What was the Civil War like for civilians?

How did civilians become participants, willingly or

unwillingly, in the war? How was the Southern experience different than the Northern
experience? Keep in mind that about 3.5 million Southerners were African American.
The impacts felt back home during the Civil War both in the North and in the South were
similar in many ways, and different in others. On the northern home front we see the north
struggling to continue support for the war. In the south, we surprisingly see more moderate views
from southern women, and more strain for supplies.
Another argument from South was economic. In a popular Southern magazine, The
DeBows Review, author James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow makes an argument for the
institution of slavery by outlining its social and economical importance, particularly for nonslaveholders. In his argument he suggests that if non-slaveholders lost the aspiration or
possibility of owning slaves, that they the whole concept of industry would collapse.1 He also
mentions that non-slaveholders would not be ...subjected to the competition with foreign pauper
labor, has has degraded free labor of the North2
George D. Shortridge, published in DeBows review, a piece explaining that slavery is natural in
nature. ...Negroes, being by nature lazy, listless, and indifferent, fall into servitude without
serious constraint.3 He goes on to explain that the physical makeup of African-Americans make
them natural laborers. As well, he suggests that keeping the slave institution is the only way to
promote the African-Americans happiness.4
The North took a very similar approach in communicating their point for the destruction of the
institution of slavery in the south. President Lincoln, in his Cooper Union Address in 1860, took
the constitutional approach by consulting the views and words of the Founding Fathers, As
those fathers marked it, so let it be again marked, as an evil not to be extended, but to be
tolerated and protected only because of and so far its actual presence among us makes that
toleration and protection a necessity.5 Lincoln brings up a few good points in his address, one
being that nowhere in the Constitution does it explicitly protect the institution of slavery. The
second point being that the Founding Fathers only protected slavery because it was a necessity
for the American economy, as a whole, at the time. Third, he states that, not only does America

James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow, "The Non-Slaveholders of the South: Their Interest in the Present Sectional Controversy Identical with
That of the Slaveholders," DeBow's Review, January 1861.

2 DeBow, "The Non-Slaveholders of the South.

3 George D. Shortridge, "Mr. Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and Freedom," DeBow's Review, 1859.
4

Shortridge, "Mr. Jefferson, the Declaration

5 Abraham Lincoln, "Cooper Union Address" (address, February 27, 1860).

not rely on slave economy anymore, but that very few countries are still using slavery at that
time.6
William Seward wrote in, An Irrepressible Conflict (1858) defending the new free-labor system
of the North, and how it was the correct path for America.7 His main argument is based in nature
and divine rights, The free-labor system conforms to the divine law of equality which is written
in the hearts and consiences of men, and therefore is always and everywhere beneficent.8
Whereas both sides tried meticulously, and sometimes aggressively, to get their points across,
neither gave into the others logic. The two conflicting economies, and translations of what the
Founding Fathers intended in the Constitution made it nearly impossible for either side to
understand each other. With so much difference and stubbornness, this conflict can only be seen
as irrepressible. Each side stood for different things, but used the same logic to justify their
way of thinking. It seems almost impossible to find a middle ground when two groups are
interpreting things in different ways.

Citations
DeBow, James Dunwoody Brownson. "The Non-Slaveholders of the South: Their
Interest in the Present Sectional Controversy Identical with That of the
Slaveholders." DeBow's Review, January 1861.
The Independent Press (Abbeville, SC), June 26, 1857.
6 Lincoln, "Cooper Union Address."
7 William Seward, "The Irrepressible Conflict" (speech, October 25, 1858).
8 Seward, "The Irrepressible Conflict."

Lincoln, Abraham. "Cooper Union Address." Address, February 27, 1860.

Seward, William. "The Irrepressible Conflict." Speech, October 25, 1858.
Shortridge, George D. "Mr. Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and
Freedom." DeBow's Review, 1859.
Toombs, Robert. Speech, Tremont Temple, Boston, MA, January 24, 1856.