Timing Is Everything Essay Research Paper Timing

Timing Is Everything Essay, Research Paper Timing is Everything Why the South lost the civil war, is an issue that will be debated from now until Americans lose the right of free speech. This writer agrees with the theory James M. McPherson supports. From the onset of the war, it was simply a matter of time before the South would be forced to concede. The length of time that the Confederate states managed to hold out was quite remarkable considering the adverse odds they were up against. The Confederacy fought for its constitutional right to own property; specifically slaves. Slavery had been a part of southern life and culture since the first Dutch ship carrying slaves from West Africa landed on the southeastern coast of the then British colonies. It is not likely that a war

would cause Southerners to feel guilty about something that has been their existence for over two hundred years. After the war and the slaves had been freed, but they were not equal. Southern states passed laws called black codes that took away the civil rights of blacks. Southerners felt so guilty about slavery, that they decided to make free life for blacks as miserable as possible. In addition state governments passed legislation to make the current situation of blacks as similar to slavery as though could. The peculiar institution of slavery had supported the infrastructure of the southern economy since plantation owners realized indentured servants did not work like it was supposed to. Without the free labor of slaves, what would happen to the crops that needed to be

gathered? Would the plantation owners pick the cotton? That is not very likely. Therefore, if the civil war was truly a rich man s war, and a poor man s fight , the plantation owners who are not on the battlefields would not feel guilty about this institution that has given them so much. The southern states were the only western countries (Europe and North America) to still be practicing slavery. However, the supposed external pressure from Europe was a fa ade to abolish slavery. There is no reason for European countries to want the south to eliminate slavery. Slavery lowered the price of imported cotton. With no laborers to pay the sale prices can be lower. Slavery benefited European commerce. Morals are a great thing to have and are righteous, but they are not the driving

factors behind governments. Money and power are the two forces that the commercial world revolves around. It s a simple fact about life, and in this case war, that success breeds confidence. At the start of the war, the southern generals, Beauregard, Lee, the two Johnstons, and Jackson, outclassed the northern generals, who had not yet worked their way through the ranks and acquired leadership positions. Therefore, the early battles of the war were Confederate victories especially in the East, which sent southern moral soaring. Union leaders thought they would march down to Richmond, take the capital and end the war. This did not happen. The initially inept northern generals were neither conditioned nor able to smash he rebel uprising . The confederate victory at Bull Run, among

other early Confederate victories, put an end to northern overconfidence. The essence of this theory is that four major turning points on the battlefield and in the political arena determined the outcome of the war. The first turning point came in the summer of 1862. Southern counteroffensives in Virginia led by Lee and Jackson, and in the West seized the momentum from the north and created the potential for a Confederate victory. The next turning point came in the fall of 62. Two battles fought at this point, Antietam and Perryville had important effects on the outcome of the war. The victories threw back Confederate invasions, stalled European mediation and recognition of the Confederacy, prevented a Democratic victory in the northern elections, which might have inhibited the