Process Paper
The little amount of knowledge I had about the Civil War drove me to the topic of the causes of secession. At first I wanted to know why the Southern states felt the need to detach from the Union, but as I began my research, I realized I also wanted to find the reasons for sectionalism within the nation.
For the research part I first scanned encyclopedia articles like Wikipedia to get a general sense on the causes of secession. This assisted me in collecting information of possible sources I could use and understanding the actual Southern secession itself. Search engines like Bing and Google helped me when I was searching for primary and secondary sources. When using these search engines I did encounter a few problems. One was that the sources would not be specific enough to my topic, but rather discussing the transition from the secession of Southern states to the Civil War. Another problem I had was that some of the websites I looked at seemed as if they were bias on the topic. Usually these sources seemed to be favoring the South’s side in regards to their secession. While facts were evident, many opinions laid within the context. In order to fix this issue, I skimmed over my following sources to make sure they had no reason to distort the information. One book which I found was the most reliable and valuable was about the progress towards secession written by William L. Barney, who is a highly acclaimed history professor. I knew I could rely on its content which helped me greatly in answering the different elements which led to secession, like the issue of the expansion of slavery. Currently in the process of my research I am trying to find more primary sources that are not just Declarations, but sources that have politicians discussing their thoughts on the disagreements between the Northern and Southern states. My newest discovery was a book written on the Confederate ordeal. It helped me understand how the Southern states felt emotionally pre-civil war. I am still in the process of researching and so I will try to find more information on specific events or acts that caused tension and sectionalism to rise between the North and the South.
I chose to work individually because I did not want to burden anyone with my busy schedule.
Regional differences separated the North and the South making it easy for disagreements on the expansion of slavery and tariffs to further increase sectionalism within the nation. America became politically and socially divided, and when the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured enough electoral votes for Abraham Lincoln to win Presidency with very little support from the South, it immediately triggered the secession of Southern states. It was because of these Southern states detaching from the Union which caused the Civil War, a war in which the death toll of American men surpassed the combined losses of all other wars in which America has been engaged.
For the research part I first scanned encyclopedia articles like Wikipedia to get a general sense on the causes of secession. This assisted me in collecting information of possible sources I could use and understanding the actual Southern secession itself. Search engines like Bing and Google helped me when I was searching for primary and secondary sources. When using these search engines I did encounter a few problems. One was that the sources would not be specific enough to my topic, but rather discussing the transition from the secession of Southern states to the Civil War. Another problem I had was that some of the websites I looked at seemed as if they were bias on the topic. Usually these sources seemed to be favoring the South’s side in regards to their secession. While facts were evident, many opinions laid within the context. In order to fix this issue, I skimmed over my following sources to make sure they had no reason to distort the information. One book which I found was the most reliable and valuable was about the progress towards secession written by William L. Barney, who is a highly acclaimed history professor. I knew I could rely on its content which helped me greatly in answering the different elements which led to secession, like the issue of the expansion of slavery. Currently in the process of my research I am trying to find more primary sources that are not just Declarations, but sources that have politicians discussing their thoughts on the disagreements between the Northern and Southern states. My newest discovery was a book written on the Confederate ordeal. It helped me understand how the Southern states felt emotionally pre-civil war. I am still in the process of researching and so I will try to find more information on specific events or acts that caused tension and sectionalism to rise between the North and the South.
I chose to work individually because I did not want to burden anyone with my busy schedule.
Regional differences separated the North and the South making it easy for disagreements on the expansion of slavery and tariffs to further increase sectionalism within the nation. America became politically and socially divided, and when the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured enough electoral votes for Abraham Lincoln to win Presidency with very little support from the South, it immediately triggered the secession of Southern states. It was because of these Southern states detaching from the Union which caused the Civil War, a war in which the death toll of American men surpassed the combined losses of all other wars in which America has been engaged.