Monday, March 26, 2012
Did the Civil War end?
Read The 150-Year War, Gone With the Myths, Causes and Secession and Let Reconstruction Begin. you are charged with creating a blog post about how our unit has impacted your understanding of the Civil War. There is a great deal of information that you are contending with so it will be important to identify the one or two points that are most significant to you. Feel free to incorporate your experience role-playing in Around the Horn and what you learned about your figure and others.
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The unit this year has significantly impacted my understanding of the Civil War. Around the Horn allowed me to look at Civil War issues through another perspective. As Alexander Stephens I was pushed to advocate for slavery while still have morals as well as understand how the North tried to dictate the South. Due to the fact that the North won the Civil War, they had more power over what was to occur after. This meant that they would give more power to the federal government and rebuild their own forces. Debating against other leaders during the time also made me play the role of an innovative thinker. This is so because I needed to "borrow" the mind of lawyers and politicians who used tactics to sway civilians to agree with their cause. Now I know know why we revisit the Civil War and learn about the several conflicts that led to it. In the 150-year war article it mentions that "the country splits along political and cultural lines," and I think that is a very important point because we are still split in the same way today. "Can you recall a single line from any of the teleprompted State of the Union messages in your own lifetime?" asked in the 150-year war recalled the fact that in our political affairs we seem to be lacking depth. There have not been any true resolutions to our problems. The Civil War is one to sink our teeth into because there is a wealth of knowledge and examples from that time that we still contemplate. There are so many vast areas to cover such as slavery, states rights, greed, communication, equally, power, and fabric of the Constitution. "We’re celebrating that those [who] risked their lives and fortunes to stand for what they believed in, which is self-government.(Seelyle)" This holds self-evident because the two sides wanted to rule themselves and to function separately. The Civil War and all it stood for is a prime example of how we have to stop resisting each other and must work together by trying to understand what we must work on. Learning about the Civil War is learning about issues that are still among us and need to be resolved. Though slavery is not part of society today the simple act of making each other equal (that might just be a utopia) can be put into order in some way. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteOur unit on the Civil War has greatly affected what I think and feel about this time period. Initially, before we began to study the Civil War, I thought the Lincoln freed the slaves and the war was entirely about slavery. While Slavery proved to be a big aspect of the war, it was not by any means the only cause. Learning the truth after thinking Lincoln started the war to free the slaves was perhaps the most surprising thing that I learned during this unit. In a letter to the Ney York Tribune, Lincoln wrote, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union." This letter makes it evident that freeing the slaves was not even on the list of things Lincoln wanted to accomplish. He truly cared about the welfare of the country and placed that above all of his personal preferences. Through research for Around the Horn, I learned that the same cannot be said for Andrew Johnson. Johnson used his presidency just to push his own personal prejudices by basically creating Jim Crow and allow the KKK to be born in the South.
ReplyDeleteWhile I learned that Slavery was not the only cause of the Civil War, it became apparent to me how big of a deal it was and how it played a significant factor. Mississippi took the stance that, "the institution of slavery — [is] the greatest material interest of the world" (Gone With the Myths). This example goes to show how southern states desperately did not want to relinquish their slaves. I was surprised to learn that "most white Southern families had no slaves" (Five Myths About Why the South Seceded). Despite this, "farmers aspired to become large slave owners" because "Americans are wondrous optimists" (Five Myths About Why the South Seceded). This explains why preserving slavery was so important to southerners. Martin Luther King Jr. said it back in the 1950's and it still is true today, “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free” (The 150-Year War). I can now look at how some southerners feel about blacks today through a different point of view. Not that it is right in any way, but this knowledge allowed me to grasp a better understanding on racism in today's world.
Overall, during this unit, I learned many new facts and discovered points of view that I had not even previously knew existed. While I deepened my knowledge on individual people (in Around the Horn) and the war as a whole. I now can say with confidence, that I believe I understand many different aspects of the Civil War.
