There is a common misinterpretation in America today that the Civil War was fought solely to free and help slaves. Yet the Union Proclamation of Emancipation was a catalyst for winning the war for the cause of maintaining the unity of the states, not the other way around. Through careful investigation of documented opinions and conversations, one can clearly take the position that most of the Union did not fight for comrades or for the abolition of slavery, but rather for to rule the disobedient South. Both sides undoubtedly had diverse and common reasons within the Union and the Confederacy. But for the most part, the South was struggling to keep its customs and living conditions alive and prosperous, which for it meant separating itself from the progressive, industrial North. On the other hand, the Union was divided between racist soldiers who fought to preserve their great, united nation and those who were committed to helping their black comrades. There is no doubt that soldiers on both sides fought wholeheartedly to gain or maintain control of the South. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The real reason the Union entered a war against the Confederacy was because, as Lincoln said, “ a house divided against itself cannot stand.” for he feared that the whole government would collapse if divided, and he refused this outcome. Lincoln was an extremely intelligent man, especially when it came to political tactics because "with the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln transformed a limited war for reunification into an all-out war against slavery" (Biography of America, Civil War) . At a time when rights were being debated and missionaries were spread across the country, Lincoln knew he would have the majority party against the Confederacy. For in the North there were those who did not want the South to succeed and there were those who believed that slavery was morally wrong and should be ended; on both sides, Lincoln was sure to have significant support. In addition to this, Lincoln would have the support of already freed slaves in the North as well as those who later escaped there, by allowing African Americans to fight against the Confederacy. The reason for the war was to keep the Union united, but ultimately the reason white men enlisted in the North was split between helping their comrades and the cause of stopping the war. Confederate succession. It should be mentioned that there is still racism in the North, as one man once wrote: "I am quite sure that there is not one man in ten who would not feel degraded if equality of Negroes was to be order on the battlefield” (Public Opposition to the Use of Negro Troops, 1862). This is not to say that all soldiers or Northerners were racist, as many were actually happy to see slaves in their troops; but we must realize that not everyone in the North was against slavery or specifically equality. In addition to this, Lincoln reinforced in his Getty's Burg Address the goals of the Union's primary cause: “this nation...shall have a new birth of liberty; and may the government of the people, by the people, for the people, not perish from this earth. [1] This reminds the public that the cause of war is to maintain uninterrupted good government for the people and helped raise morale to bring soldiers to jointhe war. The only comrades Southerners thought about were their families and friends who were starving at home or dying alongside them. The Yankees had pillaged their farms and towns, leaving them and their families with limited supplies. As the Union predicted, this diminished Confederate morale. Like the Union, the Confederacy also rallied to keep the South; because they did not want to adopt the northern culture which, according to them, was going to be imposed on them. Plantation owners enjoyed the benefits of free labor and refused to industrialize like the North. Even in 2017, when you take the AM Trak train past Virgina from New Jersey, there is a stop to change the motors from electric (Northern electric railroads) to steam (Southern rail system). As stubborn as they are today to move to a faster system, they were, during the Civil War, about giving up their right to own property and to own property in the form of slaves. Before the spirit of the Confederacy was demolished by the Union, there was a time when both sides suffered heavy losses; “One of the reasons the war was so bloody was that the men on both sides were fighting for a cause they believed in” (Biography of America, Civil War). Southerners simply wanted to keep their way of life intact and what they believed was legally theirs. Losing their slaves meant losing the value of the slave and the profit they brought to the work, which is why the South did not think they could suffer such a loss. On top of that, they in some cases thought they were better than African Americans and were racist due to cultural bias against African Americans. Thus, the war for the Confederate South was intended to keep their ways of life, their beliefs, their values ​​and the profits of some intact. The Civil War could not have come at a more opportune time for the North, as it fell right in the middle of an era of Enlightenment and suffrage movements. This thus became Lincoln's hidden weapon, for involving such a controversial issue (equality for all) in the reason for the war, which would only help support the Union. Now white men who wanted to help free slaves could literally do so by demolishing southern plantations and ravaging them of their supplies. Now African Americans could join their comrades in the march against their oppressors. Unlike those who were white, who were divided by things as trivial as gender or wealth; almost all African Americans were united by a common struggle and the savage treatment they had faced. In slavery, men and women were both subjected to the same demeaning labor in the fields and therefore could share a common pain with all former slaves. It was this exceptional bond that led so many African Americans to join the Union troops, as they had no reason to feel any loyalty to the North or the South except to unite to help their comrades. This connection between having suffered similar fates and tragedies and having to suffer them again if they could not free their comrades gave them the power to shoot their former masters; because “by the end of the war, 180,000 African Americans had served in the military” (Biography of America, Civil War). Even when the North felt like the war would never end and was tired of the deaths, Lincoln refused to abandon the Emancipation Proclamation as one of the demands of peace. He did it because more than 130,000 African Americans.