Why The North Won The Civil War

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"We are not one people. We are two peoples. We are a people for Freedom and a people for Slavery. Between the two, conflict is inevitable." This quote by Abolitionist writer George William Curtis, in 1861 describes the state of the nation before the civil war. If it were not for the naval blockades, the lack of road infrostructure, and the low manufacturing capabilities of the south, perhaps the outcome of the civil war would have been different and slavery may have continued. The war of attrition was successful in choking the life lines to the south, ending the civil war and reuniting the country, consequently bringing an end to the evils of slavery.
There were several reasons why the North won the Civil War. One of the major reasons was the blockade of conferderate ports from 1861 to 1865. After the battle of Fort Sumter in april of 1861, U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward proposed this naval blockade to President Lincoln, which would prevent the conferderate states from exporting their cotton cash crop, and importing valuable war supplies and necessities such as weapons, army tents, blankets and food. The U.S. Could have decided to close the ports since a nation does not blockade their own ports. However, under international law a country was not allowed to stop and search international traffic. For this reason the North decided to blockade the ports, this decision served two purposes. One, it allowed the North to make lawful stops and searches of vessels under the protection of international law. Secondly the Conferderate states were recognized as an independent nation by foreign governments.
The blockade started with very few ships attempting to block entrance to the major ports. Eventually more ships...

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...s, yet they strongly believed that they could be victorious. Despite numerous disadvantages, the South entered the war with some important advantages. The South adopted a strategy like that of George Washington in the American Revolution. The plan, known as attrition, called for a strategy of winning the war by avoiding losing. That is, the South did not have to match the North 's resources, they only needed to avoid full-scale battles and prolong the war making it too costly for their opponents.
The North was just simply better at maintaining the two most important elements to win a war: men and weapons. They did not have better tactics or leadership, they just had more men. Therefore, the North won the American Civil War due to their possession of greater manpower and resources although the South maintained more stable and efficient military leaders and strategies.

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