The American Civil War was a milestone in the history of not only the United States, but the world as well. The Civil War set in stone, the position the United States would take in the world community. The end result of the war, securing the Union, verified that the U.S. would remain a large country with a foundational federal government to regulate all of the states" laws and economies. The North and South each held different positions as to why they fought the war. The North in general wanted to keep the Union intact. While the South, in contrast, wanted to secede from the Union in order to practice their agricultural tradition of using slave labor to gain prosperity in the world market. Through the bloodiest battles in American history, the goals of the Northern and Southern counterparts were either achieved or failed.
The goals of the North (a.k.a. Union), seem more logical than those of the South, (a.k.a. Confederacy). The most logical reason for the North's cause was simply to preserve the Union. Reasons for preserving the Union included a dependency on the South for agricultural goods and a business market. Other important reasons included a fierce rivalry between the North and the South as result of fierce disputes on the topic of slavery and the South Carolina Tariff nullification. In the North, where there was an abolitionist movement led by men like William Lloyd Garrison, slavery was protested against as immoral and irrational. In 1857, The Dred Scott decision made by the Supreme Court expanded the issue of slavery. The decision declared slaves were property and could not sue in any court. This decision was one of the many reasons abolitionists started their movement. Many of these abolitionist groups fought for the poor class that was forced to compete with the cheap slave labor. Therefore, the lower class supported the abandonment of slavery, as well as other religious folk and politicians.