, modernization and the competing nationalism of the Antebellum period. This essay needed the student to choose one of the 19th century historical figures in the American history from a given list. The essay will thus discuss the contribution of Abraham Lincoln to the 19th century American history. Focus will be on his contribution to sectionalism that had dominated the American landscape that lead to the civil war. His specific accomplishments that directly or indirectly impacted to the sectionalism will be discussed also. The purpose of his accomplishments on whether he aimed to alleviate the crisis or exacerbate the crisis will also be revisited.
Sectionalism
Sectionalism refers to the excessive concern that one has for the interests of a certain section, a certain group or area to the disadvantage of the whole. Before the occurrence of the civil war, there was a change in the political power within the federal government. The northern and mid western states were becoming more powerful than the southern as their population density continued to increase (Donald and Randall, “Sectionalism wedges of separation in the civil war” para 2). The southern states of the country began to lose their political powers due to low population increase in the region. The differential growth of the states in terms of political power thus led to sectionalism which included; the west, Midwest, South and Northeast. This thus led to sectionalism. The southern states saw the need for their freedom from the whole federal authority thus they started to petition for their self independence. This thus led to conflicts starting from the congress to the grounds thus leading to the civil war (Hardesty, SCWR, para 10).
Abraham Lincoln and Sectionalism
Abraham Lincoln was a key figure in the sectionalism and the occurrence of the American civil war. He played key roles in the sectionalism era.
One of his major achievements was in his anti-slavery advocacy. Slavery in America remained a significant injustice of age from the 1700s to the 1800s. The southern states of the nation were t...