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Effect the civil war had on american society
Slavery as the main reason for civil war
Slavery as the main reason for civil war
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Recommended: Effect the civil war had on american society
He teaches the reader about a couple of the most important battles and generals of the civil war. Instead of being a plain research book about the civil war, he gives us accounts of true yet hilarious events during the civil war, such as a soldier rushing into battle with half of his hair shaved because he couldn’t finish his haircut. Or even about the time opposing soldiers did not fight and instead met at a river to trade goods like newspaper, tobacco, and card in makeshift boats. Steve Sheinkin explains the Civil war in simple, perhaps oversimplified tales and fact. This, however, does not take away the depth of the book, fully going into slavery and the impact of cotton, he does his part in explaining the Civil War.
The author is trying to prove with his book that there was more behind the Civil War than we realized. I had never known that there was so much tension between President Lincoln and General McClellan. The people in Washington really didn’t like anything that McClellan was doing. He helped to show that throughout his book, that was one of the main topics that he
Hostilities between the Union and the Confederacy prompted The Civil War. At this time in our history the North wanted to abolish slavery, while the South supported slavery. A pivotal point in the Civil War was The Battle of Gettysburg. The Gettysburg National Military Park captures life in the midst of war, where the soldiers lived in camps as they were subjected to demanding conditions. During this time, Abraham Lincoln honored the heroic soldiers with The Gettysburg Address.
Civil War soldiers fought for something more than just manhood, duty, government, and their country. They fought for and against slavery, which for most soldiers was their primary motivation beyond defending their home. Slavery for many was more than just an institution, it was the fabric of their economic society that provided the wealth and opportunity to the South. Without slavery the South could not operate and prosper which made it impossible for the notion of emancipation. However, those in the North did not immediately rely on the institution of slavery in such dire manner.
In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.
Even though McPherson’s discoveries are different from most historians, he proves his thesis with strong arguments, supportive evidence, various sources, and clear information prior to and after the Civil War. By investigating events in chronological order, McPherson allows readers to learn exactly how and why men became motivated to become soldiers in the Civil War. Once McPherson set the scene with information prior to the Civil War, he began to examine the different categories of motivation for men from both sides who enlisted in the Civil War. Traditionally, historians say duty, honor, and strong beliefs are what caused men to become soldiers
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
In “What They Fought For 1861-1865,” prize winning author James M. McPherson writes a conflicting non-subjected book that explores the major motivations of the men who enlisted and fought the Civil War. McPherson examines in a non-biased tone the reason why the men in gray and blue fought in the bloodiest war in American history. James M. McPherson discusses the significant characteristics of the theme and ideas of the book that explores ideology. Within the conflicting book, McPherson analyzes the major theme and idea of ideology or “what Civil War soldiers believed they were fighting for” (McPherson pg. 1). McPherson encounters the quarrel that many historians disagree upon: whether or not the soldiers during this war knew their intentions of fighting the war.
Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio in April of 1822. He graduated from West Point in 1843. He was found to be an effective soldier/leader during the Mexican War, however, once the excitement of battle was over he was no longer interested in the mundane tasks of the everyday soldier. General Grant developed a very heavy drinking habit and resigned his commission in 1854. Once the Civil War began he enlisted in the Union Army and was promoted to brigadier general.
McPherson is an exceptionally well-written article which explains in great profundity the motives for men joining the Army and keeping up a high level of Honor. The article can be directly correlated to the understanding of the Civil War, and the background information that the readers weren't aware of in the war, such as the Soldiers motives to fight. The first main strong point present in the article is that the article articulates the main points of the essay very well, and uses countless quotes from Generals that were not in the AP United States History Textbook, which give a much more individual explanation to the personal reasons the men were fighting in the first place. This helped make the information not only easy to understand but much more interesting than just stating facts about the war.
August 1868; General Nathan Bedford Forrest told a Congressional committee after the war: He said to 45 colored fellows on my plantation that I was going into the army; and if they would go with me, if we got whipped they would be free anyhow, and that if we succeeded and slavery was perpetrated, if they would act faithfully with me to the end of the war, I would set them free. Eighteen months before the war closed I was satisfied that we were going to be defeated, and I gave those 45, or 44 of them, their free papers for fear I might be called. In late August, General Nathan Bedford Forrest gave an interview to a reporter. Forrest said of the black men who served with him: "... these boys stayed with me... and better Confederates did not live."
McPherson in his book, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War has identified that regardless of all other issues, the most significant factors that became the motivators for the people to join the army were a combination of duty, honor and patriotism. Both the ideas of duty and honor were "powerful motivating sources" (McPherson, p. 5) for the soldiers. As compared to what others believed, ethnic hatred and religious fanaticism were not the issue but the confederacy valued personal honor more than their lives. McPherson (p. 77) believes that "personal honor is the one thing valued more than itself by the majority of men. " The Union soldiers spoke of duty while the Confederate soldiers spoke of honor that motivated them to risk their lives.
After, The Supreme Court’s confirmation on the legality of slavery in the territories convinced a lot of Southerners that the Northern was seeking the destruction of the “peculiar institution” that was sustained, which made the Southern, and Northern ties almost on its last straw. Then Lincoln’s election was the final straw, and made seven of the Southern states seceding from the United States. When the Civil War was over The Union won even though their armies weren’t as great as the South’s they managed a close victory possibly because of The Union’s sheer number of troops, but even though The Union won they lost a great leader, Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes which turned the hearts of the people of the United States dearly, thus ending the American Civil War at a cost of 620,000 soldiers from both sides, plus a great leader Abraham
In 1895, the Union’s win during the civil war brought freedom to about four million slaves in the United States. Almost immediately after the ending of the civil war, the south went into what is known as the “Reconstruction period.” This lasted from 1865-1877. In 1867, the rise of the Radical Republicans began. During what was known as the radical reconstruction, the now free African-Americans were starting to get a voice in the government.
At first slavery was helping the South win the war because the chattels were doing all the white men’s farming and factory work, which meant the white men were available for fighting in the war (Holzer). However, when Abraham Lincoln established the Emancipation Proclamation the slaves could leave, making the white men unable to fight in the army because they had to do their own work (Holzer). Slaves also had more motivation because they were fighting against their former masters (Bodenner). If their former masters had treated them horribly, the freed slaves will have a greater motivation to win the war against them. Former slaves were also allowed to join the army after they escaped servitude ("Abraham Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation: January 1, 1863.").
