The Civil War - Who Saved the Slaves?

I am positive that if you have studied grade seven history, or if you live in America, you've heard of the Civil War. As one of the most important wars in all of western history, the Civil War was fought over the right to keep slaves. Republican Abraham Lincoln was the president at the time.

Beginning in 1861, the Civil War was fought for four years under the moans and tears of America itself. Essentially, it was either that America was going to be a divided confederation of states or a group of states united under one nation and government. As one of the bloodiest wars ever, 625,000 American lives were lost. This is the highest death toll of any Americans than any other war America fought in combined! 

President Abraham Lincoln

As a Republican, Lincoln was part of the Union, the side that wanted to abolish slavery. The Confederation, which seceded from the Union in 1861, was the side of the fight that wanted to keep slavery and was mainly Democratic.. (Keep in mind that slavery at this time was mainly for black people. Furthermore, this was where "Ni**er" became a commonly used term.) After the confederation attacked a Union fort, the fighting started. Lincoln's main goal was to stop the succeeding, not fully abolish slavery. After the war became bloody and full out, the Republican's goals changed. They set out to destroy slavery and unite the states once again. Lincoln outlined his goals in his famous speech, The Gettysburg Address. After winning another election against a dangerous opponent who wanted to give America away, Lincoln had Ulysses S. Grant, his general, hard at work to win. 

Early in the war, the South's Robert E. Lee had been winning most of the battles, but the tides turned when Grant stepped in. After a bloody four years, Grant finally pinned down Lee's army at the Battle of Appomattox in April of 1865. 

After this, the Confederacy's President, Democratic Jefferson Davis, fled and tried to escape. Finally, the Union Army caught him and officially ended the American Civil War on May 10, 1865. This reunited all the states of America under one government.

With the defeat of the Confederates, Lincoln altered and added amendments to abolish the slavery of black people. This was a long and torturous process, but the Republicans did it. Of course, this significantly reduced slavery in America, but there were still a few states with some slaves. These spots eventually dissolved too. 

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with the price of cheese. Here's the moral of the story: Who so badly wanted to keep slaves in America that they caused a bloody war with their own country for? The Democrats. Who abolished slavery, saved the slaves, and started a path to end racism? The Republicans. It is important to remember this for a few reasons.

From left to right: Confederate Flag, 1864 USA Flag

Often in society, racism gets pinned on white people and then the Republican government. But, when you trace back history, it was the Republicans that abolished slavery. So, following the path of the Republicans back to today, they are the ones who aren't the racist son-of-a-guns. 

The other reason why the Civil War is extremely relevant today is that, as previously mentioned, the Democrats were the ones that fought for slavery. They are the ones that did everything in their power to keep it. So, when you ask yourself, "Who are the real racists?", remember, if the Democrats won the Civil War, there likely would still be slaves in America to this day.

For a detailed explanation of the Civil War, or if you are more interested in history, please take a moment to watch this video by Crash Course History on Youtube (There are two parts): 

Written By: Joshua Zwicker
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