During our Civil War unit, I have learned a lot of new information and I have changed my opinions on a few things. My opinion of Robert E. Lee has had a dramatic change from the start of the unit to the end. Going into this unit, I thought that he was just another Southern General who was afraid to loose his slaves and thats why he commanded the Confederate Army. Now that I know that he thought slavery was "A morale evil" and that the only reason why he was a Confederate General was because he was loyal to his home state of Virginia, I view him differently. When I was conducting my research on Robert E. Lee for Around the Horn, I came across articles that gave a positive viewing of Robert E. Lee's life. Even Northerner's had a high level of respect for him, it was very interesting to read. I have only seen a general have that much respect from the opposing sides citizens only once in history, and that was Rommel. Robert E. Lee was clearly on a higher level than all of the other generals at that time.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the Civil War era that I was shocked by was the Reconstruction of the United States. Going into this unit I knew that Reconstruction was a scary time, because it was going to shape the country for centuries to come and people wanted to make sure Reconstruction was well planned. However, I did not know that after the Civil War, the South was never even given a chance to get back up on its feet. The South received virtually no Federal funding, and the North just kept on rolling while the South was left in its War torn cities. Sherman's March just decimated the South, and afterwards the government did nothing to help rebuild or reconstruct. What was put into place after the Reconstruction era is roughly what the U.S looks like today. My understanding of the Reconstruction era and Robert E. Lee were greatly affected by this unit.
Prior to this unit, I had a two-dimensional view of the south regarding the civil war. I assumed they were pretty much evil people that would do anything it takes to maintain slavery. Though I still and always will despise the practice of slavery, I have become more sympathetic with the south through this unit. From the point of view of a southerner during the civil war, secession seems totally justifiable. The south, with the help of it's slaves produced the majority of the raw materials, agriculture, and exports of America. In return, the federal government offered them little of the benefits of industrialization, greatly favoring the north with the establishment of factories, railroads, etc. Of course, it is far more complicated than this, however this is basically what transpired. The south did not wish to embark on a full-scale war, they only wished to have the same opportunity that the early american colonists did and have a chance to be independent and govern themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen we started Around The Horn and I was given the role of the Vice-President of the Confederacy, I expected to have to sacrifice all of my personal beliefs and say things I didn't agree with whatsoever. While I still cringed whenever I had to state that blacks were inferior to whites, I found that a lot of what Alexander Stephens had to say was actually pretty reasonable. While he did favor the union staying together, he argued the south was being taken advantage of. It is no secret that the federal government had been favoring the north, even allowing them to basically nullify the fugitive slave act (though it is an act regarding slavery, the fact that the feds allowed the north to nullify any act benefitting the south is significant) and granting them the majority of the benefits of industrialization. Why should the South have to work to make the North wealthy and receive little in return? You've got to admit they do have a point...
As I stated in my last EQR, I wanted to make an effort to disregard all prior bias while considering material in this class and base my decisions and opinions upon only the facts presented before me. This is what I attempted to do during the civil war unit. Though I had preconceived notions about the civil war and the American south today, I tried to disregard it all and base my opinion on class discussions, recourses provided to us in class, and recourses I found on my own for use in Around The Horn. I found that at the end of this unit, my opinion on the civil war had significantly changed - the secession of the south, while based primarily on the issue of state's rights to have slaves, was also composed of many other factors, many of which were entirely reasonable. The north wasn't the beacon of justice I had imagined them to be - they never intended to get rid of slavery in the first place, it merely became convenient for them to do so as the war progressed. There real cause for igniting the civil war which was to make sure the union stayed together. Also, while it may have been viewed as totally essential to "keep america together," I think the real reason the north started the civil war was that they relied on the south for raw materials and agriculture and could not maintain their economy without them.
As I continue to learn throughout every unit we study, nothing is ever as simple as I had previously thought. The Civil War was no different. Examining primary texts, secondary sources, modern articles, and role-playing decision makers of the time, all exposed me to the complexity of the war. The power of both opinion and perception shaped the way the battles were carried out and the laws were made. One of the issues that stood out most was that of slavery. Previously, I been taught the perfunctory and wildly inaccurate idea that the North fought the war in pursuit of abolishing slavery. Throughout the unit, I learned that this was not the intention upon the North entering the war. As author James W. Loewen states, “The North did not go to war to end slavery, it went to war to hold the country together and only gradually did it become anti-slavery.” This idea comes from President Lincoln himself, who wrote, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it…” Though the eventual outcome of the war was the termination of formal slavery, the prior distaste towards abolition seems to have set a prime environment for hindrance of both Reconstruction and race equality.
