Welcome to the liturgist podcast. You are now listening to Black History is American History.

I'm William Matthews.

And I'm propaganda.

I'm Nikki Black.

And I'm Andra Henry.

Today's moment in Black History, the Civil War.

The American Civil War took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865,

fought between the Northern United States, which were loyal to the Union and the Southern United States,

that had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy.

This, due to both sides being Americans, was the bloodiest war of our history.

The Civil War began primarily as a result of a long-standing controversy over the enslavement of Black people.

War broke out in April of 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumner in South Carolina,

shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated the President of the United States.

The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically Western and Southern states,

proclaimed support to the Constitution, to the Union.

They faced the secessionist of the Confederate who felt that state's rights was more important than the idea of a centralized union.

There are a lot of presented narratives as to why the Confederate states move was justified.

Some of them argued that the main issue was the overreach of a centralized government,

which was literally what they believed the founders were fleeing from.

Also, to destroy the South's biggest economic product would not only decimate the Southern economy,

but the whole country's economy.

The Confederate states believed that they were actually more true to the American ideal, the American dream,

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