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Frequently asked questions

Many of these questions arise frequently on the talk page concerning the American Civil War.

To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question.

Q1: Should slavery be presented as the most important cause of the war? (Yes.)

A1: Yes. Slavery was the most important cause of the war. Wikipedia requires that we rely on the best officially documented research available, without any original research or undue weight to fringe theories.

After the war, some movements sought to advance Lost Cause interpretations, arguing that the Confederacy was not primarily fighting to defend slavery. While these have been popular in some quarters, the vast majority of historians do not support these interpretations, including best historians (McPherson, Nevins, Freehling and even the better Southern historians such as Potter). Ironically, during the crisis that led to the outbreak of war, Confederate politicians openly presented preservation of slavery as the central issue, in their own words. They mentioned fears for the future of slavery many times in their declarations of reasons for secession, political speeches and editorials. Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Stephens had the following to say:

"You think slavery is right and should be extended; while we think slavery is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub." - From Abraham Lincoln's letter to Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, Dec 22, 1860

"We at the South do think African slavery, as it exists with us, both morally and politically right. This opinion is founded upon the inferiority of the black race. You, however, and perhaps a majority of the North, think it wrong." - From Stephens' reply to Lincoln, Dec 30, 1860

It is true that Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis both downplayed the slavery issue after the war began. As historian James Ford Rhodes explained, Davis hoped to get support from Britain and France, where slavery was unpopular, and Lincoln needed to keep the loyalty of the border states, which were both pro-slavery and pro-Union. This is why in statements like the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, northern politicians argued they were only fighting to preserve the Union. Similarly, Lincoln's sole justification for the Emancipation Proclamation was military necessity. Holzer, Striner and Brewster note that Lincoln needed to portray the emancipation in a way that was acceptable to the border states and War Democrats.

Q2: Were tariffs and states' rights similar in importance? (No.)

A2: No. The tariff issue and states' rights were factors, and there were others. These are all included in the article. However, no issue was as important as slavery.

The original secessionists were not very careful in separating states' rights from the slavery issue. They defended both states' rights (such as secession) and federal power (such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850), depending on which suited slavery with each controversy. South Carolina's declaration of reasons for secession is one example out of many. However, Lost Cause historians did subsequently portray the Confederacy as consistent defenders of states' rights.

The tariff issue had been a much larger issue three decades before the war, and even then John Calhoun, who led South Carolina's attempt to nullify the Tariff of 1828, said that the tariff issue was related to slavery. In his March 6, 1860 speech at New Haven, Lincoln had said that the slavery issue was more important than the tariff or any other issue.

Q3: Did Lincoln propose to immediately abolish slavery in the South when elected? (No.)

A3: No. Lincoln combined moral opposition to slavery (calling it "a monstrous injustice") with a moderate, gradual program of action. Lincoln, like most Republicans, believed that compromises of the Constitution (a three-fifths clause, a 20 year extension of the African slave trade and a fugitive slave clause) implied constitutional recognition of slavery where it existed. However, Lincoln would not compromise on preventing any expansion of slavery in the hope that this would put it "in the course of ultimate extinction."

Q4: Did Lincoln believe in racial equality? (Mostly.)

A4: In the context of the 19th century, being seen as a "Black Republican" abolitionist would be politically damaging. Lincoln was inconsistent on the equality issue during the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, partly in order to deflect this charge. However, the things Lincoln said in favor of equality were many (including Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address and his Cooper Union speech), while the things he said against it were few, and those few were combined with a great deal of political pressure. While Lincoln and other northern politicians did not always advocate equality, this should not be given undue weight, especially as they wanted to give far more rights to black people than the Confederate politicians. At a July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago Lincoln said, "I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist."

Q5: Should the article refer to the states that allowed slavery as slave states? (Yes.)

A5: Yes, because their politicians referred to them as slave states, and because slavery related concerns were by far the major complaint mentioned by secessionists. After the outbreak of war, the slave states became divided between the Confederate states and the border states.

Q6: Did some slave states fight for the North? (Yes.)

A6: Yes, the five border states. These states had less slavery and more support for the Union than the Confederate slave states. They opposed emancipation at first, but largely accepted the military need for it eventually. Kentucky and Missouri had more slavery than the rest, and had loyalties that were more divided than the rest. For example, Missouri's Governor Claiborne Jackson was a southern sympathizer, but was prevented from seceding by Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. Missouri saw some of the worst guerrilla fighting of the entire war because of its divisions over slavery.

Q7: Should the title be American Civil War? (Yes.)

A7: Yes. The title "American Civil War" is used only because it is the most common international name for the war. It is used in order to be understood, regardless of whether it could be better. The title does ignore the South's point of view, and it ignores the fact that Central America and South America are also America, in a sense. The other names should be mentioned, but not in this article. They are mentioned in Naming the American Civil War. The main article links to this.

Q8: Did the South start the war? (Yes.)

A8: The South bombarded and seized Fort Sumter, a federal fort in South Carolina. Historians regard this as the incident in which the actual fighting began.

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

American Civil War was one of the Warfare good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
April 10, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
November 4, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
November 26, 2006	Good article reassessment	Delisted
December 10, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
March 22, 2007	WikiProject A-class review	Not approved
March 28, 2007	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
April 21, 2007	Good article reassessment	Kept
October 14, 2007	Good article reassessment	Kept
November 5, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
December 10, 2008	Good article reassessment	Kept
March 23, 2011	Peer review	Reviewed
July 28, 2012	Good article reassessment	Delisted
May 30, 2014	WikiProject A-class review	Demoted
December 12, 2015	Peer review	Reviewed
May 25, 2021	Good article nominee	Not listed
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on December 20, 2004, December 20, 2005, and December 20, 2006.
Current status: Delisted good article

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Daniel Nasaw (4 April 2012). "Who, What, Why: How many soldiers died in the US Civil War?". BBC.