ReplyDeleteMany social historians today claim that America is still fighting remnants of the Civil War. Weak Reconstruction initiatives did almost nothing to heal the social, economic, and politically divided “Union.” Immediately after the slaves were proclaimed “free” with three amendments to the Constitution, measures were put into place to severely restrict their freedoms. They had, as historian Howard Zinn wrote, “Emancipation without freedom” (….). Targeted by the Klu Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws, and dehumanized by the Black Codes, the newly freedmen were not free in any sense of the word. The issue of race inequality seemed hit a zenith when the Civil Rights Movement erupted in the 1960s. As Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, “One hundred years later, the Negro is still not free.” However, today, 150 years after the Civil War and 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, there is still an economic and education gap between whites and blacks (UCLA Magazine). The effects of the Civil War continue to penetrate society today, leaving me to question what can be done in order to fix 150 year-old issues?
The unit that we just completed on the Civil War changed my complete understanding not only of the Civil War itself, but it changed my entire understanding of American history in general. Never in all of my years on learning about the Civil War, has a teacher went back so far in time, and explain to us where those conflicts and problems that caused the Civil War rooted from. Starting with Washington, warning the nation of “the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations”, and then going onto Hamilton and Jefferson’s battle between federalism and states rights really showed how the Civil War took its roots (Washington Farewell Address 5). But then following that conflict another century through the War of 1812, the Tariff of Abominations, and through American Expansion, all the way up to “the State of South Carolina resum[ing] her position among the nations of the world, as a aspirate and independent State”, was amazing, and completely altered my perception of American history and politics forever, and led me to finally understand the true conflict of the Civil War (Dec. of Secession 5).
ReplyDeleteOnce I was able to truly learn about why the Civil War was brought about, I was able to truly learn about the Civil War. I had already known that the Civil War was responsible for more American deaths than in any other war, approximately 625,000, but up until this year, I was unaware of the vast damage that the war had caused, in particular Sherman’s March. I had heard about Sherman’s March casually in Middle School, and again while watching Gone with the Wind, but I had never learned the specifics. Now I know that Sherman’s March to the Sea, almost 67,000 soldiers strong marched through the heart of the South, burnt every building and field in site, killed, raped, and stole from the innocent, and delivered the death blow to the Confederacy’s will and ability to fight”, ending the Civil War (History Channel). This thousand mile march of destruction seemed surreal to me, and truly led me to understand the brutality of the Civil War.
Role playing Roger Taney, the most attractive Supreme Court Chief Justice, in Around the Horn, was an educational enriching and fun experience. Not only was I able to win, and teach the class how to filibuster, but I was able to understand and make sense of the Civil War and Reconstruction through the eyes of a man who thought that all blacks were property and had no rights, and was considered an enemy of the state. I was able to understand and tie together everything from the entire Civil War unit, and was able to make sense of some of Taney’s most controversial decisions. I have to say, it was also pretty fun playing a constitutional lawyer, proving almost everything unconstitutional, which was easy with my pocket constitution! I was also able to defend my status as champion of Around the Horn, two years in a row now!!!
Circling back to the beginning, Right America Feeling Wronged ties in perfectly to the unit, even if we watched it before we learned anything. It shows that 151 years after the Civil War ended, it still isn’t over.
You always hear me write about how whatever unit we learned gave me a completely new perspective on everything that I had previously learned about that unit. Well, our Civil War unit was no different. I don't think we have picked apart any unit as much as we did for the Civil War throughout the whole year, as we did things such as play the role of a prominent figure from the time period (I now admit that Andrew Johnson was a horrible President), and discovered that our nation is still trying to recover from the division that plagued it 150 years ago. In addition to this, I find it so interesting how there seems to be no clear-cut answer as to what was the main cause for the Civil War. Historians throughout America, even throughout entire world probably, seem to love confidently arguing about what they believed to be the spark that set the Civil War fire aflame, and have never allowed anything else to influence their opinion (sounds like what happens with politicians, doesn't it?). Well, with that being said, I want to use this post to explain what I think was the main cause for the Civil War and if I think the Civil War truly did end. I hope I don't bore you too much.
