30 Original Argumentative Essay Topics About The Civil War

The Civil War remains to be a significant event in the history of America. It is no surprise that various scholars and historical commentators continue to discuss issues surrounding the event. These discussions form a great basis for essay topics, and students are often given the task of writing an argumentative essay about the civil war. If you find yourself with such a task but you don’t have an idea of what to write about, here is a list of 30 original argumentative essay topics about the civil war to choose from.

1. Do you think the civil war could have been prevented, or were the Southern and Northern states doomed to fight each other over the issue of slavery?


2. Why do you think the states that lie on the border were so important to Abraham Lincoln?


3. Why do you think the Northern side managed to win the war?


4. Who benefit more from the 1850 compromise? Northern states or the Southern states?


5. Why did the North’s public opinion toward the South change?


6. Some scholars have argued that the first battle of the Civil War was the Mexican War. What is your opinion on these claims?


7. How was the debate about slavery in the immediate years before the war impacted by the Bleeding Kansas crisis?


8. Between Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, who was a better leader and why?


9. What role did Britain play in the Civil War?


10. What significance and impact did the Emancipation Proclamation have on both the South and the North?


11. Was Emancipation Proclamation issued for moral reasons?


12. Was President Lincoln justified to suspend the habeas corpus?


13. Did the Civil War change Americans’ ideas about freedom?


14. The Civil War can be classified as a war of freedom: Discuss.


15. Why did the South not concede yet it was a guaranteed right of each state in the union?


16. Why wouldn’t the North pay the South money to abandon slavery and use the money to buy equipment to replace the freed slaves?


17. Was the war about slavery or about maintaining the union?


18. What reasons led to the South leaving the Union?


19. Most people from the Northern states wanted slavery to be abolished because they felt it was not morally right?


20. More Americans died in the Civil War than any other war besides World War


21. Was the equality of people a reason for fighting in the war?


22. The battle of Gettysburg may have influenced Lincoln to abolish slavery.


23. Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln because he wanted to encourage the Confederacy states to continue fighting.


24. At the beginning of the Civil War, most of the Union soldiers believed they were fighting to preserve the Union.


25. The Battle of Vicksburg was an important turning point of the war.


26. The war ended with the battle of Appomattox.


27. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued for political reasons.


28. Most Southerners were only fighting to preserve slavery.


29. The Union’s “Great Snake” strategy was more effective than the Confederacy’s offensive-defensive strategy.


30. Although the war ended slavery, it did not bring much freedom for the blacks