The following are post from other students who have answered the original Research Forum questions.

• Please reply to each student post in forum #1 and #2, it must be at least 25 words in length for each response and it should add to the conversation (not just be a statement of agreement).

 

Research Forum #1: Civil War

Was the U.S. Civil War unavoidable?  What was the ultimate cause of the Civil War.  Explain your answer.

          1)JK

            Everything in history happens for a reason. Though the south could have separated from the             United States due to their dire support for slavery, the event of the Civil War occurring would           have still been unavoidable. It would be an unavoidable event because there would be a constant debate about whether to allow or disallow slavery. More specifically, the “dispute   over the future of slavery…led to succession and secession brought about a war”. The             disputes were between government and the region of where people lived. Lincoln and the            creation of the 13^th amendment to abolish slavery were major factors that causes the war to escalate. In addition the disputes between political parties, economic success differences,      and miscommunication between leaders such as the attack of the ship, the Star of the             West, lead to the civil war becoming a historical event.

            2)JeCl

            The Civil war was inevitable and could not be avoided. The southerners were very   concerned in their farming and how to maintain the free labor that they were getting from the   slaves. The Northerners on the other hand were completely against slavery and wanted to    put an end to it. Because of these opposing views it caused great tension between the North      and the South. Even if the Civil war didn’t happen when it did it would have happened             eventually. With how strongly both sides felt about their positions there was no way for them    to live together in peace. An article titled Civil War Facts states “The Civil War started             because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of          the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.”

 

Research Forum #2: British Support

At the beginning of the Civil War, many leaders of the Confederacy believed the British might support them against the North.  Why?

          1)RB

            After succeeding from the union the south wanted to be recognized as its own independent             nation. For this to happen other countries and nations also had to recognize the confederacy          as its own independent entity. By gaining the support of the British the confederacy would            not only have an ally in war but they would also have an economic support system. The    south sensed support from Britain due to the increasing number of political officials such as ”    Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, the head of the British government during the Civil War,        leaned toward recognizing the Confederacy despite Britain’s stated neutrality.” The south tried several times to convince the nation to recognize the confederacy, however, in the end,     it fell on deaf ears and Britain remained neutral throughout the rest of the war.

            2)AC

            Again the issue is slavery, black slaves were imported as early as 1619.  So within the British             Empire slavery was already being used as a labor source. The Caribbean island colonies    were the ones that introduced slavery to the English colonies. When tobacco in Virginia          became in high demand so did the need for slave labor. Planters were using indentured servants until they left after the seven-year term ended and they were given their own land.     When the English saw that North America had an abundance of land, thousands left England   in search of the New World. New England settlers had already been using slaves and some        even brought their slaves with them. Tobacco was still the stronger crop and proved to be             profitable for the European demand. 

            “Before the Civil War, the Southern states were selling a lot of cotton to England and didn’t seem to mind British occupation. By and large, the Revolutionary War wasn’t at all great for business.” – Henry Rollins

 

 

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The following are post from other students who have answered the original Opinion Forum questions.

• Please reply to each student post in forum #1 and #2, it must be at least 25 words in length for each response and it should add to the conversation (not just be a statement of agreement).

 

Opinion Forum #1: Virginia

Would the Confederacy have survived even one year if Virginia had not joined?

1)JC

It is possible that the Confederacy would not have lasted many months without the addition                         of Virginia to the group. The capital of the C.S.A. moved from Montgomery to its more         permanent location in Richmond, Virginia in May of 1961.  Richmond was a bigger         metropolis and was a center for the southern economic industry.  In the four years as capital,      it grew to 100,000 citizens.  After the city fell to the Union Army, the capital of the Confederacy moved to Danville–also in Virginia.  The state of Virginia provided a major line         of support for the South’s economy, expansion of slavery, and physical population.  While             Jefferson Davis and others believed the capital of the Confederacy should have been in the            heart of the region, like Alabama or Georgia, the strength of Virginia provided the South with        a huge boost in resources.  Without it, the Confederacy may not have survived nearly as      long.

2)MM

I do not think that the confederacy would have survived without the joining of Virginia.          Virginia was a very wealthy state and joining with them would make the south a wealthier.           The southerners in Virginia changed the capital from Alabama to Virginia which the name of       the capitol is Richmond. Most of the battles of the American Civil War took place in Virginia          because the confederacy was defending their capital of Richmond. Virginia was a very            strong state and there were many different wars to start and end in Virginia. Having Virginia           added to the south was one of the best decisions for the south the help protect their own.

 

Opinion Forum #2: The 1864 Election

What might have happened if Lincoln had lost the 1864 election?

 

          1)MF

          In the world of pure speculation: Although George B. McClellan spoke of desired peace in his         letter of acceptance in regards to the Democratic nomination, it was clearly spelled out that                      was ONLY possible if the Confederacy agreed to re-join the Union – if however, they were        unwilling to do that, he would have continued the fight if elected (despite his less than          successful prior efforts during the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam, and encouragement by others in his party to consider additional negotiations no doubt ). “If a           frank, earnest and persistent effort to obtain those objects should fail, the responsibility for          superior consequences will fall upon those who remain in arms against the Union.  But the             Union must be preserved at all hazards. “ – Considering the fact too that Grant forced Lee to surrender only a month after the inauguration (in the actual timeline of events, non-alternate             reality), I think things were headed in that direction regardless of who was about to take      office, and the Union would have still won. As for the issue of emancipation, he opposed the     outright abolition of slavery, so although I absolutely do think *eventually people of color would have been given their freedom, I find it highly unlikely that it would have been during his presidency. 

            2)ZG

          If Lincoln would have lost the election of 1864, I believe that slavery would have continued to             expand the economy of the south. I do believe that eventually slavery would be abolished   even without Lincoln as a president. I believe that the delay of the abolition of slavery would         have put a delay on the black civil rights movement as a whole. I believe that it would have    set the entire process back and today the way that black and white people interact would be      completely different. This small change would have completely altered the course of the   African Americans in the united states.