ReplyDeleteTwo days ago, we read an article by James W. Loewen, titled "Five Myths about why the South seceded," and atop the second page, I found something that Loewen wrote that really intrigued me. Loewen stated that a few decades after the war, everyone began to ignore slavery as a main cause for the war, and that even today, historians always try to go their own way and choose reasons such as, "the South wanted states' rights" and "the South hated the way the North was taking advantage of them." While reasons such as the aforementioned are very valid, I don't see why historians and those who study the Civil War try to go against the idea that slavery was the main cause for the Civil War. Maybe nowadays everyone's a hipster and slavery as a main reason for the spark of the Civil War is too mainstream for them. Whatever the reason is, I think that slavery was in fact the main cause of the Civil War. Through my research of President Andrew Johnson, I found that although he did believe slaves were inferior, he mainly fought so hard to keep slaves in subordination just to keep the union together. Slavery was such an important resource to the south, as supported by Mississippi's Declaration of Immediate Causes, which states "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery- the greatest material interest of the world." In fact, the entire south was so afraid of losing their precious slavery that many states took Abraham Lincoln off their ballots altogether, as they believed that Lincoln being a republican would do whatever he could to destroy all remnants of slavery. Because of all this, I completely agree with what the article "Gone With the Myths," by Edward Ball, states: "The only state right the Confederate founders were interested in was the rich man’s “right” to own slaves." It just seems to me through my readings of Zinn, research for the Around the Horn, and class assignments that there is too much evidence to argue the claim that slavery is the main cause of the Civil War, and I am happy that I was able to come to such a definitive conclusion for myself.
cont.
ReplyDeleteNow, it is time for my opinion on whether the Civil War actually ended or not (I promise to be quicker on this), and I have to say that, it did not. The divisiveness that is apparent today throughout our nation seems to definitely be a product of the conflict between the North and South 150 years ago. As i mentioned in a previous post, Mississippi (who was given just $136,000 for reparations compared to Maine's $3,000,000) is the poorest state in the union, followed by other southern states such as Arkansas and tennessee. Along with this, although racism is pretty prevalent throughout the nation, it is much more obvious in the south. Doesn't this sound familiar? Throughout the Civil War time period the north was far richer than the south, able to take advantage of the south for both importation and exportation, while racism and slavery was much more prevalent in the south. Anyone who watches the documentary "Right America, Feeling Wronged" can see that although the documentary obviously targeted the worst people it could find, it is still easy to see that the effects of the Civil War have not rubbed off. In the most extreme instances, threats to secede can still be seen TO THIS DAY, "Last year Gov. Rick Perry of Texas wondered aloud whether secession was his state’s right in the aftermath of laws out of Congress that he disliked" (Gone with the Myths). That alone seems to be enough evidence to me that our nation has not forgotten about the Civil War, and will not forget about it anytime soon. But really, who could blame our nation for not being able to completely wipe away the remnants of a war that killed what would be today's equivalent of 6,000,000 soldiers.
So all in all, even though my opinion doesn't matter too much, I have come to the conclusions after this long, exciting, and intriguing Civil War unit, that the main cause of the war was slavery, and that our nation is still in the midst of a Civil War, just one that is heavily under the surface and is quite subtle. It has probably been the best unit throughout the year so far, mainly because of the Around the Horn project, and all I have left to say is that Andrew Johnson was not actually impeached, as Senate came one vote short of doing so.
