¶ … Peace without Victory, 1861-1865," author James M. McPherson discusses the American Civil War and the desire on both sides to achieve peace. Wars are far more easily begun than ended. The North was fighting in order to keep the Union together and to thwart further states from seceding. The South was fighting for what they believed to be their moral right: to govern according to their own ethics, including the right to own slaves. For the Civil War, the stakes were so high that neither side was willing to negotiate a peaceful conclusion until there was absolutely no recourse but to do so. There were three stages of negotiation attempts during the Civil War. The first was foreign mediation, then unofficial contacts, and finally quasi-official conversations. From a foreign perspective, it was believed that the North had very little chance of restoring the United States of America into a single nation. Part of the reason that other countries, Great Britain in particular, chose to side with the South was because of economic interest. McPherson points to the fact that 75% of cotton in England was imported to Great Britain from the American South. France also believed that the "North could never reestablish control over 750,000 square miles of territory defended by a determined and courageous people" (4). Support then for the South from outside sources was the result of economic self-interest rather than...
Women and the Home Front in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee during the Civil War This paper examines the living conditions and attitudes that shaped the lives of the women in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee during and after the American Civil War. The thesis statement should deal with the breakdown of long standing ties between the people of the mountains as they chose to fight for the
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