Why the South never would have won the American Civil War

The American civil war is known to have happened in 1861 to 1865 in United States of America of which at least 620,000 soldiers lost their lives through the war of which, it constituted to 2% of the American population. This civil war was known to be one of the greatest conflicts between the North and the South in the United States and the tactics used were like those of the modern society. this North and South war took place in the Southern soil thus causing more lives to be lost, their wealth which included the slaves were wrecked out, destruction of the farm's machinery which were known to be of great beneficially and finally the livestock's were also affected. The South remained to be a land of wretchedness, burned-out plantations, weeds growing in fields, no track on railroads and bridges. Nevertheless, this remained to be proving of the defeated Southern army. Reasons for this Civil War were because of the settler's cultural background and the land use when it came to the geography and climate thus leading to the different lifestyles of the Northern and the Southern. It shaped the political, economic and social contours of the Americans. This created many hardships for the Southerners thus leading to what now we can see as developed nations which are the North and the less developed Nations which are the South. That is why in this term paper, it is going to focus on the challenges the Southern faced during that period of the American Civil War. These challenges will be based on the economic life, social and political. Under economic life, what will be focused on will be the North and the Southern industrialization, transportation means and trade. The social life will comprise the slavery, gender, and the culture and finally, the focus on politics is all about the leadership in regions, constitution and the North and South territories in America.

The Economy

Industrialization and Agriculture

The Northern people were known to invest in industrialization. They had five times as many factories as compared to the South. These factories were based in the purchasing and manufacturing of monoculture crops such as cotton, tobacco, and rice not forgetting pasture for beef cattle production hence turning them into finished products.

The Southern Economy was blessed by the agricultural resources which were based on cotton. This disparity between the regions triggered a major difference when it came to their attitudes towards the economy. It became as an advantage to the North because, with most resources, it meant that they were not dependent on the production of one commodity but different of them as compared to the South whose economy dependent on the production of cotton and exportation. Such advantages of producing more than eleven times as many manufactured goods as compared to the South gave them the biggest benefit of producing everything hence it become possible for them to supply clothing and feeding its large army in the field.

The Southern tried to apply this method of financing the army through their little resources which were the cotton production but it was impossible because before the war began, most of their cotton had been shipped to the Great Britain for production in the textile industry.This became a challenge to them fighting in the same category with the Northerners who had all the resources of which at the end of the war, southerners had already been defeated.

The Trade

With the North already dominated in the Southern territories especially in the transportation sector such as the railway lines and the few resources the South had in their possession, it became a challenge to the South creating a partnership with the other nations in terms of the exportation and importation of the products. The North was lucky enough because they could import some products such as the cotton from Egypt thus trading to them was not that a big challenge. This enabled them to poses the materials needed in the war. They could not be compared with the Southern because the Southern lacked those means of trading and furthermore in the past, the Southern used to rely on the Northern for resources because of their established manufacturing industries before the war began.

Transportation Means

When it came to transportation, the Southerners especially the Confederacy had to face another challenge which was the lack of true railway network and the break of gauge. When we talk about the railway terminals, we simply mean that some of the existing railway lines terminal. These railway terminals were those that connected ports and the river terminals to those points that were located in the inland. This became a challenge to them because most of those railway lines were of no good use especially when the Union Army decided to block them. For the breaking of the gauge lines, what it meant is that the Southern railroads of the West of Mississippi were also isolated, disconnected and had some differences when it came to the gauge.

In 1961, the confederate soldiers decided to build a railway line which was meant to give them better services. But due to the intensity of the Civil War, it became impossible for the soldiers to access some small industrial base and supply some resources. Some of these supplies were such as the engines and cars.This became the biggest challenge because of lack of those materials and the construction men. As the war was heading towards the end, the worse was still waiting for them, the complete collapse of the railroad. This made the Southerners to explore some methods that could save the situation. They opted in scrapping the feeder lines for replacement of steel for trunk lines.Despite these replacements, the rolling stock still posed a challenge to them. This was because of the continual replacement of the steel. The Union Army from the North continued with their pushing until finally, they owned the railway's lines. This meant the defeat of the South in the war.

The Social Life

Slavery

Slavery is known to have existed within the two regions but due to the declining of the slavery in the North America. The middle class in the North argued that slavery was so incompatible with the democratic principles of the nation while the South argued that anything to do with slavery was under the nation's constitution protection. This became the key challenge to both the North and the South. During that period, since agriculture was the main thing among the South, the South embraced the idea of slavery hence wanting more workers who were to be slaves. The approximated number of slaved needed during that period was 4 million slaves.