This was a great unit and I had a lot of fun learning about Salmon P. Chase and the Civil War itself. As always, my understanding regarding the Civil War changed tremendously throughout the quarter. Coming into this quarter I had previously thought that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. However, I now have a clear understanding that his main objective was to conserve the Union no matter the circumstances of slaves. Despite that fact that the Civil War battles ended in 1865, I still feel that many Southerners live under depression. Commander-in-chief of the Sons, Michael Givens, said, “We in the South, who have been kicked around for an awfully long time and are accused of being racist, we would just like the truth to be known; our people were only fighting to protect themselves from an invasion and for their independence” (Celebrating Secession Without the Slaves). Southerners tend to dislike the North for many reasons including political, cultural, and personal disagreements; but most importantly, because the North won the Civil War. The South feels that they are blamed for the Civil War entirely since they favored slavery. However, some Northerners favored it too and slavery itself was created in the North. To this day Southerners think of ‘Yankees’ as selfish dudes. This relates to a movie we watched this winter called Right America Feeling Wronged. Just as Republicans disagree and dislike Democrats, many Southerners disagree and dislike Northerners. Many Southerners also feel that they would have been more successful if they could have self-governed themselves and seceded from the Union. Even current politicians like Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, “wondered aloud whether secession was his state’s right in the aftermath of laws out of Congress that he disliked” (Gone With the Myths). Despite the fact that the Civil War ended years ago, there are still tons of disagreements and controversies between state right’s and federalism. In fact, some historians believe the Civil War did not end in 1865 since racism didn’t really end. But then again, there’s still A LOT of racism in current America. Andrew Young, a veteran of the civil rights movement and former mayor of Atlanta said, “The easy answer for black folk is that it set us free, but it really didn’t. We had another 100 years of segregation. We’ve never had our complete reconciliation of the forces that divide us” (Celebrating Secession Without the Slaves). Even when the Civil War was over and African Americans were supposed to gain rights and citizenship, the KKK and the black codes were born. All in all, my conclusion is that Lincoln succeeded as he achieved to conserve the Union; however, African Americans were mistreated for years to come. I think it’s also important to realize that the Confederate States never formally surrendered, therefore, is the Civil War still happening?
ReplyDeleteIn my last blog post I talked about how racism is still prevalent in society today, and even though the Civil War supposedly ended slavery, it still leaves a trail. For years after the Civil War, blacks and other minorities were severely segregated. And even if it is not as severe, racism continues today. Also, just like the leftover bits of slavery, the split between the North and the South is still clear. I believe that the Civil War may have ended, but it left a trail behind in multiple aspects of society.
ReplyDeleteWhen we watched "Right America Feeling Wronged" we saw the split between the North and the South and between Republicans and Democrats. The current disagreements in congress are one example of aspects of the Civil War that are still available in society. Some believe that the Civil War officially ended when Barack Obama was elected as president. Thomas Friedman wrote, "The Civil War is over. Let reconstruction begin." He compared the "official" end of the Civil War to his opinion on when the Civil War ended, and just like before, our country needed to reconstruct. But that didn't swipe away all racism in the United States. Many people must still fight for their civil rights, but I do agree that brought us one step closer.
I think Around the Horn definitely helped me grasp the Civil War. Role-playing as Thaddeus Stevens, a man who was anti-slavery made me dig into the reasons to be against slavery. There had never been a doubt in my mind that slavery was wrong, so I had never researched why slavery was wrong. But when pretending to be a character from that time, arguing against slavery, I had to find out why Thaddeus Stevens would be against slavery.
Before studying this unit this year, if someone had asked me what the main cause of the Civil War was I would have said slavery. And if someone had asked me if that had been resolved by the Civil War, I would have said, yes, of course. After this unit, I still strongly believe that slavery was one of the main causes of the Civil War. But I know there are several other causes as well. The Civil War and slavery may have ended, but there is no doubt there there is still racism in this country.
Just as Bobby did, I entered this unit thinking the civil war had solely to do with slavery. I, like many of my classmates, believed that Lincoln had everything to do with freeing the slaves, but really it was his goal to save the union that ultimately resulted in the freeing of slaves. It is clear that slavery played a big role in this war but prior to this unit I had no knowledge of aspects such as succession, and the economic factors that played a big role throughout this time period. Over the course of this unit my view on the civil war has changed immensely and my knowledge has expanded. Throughout around the horn we were forced to fully embody a character from this time period and defend their viewpoints as best we could. As Andrew Johnson I was forced to argue that Secession was the primary cause of the civil war. Exploring this argument, I was able to see why it was so vital to some to try to prevent secession. Abraham Lincoln expressed “an earnest desire to preserve and maintain the union of states.” It was important to keep this country together, and in the words of the confederation “The Union shall be perpetual”. It was through conserving the union that the north went to war. As Loewen stated “the North initially went to war to hold the nation together. Abolition came later” (2). Due to poor reconstruction it can be argued that the civil war is the “least resolved” conflict in our country and has yet to end. I agree that the nation is still split to this day. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” And fifty years after the civil rights movement, as Melissa previously stated there is still racism present in our society. For example the Trayvon Martin shooting is good example of possible racial profiling, where the person who killed Trayvon Martin likely acted based on the fact that the high school student was black and wearing a hoodie. Although it’s not exactly clear how they encountered each other, he ended up shooting Trayvon martin and killing him, and he has not even been charged for this incident. As said in one of the articles “The struggle for equal rights is far from over” and it is still very prevalent in society today.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear from watching Right America Feeling Wronged that there is a huge political split between the North and South and their respective parties. The inability to make decisions and agreements in congress, I believe is the result of the civil war. There has been the ongoing dispute of how large the federal government should be which is one reason the country is geographically split, just as it was during the civil war. It is evident that society today still faces repercussions from the civil war.
