Standing in a park between the State Capitol building and the Cathedral of Saint Paul is this soaring Monument to the War of 1861-1865.
The monument was erected in 1903 through the efforts of the Grand Army of the Republic. Atop it is a statue of "Josias R. King, the first man to volunteer in the first Minnesota Infantry, the first regiment, tendered the government for the repression of the rebellion."
This monument, erected 38 years after the War, referred to the conflict simply as the "War of 1861-1865," along with a reference to the "repression of the rebellion."
The term "Civil War" came into popular usage a little later during the 20th century. While the War was raging it was most commonly called, by the North, the "War of the Rebellion." In the South it was the "War for Southern Independence," or "The War Between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America."
The term "Civil War" is a misnomer. A civil war is one in which two factions within a single country fight for control of the government. The War Between the States - another popular term, used mainly in the South - was waged between two sovereign nations. The North did seek to subjugate the South. That's because tariffs from the South, with less than one third of the national population, paid 87% of the federal budget - which was spent almost entirely in the North.
The Confederacy had no more desire to overthrow Washington than the American Colonies desired to overthrow London during the American Revolution. The Confederate States seceded peacefully and legally, believing they were the true adherents to the original intent of the United States Constitution, which provided for only a limited federal union between sovereign states.
President Lincoln used the term "civil war" occasionally during the time of the conflict, but most of the public did not. "Civil War" was his political spin in an effort to justify an illegal and unnecessary war which turned the United States into a Federal empire.
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