What was the Union army fighting for in the US Civil War?

Answer 1

The Civil War happened because of slavery. The United States was divided into two sections: The Slaveholding South and the Abolitionist (anti-slavery) North. When Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, the South knew they wouldn't be able to keep their slaves (because Lincoln promised to end slavery). They seceded from the United States and became their own country, the Confederate States of America. President Lincoln saw this as an act of war and sent the American (Union) Army to the South to forcibly bring back the Southern States. The Confederate Army retaliated, wanting to stay their own, independent country. The four years of fighting between the Union and the Confederates was the Civil War.

As I had said before, The two main reasons were economics and Federal power over States power. The issue of slavery, while VERY important, was the "poster boy" for the war. A Hot Button issue everyone could relate to on a visceral level. Government power and economics were NOT as easily understood.

Answer 2

The answer below defines the words associated with the US Civil War. It also amends the errors of a previous answer that claimed the war happened because of slavery, and that President Lincoln was going to end slavery.

* abolitionists were a vocal minority of people against slavery, others who simply believed slavery was immoral, were just that, they were not called abolitionists. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a moderate who was troubled by the lack of peaceful solutions to the issue of slavery. Most men joining the Union army did not risk their lives and cause extreme stress to their families for the sake of freeing people from slavery.

* During the US Civil War, four states who did not join the Confederacy and the Union capitol, Washington DC had slaves. These four states that did not join the Confederacy were not effected by the several versions of the Emancipation Proclamation.

* President Lincoln tried in vain during the war to free their slaves gradually over the course of as much as two generations, even with compensation paid to the slave owners. These states refused to bargain with President Lincoln.

* President Lincoln never promised to end slavery. This fabrication has no basis in fact.

* The South believed that as the nation expanded, the South and slavery would be marginalized .

* President Lincoln first saw the conflict as a rebellion, and believed that 75,000 volunteers, enlisted for three months would end the rebellion.

* The US Supreme Court ruled that the conflict became a "war" in July, 1861. The Confederacy recognized that a state of war existed in may, 1861.

* Northerners enlisted in the US Army to end the conflict and ensure the United States would remain intact.

* Slavery became an issue in the war when President Lincoln believed that an emancipation proclamation would be a measure to help end the conflict.