The Northern States were dominated by successful industries and manufacturing. The Southern states on the other hand, were based on an economy that was not as well established, cotton. Farmers relied on black slaves to harvest cotton as they offered inexpensive labor. Growing popularity for the abolitionism of slavery in the 1830’s caused many southerners to fear for the demise of their agricultural economy. Southerners defended slavery by claiming that slaves were incompetent of surviving on their own and that they would overrun political seats and other jobs. Southerners even used the constitution to justify slavery claiming that slaves were property that could be used to the liking of the slaveholder. Lastly, slaves were portrayed to seem as if they enjoy life as a black slave laborer. However, the North did not have the same view of slavery and the different ideologies of the North and South in regards to slavery caused further tension between the two factions. Tension in the south heightened as there was fear of slave resistance. Domestic …show more content…
Lincoln ordered a regime to resupply the fort and Confederate troops fired the first shots of the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy. Both the Confederacy and Union thought that the war would end quickly and therefore, neither side prepared to fight a war that would last four years. The Union quickly lost soldiers due to casualties and the lack of volunteers. Abolitionists were quick to offer an idea that would revolutionize the war effort, the enlistment of black troops. The Militia Act of 1862 did just that and blacks were allowed to enlist in the Union’s army. The idea of armed blacks caused uproar among the south. The Confederate south feared that the slaves would turn on their masters as well as leave the farms in search for freedom and enlistment in the North. The Confederate reaction was harsh to prevent black enlistment into the Union’s army. In 1864, a Confederate regimen defeats a Union regimen consisting of white and black troops at Fort Pillow. The white troops are taken as prisoners and the black troops are executed to warn off other blacks from enlisting against the Confederacy. Black enlistment among the Union was successful as they had established a good relationship with the