Killer Angels Essays -- essays research papers

Wars have been fought for many different reasons through the years, and that holds true for the American Civil War (1861-1865). In Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, the reasons for fighting the war are brought about through the officers and soldiers at a famous battle site of the Civil War, Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most documented battles of the whole war. It took place over a span of three days and can be viewed as a turning point from Confederate prominence to Confederate demise. The Union and the Confederacy each had their own views as to why they were fighting the war. The propaganda pitch the Union gave was they were fighting to free the slaves. This was not true! It was said Southerners were fighting to preserve slavery. This is also a false statement. In fact, there were a substantial amount of generals in the Union army that owned slaves themselves. In addition the constitution protected slavery. If the true issue was to maintain slavery the South would not have seceded. There are many quotes from northern leaders that show clearly that the main purpose of the North was not the eradication of slavery, but subjugation of the southern people. Slavery was used to rally the northern population behind Abraham Lincoln’s war. It was an emotional issue, sure some Yankees joined and fought to â€Å"set men free†, but most were there to preserve the union. An interesting conflict of northern morals is discovered. The North is portrayed as wanting to set black men free, but they practiced economic slavery on the Southern states. The Civil Wa r was really more politically complex with regards to Abraham Lincoln and his Republican Party’s actions. The South fought this war as the Second American Revolution. The Northern states' politicians were aggressively attempting to implement a monarchial form of government, which was precisely what the early colonists had fought against in the American Revolution. The Northern states were taking advantage of their superior numbers in the federal government and were using their advantage to implement unfair tariffs against the South. Enormous amounts of money were taken from the South and funneled into the northern states. Most of the revenue taken from the Southern states was used to run government programs. This brought about the argument of â€Å"State’s Rights† and a weaker central gov... ...the reason why they fought. The citizen soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the greatest motivating factor in the South’s decision to fight for independence. They resigned their bond to a government that they found increasingly abusing the constitution and the rights of the states for self-determination. The tenacity with which Confederate soldiers fought underscored their belief in the rights guaranteed by the constitution. These attributes are the underpinning of our democratic society and represent the foundation on which this nation was originally built. They did not seek to destroy the federal government, they chose to withdraw and form their own government that was to be truer to the original constitution. Basically Northerners fought to preserve the Union and Southerners fought for their rights as a separate nation. The Union was victorious in the American Civil War, but feelings of the Federal Government no t fulfilling its duties under the Constitution are still alive today. Wars will always be fought for different causes and that will always hold true with the wars of the future.