Why a Strong Central Government was Important After the Civil War (Essay Sample)

Why a Strong Central Government was Important After the Civil War There are those people who do not like government invading and governing their lives. Their desire is for less government and more freedom. They are looking at government in a very short-sighted manner. The Civil War provided the opportunity to forma strong nation a government. This paper will look at some of the reasons why a strong national government was so important. THE SEEDS WERE PLANTED PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR There are two examples that provide the evidence needed to see why a strong national government was needed after the Civil War. The first example comes from the time of Alexander Hamilton. It was the Revolutionary War that probably provided the best example of why a weak central government was incapable of handling the affairs of the nation. When he joined the Continental Army, Alexander Hamilton witness the struggles that Washington and his officers had when they tried to feed, clothe and arm their men (Scanlon 2006). “Hamilton saw that a decentralized government was helpless and incompetent at doing what needed to be done” (Scanlon 2006). His views are reinforced by the definition of a Confederation styled government. In this style of governing, the national government is given its power by the individual states and the local governments had the power to overrule any law or regulation created by the national government that conflicted with their own state laws and regulations. It was this original style of government that helped lead the nation to its Civil War (Federalism 2018). THE CALIFORNIA COMPROMISE The second example comes from California’s application to become a state in the union in 1848. That territory’s constitution held that California was going to be a free state. This declaration upset the Southern States as they wanted the freedom to bring their slaves and hold them as slaves if they entered the territory (McPherson 2010). A weak central government could not stop one or a group of states from imposing their will on individual or a few other states who disagreed with the former’s point of view. In fact, all the national government could do in this case was to create a compromise. California was admitted as a free state while Utah and New Mexico resident were allowed to choose if they would be slave or free states. The Southern states also received the fugitive save law which allowed their slave owners to track down and bring their runaway slaves back to the plantation in chains (McPherson 2010). This event helped stoke the fires for the Civil War that was to come in a few short years. WHY A STRONG NATIONAL GOVERNMENT IS SO IMPORTANT There are two main reasons why a strong central government was needed after the Civil war. One, it was to preserve the nation and avoid “national dissolution” and two, it was to prevent more bloodshed, rebellion and separation (Nivola 2005). The American nation just fought a bloody civil war with over 600,000 soldiers dying, they would not be able to withstand another bloody conflict and remain a united nation (McPherson 2010). CONCLUSION A strong united central government was needed after the Civil War to make sure that the American nati...