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Lately, I have been reading a whole host of articles and stories on the so called American civil war. As I have been reading these I've noticed some things that are not mentioned at all, or maybe these authors just don't know. So with this in mind I have some questions, and maybe a few answers.
Why was the civil war named as such? After all the term civil war means a country that has a war within itself. This was not the case. The southern countries were fighting against the northern countries. Yes, I did say countries, and the reason why I say countries is because back when the U.S. Constitution was drafted the words State and Country were interchangeable words. Also if you will notice in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "free and independent states" now how could they be free and independent if they were not independent? Some would answer this by saying that he meant that to be independent of England, which is a fine answer but then you would also have to look to the Constitution and notice that in the preamble it says "in order to form a more perfect UNION" (emphasis mine). Notice the word union, not country. Also why were people back then granted Statesmanship of the State they resided in and not U.S. citizenship? Also if you read the body of the Constitution you will notice that within this wonderful document there are three different definitions given to term United States of America. That is also another thing to consider, the name United States of America, notice that it was not referred to the country of America.
One item that really stands out to me was that General Robert E. Lee, the General for the confederate army had said that he was fighting for personal property rights and to continue the way of life that the people had. Most people assumed that the civil war was all about slavery. If it was about slavery then why was this not mentioned at the beginning of the war? Why did Lincoln wait to say anything about this until he noticed that the British were ready to attack the north on the side of the southern army?
Where did Lincoln get the idea that the south had to stay in the American Union? There is no law now nor has there ever been a law that says that a State of the Union had to always remain in the Union. Nor is there any law that says a State cannot succeed from the Union. Why did Lincoln at one point say that all men are created equal when just a few years prior he thought that he had the authority to create a draft where these "equal" people were forced to fight in a war he started on false grounds and if they protested they were hanged for it? Where are the provisions in the Constitution that allows any of this?
Lincoln is remembered as the President who freed the slaves and while I totally agree that slavery neede to be ended, it does not matter if you mean the white folks or the 20% of all slave owners who were black, it had to end, and this was accomplished. The means of everything are what I question.
So back to my question why was this a civil war?
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