The main challenge the Southern faced was the division of the slaves especially the blacks who wanted freedom. This was after Garrison organized the New England Antislavery Society in 1832 of which it came out to be successful. According to the Antislavery Society, holding another human being as your own property was an act of sinning. With the realization of the freedom of the slaves, most of them decided to run from the South to the American cities which included Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond.

The Gender

When it came to gender, the confederate women were used as an object of the target by Southerners to seduce that army that had gone to instill some peace in the South. These women, young, spunky and extremely beautiful could be given instruction on how to make or seduce this army go astray by either making them resign from their commissions or revealing their secrets of the union.

This behavior of trapping Union army luring them in a seductive manner continued on for a very long time until some hatred in those women developed towards men. They felt that they were being used as objects or prostitutes by their confederate soldiers who were supposed to be their partners. With time, some things started turning out against the confederate. Despite the hatred in them towards the soldiers, most of them found themselves grudgingly respecting the union soldiers. The humanity of the soldiers could be seen vividly on those women. This made the confederate women sympathize with the union soldiers by treating and healing them tenderly the same way they could do to their own men. They kept their focus on those Union men fell ill or even wounded during the war with their counterparts, the Southerners. This led to most of them making good friendship with the army thus leading to the genuine affection which could be seen. This triggered some criticism in most people who thought this woman were not genuine at all. However, these women turned out to disapprove them by being real. Due to the loneliness that engulfed then because of the absence of their men and lack of the social needs that women always want and the desire for beaux still in them, this made most confederate women to turn their attention from their men to the Union troops. All this led to the fall of the South because of loosing their important asset that they used in misleading and spying purposes.

The Culture

During the Civil War, the North have believed then that their faith was in God and that is why the fought against slavery since they though it as an ungodly act towards the humanity. The South seeing that the war was even becoming even worse, they decided to turn into God and made everyone believe that they were true to God hence getting the support of the church so that they could defeat their enemies who were the North. Despite them claiming to be the people of God and getting the support they needed from the people of the church, they still failed to win the war against the North. This turned out to be a punishment they were getting from God because of them being against humanity and yet claiming to be the people of God.

The Political Role

Leadership

Among both the Northerners and the Southerners, good and effective leadership was some of the qualities that were needed when it came to the coordination of their troops. To the Southerners, matters to do with leadership was not a concern to them because they believed that their gentlemen were natural leaders while the Southern boys were born soldiers who were known to possess better resourceful and enormous courage. Despite them believing to be having such qualities, the army still wanted someone who could be a good leader and pump some tactics to other soldiers who were under them. so some options were established to come up with the new leaders, first, an officer from United States could be given an opportunity, graduates of the US Military Academy who either had retired or resigned from the post he held previously before the war, those who had served organizations during the Mexican War and finally, various military academies in the South to go and serve the Confederate officer corps.

Robert E. Lee, the Army of the Northern Virginia, was the lucky one to be considered. His strategies and tactics seemed to bear fruits since he was outsmarting the Northern Union soldiers on every occasion.

However, since the War was meant not to be selective in its choice of attack, and as the majority of the Southerners continued to die or being wounded, the replacing of that qualified officer became a challenge to the Southerners. By the time the Civil War was declared over, the South had already suffered greatly since they were seen as lacking good leadership qualities that could engage new skills and strategies to the Confederate soldiers. This contributed immensely to their defeat by the Northern soldiers.

The Constitution

The issue of slavery in both regions, the North and the South turned out to be politicized because whatever both parties were trying to do, they had something to defend with. For instance, the North believed that slavery was not right. To defend their claim, they referred it to the democratic principles of the nation.The south either was of the opinion that slavery was right because it was protected by the constitution. This made the Northerners come up with a conclusion which claimed that politically, slavery did exist and it was the main thing that was dominating in the American soil and labor.

Territory

The territory issue became the main thing since this was going to be a determinant of the future of the Americans. This issue became politicized hence leading to the division of the religion culture. This division came about with Northern believing that slavery was an ungodly thing among the human nature while the South became pro-slavery God. This created enmity between the Northerners and the Southerners. Of which the Northerners pushed the South thus making the South to be defeated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both sides proved to be strong thus employing conscription and simple but tuff strategies and tactics to counter attack each other. The Northerners wanted to restore the Union of the two regions, so they could use limited, short and bloodless war of which they believed could work. Their main aim was not to affect the population of the Southerners. By achieving this, they targeted at main the spots of the South by taking over the main cities. Having seen no progress was being made in winning the union between the two regions, the Northern political leaders resolved on waging war against the Southern of which led to the Southern being defeated.