The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Leonard, Elizabeth D. (1999). All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies (1st ed.). W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-3930-4712-1.

There is a request, submitted by Catfurball, for an audio version of this article to be created. For further information, see WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia.

The rationale behind the request is: "Important".

Truth

Am not an American, but I study history. The fact that you don’t mention the truth about the civil war scares me. The war was between republicans who sacrificed their lives for emancipation and the right of black people to be free, and to vote and be elected and the leftist, extremist, elitists, feudarchs , communists democrats, who wanted to spread slavery everywhere. Everyone knows that, so do you. History can be manipulated by Nancy Pelosi, shifty Shiff, Schumer and other but it cannot really change 83.168.31.218 (talk) 18:14, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

We do say it was about slavery. In the second line of the lede, in fact. Slatersteven (talk) 18:15, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

search up August Willich if u really think that confederacy supported the confederacy 192.30.165.53 (talk) 04:10, 17 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You do realize that "emancipation and the right of black people to be free, and to vote and be elected " were LEFTIST positions back then? You do realize that the Republican party then and the Republican party now are very different? And the same goes for the Democratic party. I am also very confused as to how you think elitism and feudalism can be the same as communism and what ANY of them have to do with this question.

Semi-protected edit request on 27 August 2023

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

‹ The template Edit semi-protected is being considered for merging. ›

This is a lie as there was already talks and both parties agreeing

The civil war was started because of land and taxes. Slavery wasnt even a part of it at first as the north and whitehouse itself had slaves. It was used 2 years after the war had already started as a military tactic. 2603:8080:4701:3C18:BD0D:D72:6F1C:C6B2 (talk) 15:46, 27 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Odd then that RS (And even the stated declarations of secession) disagree. Slatersteven (talk) 15:48, 27 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Not done. No reliable sources provided. –CWenger (^ • @) 16:32, 27 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

America civil war

America 202.142.122.53 (talk) 13:36, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I am unsure what you want us to say, care to elaborate? Slatersteven (talk) 13:39, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

US Civil War

It was the US or United States Civil War, not the "American" Civil War. There is no country called America. Calling someone an American can be anyone from the Western hemisphere of the world not just the people of the United States, Mexicans, Canadians, even Cubans are all Americans. 2600:8807:888C:4F00:E033:31EF:B7DB:C46A (talk) 20:18, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

First sentence of Americans: “Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America”. Title is perfectly fine. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 20:27, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree.

I understand the confusion about "American". There are some sources like Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary that state that the noun American refers to people from North or South America here.

1. an American Indian of North America or South America

2. a native or inhabitant of North America or South America

3. a native or inhabitant of the U.S. : a U.S. citizen

In practice, though, Canadians don't refer to themselves as Americans. They commonly use "Canadian". The same is true of Mexicans, they commonly refer to themselves as Mexicans.–CaroleHenson (talk) 15:55, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Almost all books call it the ACW. Slatersteven (talk) 16:00, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Citation issue

Citation 364, under the Reconstruction section of the article, isn't properly cited. It doesn't follow proper format or even use a link. Can someone fix it? I'm currently writing an essay and don't have the time to do this myself. RteeeeKed 💬📖 19:45, 7 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 20 September 2023

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

‹ The template Edit semi-protected is being considered for merging. ›

Please insert a "|" in the following citation template:

{{Cite book |last= Hunt |first = Jeffrey Wm |title = The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch |date=2015 |publisher =University of Texas Press|location= Austinisbn=978-0-292-73461-6}}

so it looks like:

{{Cite book |last= Hunt |first = Jeffrey Wm |title = The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch |date=2015 |publisher =University of Texas Press|location= Austin|isbn=978-0-292-73461-6}}

and renders like:

Hunt, Jeffrey Wm (2015). The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-73461-6.

Thank you 76.14.122.5 (talk) 23:44, 20 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. –CWenger (^ • @) 23:51, 20 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 155: / Line 155: @@
 Am not an American, but I study history. The fact that you don’t mention the truth about the civil war scares me. The war was between republicans who sacrificed their lives for emancipation and the right of black people to be free, and to vote and be elected and the leftist, extremist, elitists,  feudarchs , communists democrats, who wanted to spread slavery everywhere. Everyone knows that, so do you. History can be manipulated by Nancy Pelosi, shifty Shiff, Schumer and other but it cannot really change [[Special:Contributions/83.168.31.218|83.168.31.218]] ([[User talk:83.168.31.218|talk]]) 18:14, 21 August 2023 (UTC)
 :We do say it was about slavery. In the second line of the lede, in fact. [[User:Slatersteven|Slatersteven]] ([[User talk:Slatersteven|talk]]) 18:15, 21 August 2023 (UTC)
+:search up August Willich if u really think that confederacy supported the confederacy [[Special:Contributions/192.30.165.53|192.30.165.53]] ([[User talk:192.30.165.53|talk]]) 04:10, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 :search up August Willich if u really think that confederacy supported the confederacy [[Special:Contributions/192.30.165.53|192.30.165.53]] ([[User talk:192.30.165.53|talk]]) 04:10, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 :You do realize that "emancipation and the right of black people to be free, and to vote and be elected " were LEFTIST positions back then? You do realize that the Republican party then and the Republican party now are very different? And the same goes for the Democratic party. I am also very confused as to how you think elitism and feudalism can be the same as communism and what ANY of them have to do with this question.