Hello Dear Aaron,
How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. We are all doing well here in Mississippi. We had a good year of harvest.
I have an exciting news for you: your other brother, John, has joined the glorious Confederate army. As you might have heard, Mississippi, together with another 10 states, have seceded the Union and formed the Confederate States of America since this Februrary. We can no longer tolerate the northern antislavery activities, or the abolitionist president, Lincoln. Although he promised not to touch slavery in southern states, we still believed that he eventually would. And now with our new constitution, though slave trade has been prohibited in order to win support from France and Britain, protection over slavery is finally guaranteed. Our new president, Jefferson Davis, is a former war hero and a planter from Mississippi (be proud). He favored the 1850 Compromise, and is also a strong supporter of our right of secession. Most of us trust his leadership, and are preparing for the war. The war is going to be tough, but we believe that victory belongs to us.
Jefferson Davis
Map of Confederate States
Sincerely,
Your brother, William
I'm very glad as I read this letter. On one hand, I'm glad that my little brother John has joined the Confederate army. And on the other hand, it's good to know that my family is still awaiting for me to go back. This year, Kansas finally joined the Union as a free state. That upsets me a lot, and now I have to quit the plantation and find another way of life.
The war between the Union and the Confederacy has already started. Before Lincoln stepped into office this March, South Carolina left the Union along with 6 other southern states. Although a senator named Crittenden made an effort to keep the Union by proposing an amendment that allowed slavery in western territories south of the Missouri Compromise line, Lincoln opposed this plan and it was voted down in the end. I think the southern states made the right choice by seceding the Union. Only in this way can they protect slavery and keep their ways of living. And also, I believe that Lincoln holds part of the responsibility which resulted in the failure of a final compromise. If he did not insist to keep all the western territories free, the South would not be as furious, and some states might not later join the Confederacy.
On March 4th, Lincoln took office and gave a speech that showed intention to preserve the Union, although stating that he opposed violence. Personally, I do not trust him at all -- in what other way can he keep the Union, besides going to war?
My concerns turned out to be true after Fort Sumter fell. Fort Sumter, one of the only 4 southern forts that remained in the Union, was the guard of Charleston Harbor. This small fort has been running out of supplies since early this year. The soldiers asked for supplies, and Lincoln made a smart decision (I have to admit) to only send food but no arms to the fort. However, President Lincoln still failed to keep his promise of peace. In April, the Confederacy ordered Fort Sumter to surrender, but the Union troops refused to do so. As a result, the Confederate troops fired, which caused the fort to fall. In response to the anger among northerners, Lincoln declared war against Confederacy on April 15.
Fall of Fort Sumter
While Lincoln was calling for volunteers to fight the war, the South was also preparing for war by raising troops and money. Besides, four more states joined Confederacy.
A video summarizing the first battle of the war:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv-pTU99RcY
In my opinion, secession of the South as well as the war are both inevitable. The tension between free and slave states have existed for decades, and nobody had actually made effective effort to improve the situation. The imbalance between slave states and free states became more and more intolerable, and the southerners have felt threatened because their properties and their way of living might be taken away if the North further advance in their antislavery activities. Although the South fired first, I still blame the North for starting the war because they broke the balance. The southern planters were just trying to make a living out of slavery -- and obviously, the abolitionists did not see their hardships. They kept forging their beliefs, and caused states like Kansas to be free. I also blame the federal government of the Union, for they never made a serious effort to keep the balance. Political strategies like popular sovereignty can never be the true solution to the problem. If the federal government had insisted more on protecting the south, the situation wouldn't have been as bad. I'm not calling for dictatorship, but I don't think ignoring the needs of the minority (which is almost half of the country) is true democracy, either.
Now since the war has started, there's no way to go back. The war, actually, has given me the inspiration to realize my dream to serve the nation that I have always had since childhood. I will go back to my home in Mississippi, and join the Confederacy army, just like my brother. I will do my best, even sacrifice my life, to protect my home, my family, and what I believe is right.
Bibliography
Currier & Ives. Bombardment of Fort Sumter. 1861. History Today. Web. 7 Feb.
2016. <http://www.historytoday.com/marcus-cunliffe/
causes-american-civil-war>.
Jefferson Davis. N.d. National Archives and Records Administration. National
Park Service. Web. 7 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nps.gov/resources/
person.htm?id=173>.
Kritzer, Lauren. Fort Sumter and the Civil War. YouTube. YouTube.com, 19 Aug.
2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=cv-pTU99RcY>.
"Map of the Civil War." Map. Evan's Civil War Project. Weebly.com, n.d. Web. 7
Feb. 2016. <http://evanscivilwarprojectwebsite.weebly.com/>.
Was secession justified?
ReplyDeleteI think secession was justified, and it was also the best choice for the South. The southerners believed that slavery was the most important element for southern economy, but the North was trying to force them give up on it. The people should have the right to make these fatal decisions for their own states. If their benefits and beliefs were threatened by an outside force, they should take a step to defend themselves. And since the free states own more power in Congress, it was nearly impossible for the South to get what they really wanted for themselves. Therefore, secession seemed to be the most reasonable action at the time.
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