Our unit on the Civil War has greatly impacted my knowledge on the subject. Coming into the unit I had believed that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves and that the only cause of the Civil War slavery. Now, I learned that Abraham Lincoln had no intentions of ever freeing the slaves, but used it as a weapon to try and get the South to be with the Union. As he said, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that”. I also learned that is was a great confluence of factors that led up to the Civil War. Besides the fact that the South could only hear that Lincoln wanted to free the slaves, the fight between state and national sovereignty, and the treatment of the South from the North were great factors into why the South seceded. I also learned that reconstruction was only a small Band-Aid that did not cover up the humongous gash that the Civil War left. Even today, there is evidence that the Civil War is still here. The constant fighting between parties has left America a country where nothing is really getting done. Even in 2009, Rick Perry wondered, “whether secession was his state’s right in the aftermath of laws out of Congress that he disliked.” It is evident that reconstruction did nothing to stop the fighting in America.
ReplyDeleteAs nearly everyone else has said, the unit on the Civil War completely changed my understanding of the time period. Prior to our unit, I had always thought of the Civil War as one of the less important wars, and one that had little impact on America today. In addition, I thought that slavery was the only thing the war was fought over. I also assumed that Lincoln freed the slaves, and the South was completely evil. In prior years, I had never really learned about the actual battles and events of the Civil War, and my opinion of the Civil War changed after learning about Sherman’s March. Sherman’s March exemplified to me how brutal the North was, and how dependent they must have been on the South, if they fought so destructively to keep the South. In addition, it greatly contrasted wars today, as explained in “The 150-Year War”, “Today’s lusterless brass would never declare, as Sherman did, ‘I can make this march, and make Georgia howl!’”(New York Times). The overall violence of the North’s tactics also led me to reevaluate the reasons for the Civil War, and the North’s role in these causes. After learning of the numerous possible causes, I came to the conclusion that no cause was the complete and utter reason for the Civil War, and that it was instead of assortment of issues which would lead to the war. One of the reasons I found to be most important was that of expansion. After not only covering the reason in class, but for Around the Horn as well, I was able to view the issue from multiple perspectives. In class, I saw the multiple attempts at compromises as more of a non successful effort, which only put off the war. However, from the perspective of Roger Taney, I realized how important keeping the balance was, and how through having anything tip slightly in one side’s favor, such as the Dred Scott decision, there would be major uproar. Similarly, today there are two greatly opposed political parties, and rather than these parties working together to fix national problems, both sides fight to only allow their beliefs to be passed. This balancing act between the two parties reminds me of prior to the Civil War. However, rather than the compromises that were passed between the two opposing sides then, nowadays the parties are nearly incapable of compromising at all. This leads me to believe that the Civil War may be over; however, national disagreements will always be prevalent, and the North and South’s issues will never be fully solved.
