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Review Of What They Fought For By James M. Mcpherson

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The book What They Fought for written by James M. McPherson is a small set of pages that focused on the reason why soldiers from both sides the Union and Confederate were risking their lives to fight during the Civil War. He claims that Civil War soldiers do know what they are fighting for unlike other historians who say the opposite. McPherson backs his claims by using letters and diaries from the Civil War soldiers as his main source to prove his statement. In the first chapter “The holy cause of liberty and independence” focuses on the thoughts and opinions of the Confederate armies. Bitter enmity and want for revenge became the drive to fight for most Confederate soldiers. The letters and diaries in this chapter were directed to loved one’s back home. They expressed their thoughts about the war and how they wished to be back home. Confederates fought for independence, for their property and way of life, for their survival as a nation. The second chapter “The Best Government On God’s Footstool” main focal points are on the Union soldier’s reasons for fighting in the Civil War. Their thoughts are different from the Confederate soldiers and is shown throughout this chapter. They thought that the Confederate army were traitors and were mainly fighting because they thought it was …show more content…

Both sides showed different opinions one trying to keep slavery while the other wanted to get rid of it. The North wanted to abolish slavery because it was against the Constitution and wanted racial equality. The Confederate soldiers were fighting for their right to have slavery and own slaves. Throughout the war they realized that the war would end much faster if they fought to free slaves. The reason and start of the Civil War was because of slavery. Abraham Lincoln knew that the only way to end the war was to end slavery once and for

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