Origins of the American Civil War battle began the American Civil War, as an overwhelming demand for war swept both the North and South, with only Kentucky attempting to remain neutral. According to Adam Goodheart (2011), the modern meaning of the American flag was also forged in the defense of Fort Sumter. Thereafter, the flag was used throughout the North to symbolize American nationalism and rejection of secessionism. Abraham Lincoln's rejection of the Crittenden Compromise, the failure to secure the ratification of the Corwin amendment in 1861, and the inability of the Washington Peace Conference of 1861 to provide an effective alternative to Crittenden and Corwin
Second American Civil War commentators point to the fact that "culture wars cycles" are imminent to the process of replenishing American values, and the first such cycle started after George Washington's retirement, and that Americans have to find "America's middle again and return to civility." Second American Civil War The American Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865, after which the Union was preserved. Rhetorical or hyperbolic references to a potential Second American Civil War have since been made on a number of occasions throughout the history of the United States. Some historians name the 1861–1865 war as the "Second American Civil War",