The Civil War The United States - 1622 Words

The Civil War divided the United States with its’ origin in the struggle to preserve the Union from the Confederacy’s succession. A war to maintain the United States quickly progressed to battles fought because of the controversial beliefs on slavery in the North and South. In the coming of the Civil War there were questions and confusion that many Americans were faced with in the words of the South’s succession. During the war, families were torn due to the men lost to the Union or Confederate causes. At the resolution of the Civil War, Southern states were forced to reshape their economies that were once dependent on slave labor. What are referred to as two communities in the Civil War, on the boarder between opposing forces, the people†¦show more content†¦Finally, with the emancipation of slaves in 1863, the people of Augusta County had to reshape their economy with the introduction of thousands of newly freed slaves. The economy in Augusta County de pended on the slave industry prior to the Civil War through the selling of slaves to fellow slave states. Slavery in the United States can be traced back to the 1600s in New England, Chesapeake, and the Carolinas as a dynamic institution. After the emancipation of the Atlantic Slave Trade, slavery gradually began to disappear in the Northern states and was isolated in the Southern states. Because there was no other way of trading slaves throughout the South, the states began to sell slaves to slave owners in other states. â€Å"Slavery provided the economic backbone for Augusta’s farms† (Torget and Ayers 3). About a quarter of the families in the county owned at least one slave who worked their fields. According to the population statistics for 1860, out of Augusta’s total population of 27,749, 5,616 people were enslaved (â€Å"Population Statistics for 1860† 291). Much of Augusta’s income relied on the selling and trading of slaves. A slave from A ugusta County, Mary Perkins, writes to her husband Richard about the sale of their son and of how she and her second child are also now for sale. â€Å"My master has sold Albert to a trader on Monday. I want you to tell Dr. Hamelton or your master if either will buy me†