Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 12

How Do We See God’s Providential Hand in the Start of the Civil War?

A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. (Proverbs 15:18, KJV)

While the first shot was fired by the Confederates at Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861, it was the instigation of the Northern states that resulted in the start of the hostilities. Seven Southern states seceded from the Union (including SC) and Fort Sumter was under Union control prior to the start of the war. Abraham Lincoln sent supplies to Fort Sumter even though doing so would be considered an act of foreign aggression since the fort was in a Confederate State. When General P.G.T. Beauregard from the South issued an ultimatum to Union Major Robert Anderson to surrender the fort or else be attacked, Anderson refused to yield. This resulted in firing on the fort, thus marking the start of the war.

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 11

How Do We See God’s Providential Hand in the Events Leading Up to the Civil War?

Painting: Leaving Home by Gilbert Gaul, found at http://www.military-art.com/mall/more.php?ProdID=6131

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17, KJV)

The theological compromises within the American churches coupled with the church splits along the regional lines between North and South set the stage for the Civil War. Without a strong theology, the Church did not speak from the basis of biblical authority to the issues of the day. With division in the church, unity was directly weakened within the nation. These two problems within the Church were major components of the backdrop of the Civil War.

In addition to the problems within the church, there were also economic and political tensions between the states in the North and those in the South. These events demonstrate the truth of God’s Holy Word which teaches that judgment begins at the house of God and then spreads to those that are not followers of the Lord God Almighty. God’s hand of providence can be seen through the events leading up to the Civil War as He shows us His faithfulness to His Word.

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 9

What Does Karl Marx Have to Do With the Civil War?

• 
  Karl Marx supported the Union Army, the Republican Party, and Abraham Lincoln
• After Lincoln’s re-election in 1864, a letter was sent congratulating him on this victory by the International Workingmen’s Association penned by Karl Marx
• In this letter, Marx referred to Lincoln as “the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world.”
• The move toward a more centralized government power represented by Abraham Lincoln was a necessary step toward socialism

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 8

Did Abraham Lincoln Hold to the Conviction that Owning Slaves was Immoral?

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.” - Abraham Lincoln in a letter to Horace Greeley on August 22, 1862

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 7

What Evidence Is There That the Civil War Was Not About Slavery?

If Civil War was intended to end slavery, then how are the following explained:

• Why did the Emancipation Proclamation first go into effect more than a year and a half after the start of the war?
• Why did Emancipation Proclamation only free slaves in states that were in rebellion to the United States rather than all slaves?
• Why did the Emancipation Proclamation allow for Southern states to keep their slaves if they would re-join the Union?
• Why did the Emancipation Proclamation have a specific provision for allowing the slaves to enlist in the Union Army?

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 6

What Was the Emancipation Proclamation and What Did It Do?

• The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order drafted by Abraham Lincoln that went into effect on January 1, 1863
• It freed only those slaves that were held in Southern states (those that were deemed in rebellion to the United States) - NOT in the Northern states, which are referred to as the “border states”.
• The border states were the slave-holding Union states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia
• It allowed those slaves freed from the South to enlist in the Union Army
• It was enacted “as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion”

Liberty Day History Display from 2011--pt. 5

Was the Civil War About Slavery?

No, not really. A complex set of circumstances were present between the North and the South which led to the conflict that saw nearly 620,000 people die. The popular view that the Civil War was a conflict over slavery with the North wanting to provide freedom to those people that were enslaved in the South is a distortion of the truth. The issue of slavery did play an important role in the Civil War. However, the fight over slavery between the North and South centered on who had the jurisdiction over the institution of slavery in the individual states. The South embraced the position that the states should be sovereign and that the federal government was overstepping its rightful bounds by attempting to regulate and restrict slavery in all states. The North believed that the centralized federal government held the right to dictate this policy to the states.