2.2 War
The elaboration that will be presented in this subchapter is war. It explains about the definition of war and civil war, the cause and effects of the Civil War. The
explanation of each is shown as the following elaboration:
2.2.1 War and Civil War Definition
War has many interpretations. They can be positive or negative. The positive one is, for example, war against drugs and race discrimination. But war that the writer
discusses here is war in general meaning. War is a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations http:www.merriam-
webster.comdictionarywar, November 25, 2008.
The term ‘Civil War’ is confusing, because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat having its roots in; political, economic, social,
and psychological elements that were so complex that historians still do not agree on its basic causes. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward,
as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment, the Civil War was viewed as criminally bad, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and
blundering politicians www.patriotic-flags.com, December 24, 2008. According to Liebman and Young 1966:296 a Civil War is a kind of war that happens
between two sides of the same country. From the definition of war and civil war above, it can be concluded that
civil war is a kind of war that involves two or more groups of societies in the same country. This war can be caused by many motives, for example; economic,
politic, social, and racism problems.
2.2.2 America in the Middle Period of Nineteenth Century
In the middle period of nineteenth century, thousands immigrants came to America to live and participate in the great experiment of being freemen. Those
migrating people turned the wildness into cultivated land. They were hardworking people. They built cities, invented new tools, dug canals, built railroads, and
established schools and colleges. They organized a workable government under a writing constitution, to live democratic manner, pursue their best ambitions, and
reach towards their ideals Magenis, 1960:214.
Magenis 1960:216 states that America was growing ever more prosperously as new inventions could speed up crop production, industry,
transportation, and trade by welcoming the migrating people to this land. But besides this progress, rumbles could be detected that gave foreboding in near
future. That was a sectional struggle. The rapid development and the growth of America made this states become industrialists, especially in the North. In
contrast, the South was growing plantation. It made slaves be needed to cultivate the crops. It is because they were cheap labors. It was the reason why slavery
became the major problem which brought the different principals between North and South. This basic difference brought forth the starting conflict between the
South and the North and was the root causing of the American Civil War. From the description above, the writer can summarize that America in the
middle period of nineteen century had developed better transportations which later brought America into a significant progress of industrialist, especially in the
North. In contrast, the South, constantly, developed agricultural economy.
2.2.3 The American Civil War
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