U.S.A. vs. C.S.A.

Disclaimer: The mention of the Confederacy in this content does not imply a political/ideological stance.

The U.S. in 1860 was a completely different country than it is today. There was no Alaska or Hawaii, and the west, save for California, Kansas, and Texas, was all U.S. territory. A U.S. territory is a part of the country that is not a state or federal district and has limited representation in the federal government. Also, one single ideology divided the country, pro-slavery and anti-slavery. Slavery is the action of making people do chores and labor work without any pay granted, and in the U.S., slaves were not even considered human. All the slaves shared two major characteristics: they were black-skinned Africans, and they lived/worked in the South. See, pro-slavery people usually lived in the southern part of the country, while anti-slavery people usually lived in the north. This caused a huge rift between the North and the South, and the presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln did not help. Lincoln was a radical abolitionist and the South hated him. So when Lincoln was elected, it was the final straw.

South Carolina was the first to secede, declaring secession on December 20, 1860, followed by 4 more states in January 1861 and 2 more in February. The same month, 6 of the 7 states formed the Confederate States of America, with the 7th joining in March. They started seizing all U.S. federal property in their boundaries, and soon only one was left: Fort Sumter, S. Carolina. The C.S.A. demanded the fort to surrender and give itself to them, but the soldiers did not. The C.S.A. decided to attack, and the American Civil War officially started.

The U.S. mobilized and called people to join the army. In response, 4 slave states that had remained in the Union seceded, from May-June 1861. In August, the Arizona Territory was proclaimed by the C.S.A., but they never really had control over it.

When Virginia seceded, some counties in the northwest wanted to stay in the U.S. They started meeting to discuss joining the U.S. again. This culminated in West Virginia becoming the 35th state of the U.S. in May 1863.

The C.S.A. eventually lost territory to the U.S.: they lost the Mississippi River and New Orleans to General Grant, and they lost a strip of land running from Chattanooga, Tennesse to Savannah, Georgia to General Sherman. Virginia was slowly taken, with the C.S.A.'s capital of Richmond being abandoned. Finally, General Lee of the Southern army surrendered to General Grant, and the Civil War was over. It was the deadliest war in American history, with over 600,000 casualties, more than both the World Wars combined.

Slavery was abolished throughout the whole country, but prejudice against the black community remains till today. There were laws preventing black-skinned people to have many basic rights, like the right to vote. Then, many people stood up for their cause, and the country today is equal.

By Mihir Gupta