Civil War Dbq Essay

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The Civil War was an event in history that was caused a division in our country and made people see each other differently. This division was created by slavery and Americans’ opinion on slavery. The two opposing sides of the Civil War were the Northern states and the Southern states of the United States. The majority of the North believed that slavery was wrong and fought for its abolishment. On the other hand, the majority of the South treated and thought of slaves as property. They needed slaves to pick cotton, a crop that was vital to the Southern economy. The problem of slavery was at the center of the Civil War, and many people fought passionately because of what they believed. Essentially, the Civil War was a heated argument about freedom …show more content…

Lincoln explains the division between the people when he says “This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” (Source #2, “Gettysburg Address). This piece of evidence shows that there was a division between the people because Lincoln was assuring the people that the Union and the government wouldn’t “perish from the earth.” This shows that there was a division between the people since the Southern states seceded from the Union, which the Northerners wanted to preserve. Next, the “Gettysburg Address” also explained a division of the thoughts of the Northerners and Southerners. As Lincoln says in his speech, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure,” (Source #2). This shows that the people’s thoughts were divided because even though the nation was dedicated, it still fell into a civil war because of the division between Northerners and Southerners and the conflict it led to. Even though the country was “so conceived and so dedicated,” it was still questionable whether the country would “long endure.” The “Gettysburg Address,” a speech by Abraham Lincoln, explains the division among the Americans and the differences in their

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