ReplyDeleteThrough the preponderance of evidence that I was presented with, I was able to internalize a superabundance of new insights and gain almost to many new perspectives on the civil war to account for. From the causes of the war to the objectives and success of reconstruction, no stone was left unturned in terms of taking what I thought I knew about the war, turning it inside out, then throwing it out and replacing it with something new. One specific example is my understanding of the build up of the civil war. In elementary school, middle school, and just about every T.V. Show or Movie, I was fought because the north wanted to abolish slavery, and the south was having none of it. To put things simply, I was no where near correct in my garnered assessment. I now hold even more confidently a new version of how the civil war started, and what is was fought over. First of all, I do not think that the South even instigated the war, because when you boiled it all down, they had no other option. The North was more powerful economically, and seemed to hold no regard for the interests and values held by their southern neighbors, as exemplified by what I learned of the Fugitive Slave act during around the horn. In the compromise of 1850, a compromise that already left the south feeling slightly betrayed and cheated, the Fugitive Slave act was the crowned jewel of what they managed to accomplish for themselves and their interests. However politicians from the north such as Thaddeus Stevens worked to repeal the act, and regardless, citizens of the north were reluctant and sometimes unwilling to obey it. The south could not appeal to the northern people, only the northern politicians could, but there was no way they would do that. Now this explanation may leave on thinking that it was still about slavery, but I would tell that person to think bigger picture; the North broke not only the fugitive slave act, but the constitution: all at the dismay of the south. That alone is cause enough to leave the union, according to the laws set forth regarding states secession in 1760. But to top it off, the north also made the south pay unrealistic tariffs and under-payed them for their raw goods. It was because of a combination of all of these things that secession occurred; and also began the build up to the civil war.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, “The Civil War ended as a black man won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.” However, two years later, New York times journalist Katharine Seelyve wrote, “As the 150th anniversary of the four-year conflict gets under way, some groups in the old Confederacy are planning at least a certain amount of hoopla, chiefly around the glory days of secession. “ Out of all the material I have read concerning the Civil War, this one impacted me most. If anything, I would think Southerners would mourn the loss of their soldiers come the anniversary of the war; never would I think they would celebrate secession. If this is the case, the civil war is far from over. Having 69% of the population vote for Obama in the 2008 election just means that 31% are still opposed to a black president. According to Friedman, “White conservatives told the guys in the men’s grill l at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly went into the booth and voted for Obama.” On the surface this appears as progress, however, it only highlights the materialism, mob-mentality, and lack of courage in this country. As individuals, Southerners may consider the viewpoints of other political parties, but as a whole, remain strictly Republican. I think it was a very similar situation during the Civil War. Not all Southerners wanted to Secede, but their state did because the few who were opposed to secession became swept up in the movement and rarely let their voices be heard. Although we aren’t fighting a civil war currently, it is evident that little has changed. Racism exists; according to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” The election polls alone demonstrate the division of this nation. The Civil War will not be over until each region is able to put aside stereotypes of what party they “should” be affiliated with, and vote for whichever candidate’s viewpoints reside closest with their own. Only when election results appear scattered and uncorrelated geographically, (as opposed to blue on top, red on bottom,) will I believe that the Civil War has truly come to an end.
ReplyDeleteAfter 3 quarters of taking a topic that we have thoroughly studied in Middle school, taking it apart, analyzing the new and unknown situation, and then producing a cohesive thesis about what our new ideas are about that topic, I now know that most of the things that I have known to be true are complete and utter lies. Most recently, the Civil War. Before this unit, and as many people have already said, I thought slavery had been the #1 cause of the Civil War and that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. Now, it as if the foundation of my mind has been destroyed. Through the eyes of historian Howard Zinn and activities like Around the Horn, I have been able to see what the Civil War actually was like. For example, I now know that the North were not the "good, well-rounded saviors of the union" that I had always thought they were. Instead, they used the South to produce goods which they shipped out for money. Today, this is still present. Therefore, through this unit I propose that the Civil War has not ended yet and that it is even harsher today.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing Right America Feeling wrong I can see the difference in political and religious ideas between the South and the North. This can be seen especially in the most recent presidential election. Thomas Friedman, a columnist, wrote, "A civil war, that in many ways ended 147 years later in a ballot box." Friedman is noting that he believes that the civil war ended with the election of Barack Obama cause it would unify the country. This is very wrong. As the New York Times article, The 150 Year War states, "Today the Civil War echoes at a different register, usually in fights over remembrance." The Civil War has escalated to something more than leaving or succeeding from the Union. It is now a deep scar in the South's body which cannot be paid unless the North suffers.
Sterling, I also was taught the same thing as you that slavery was the primary cause of the civil war. After this unit, I learned that slavery was not the cause of the civil war and was probably taught that slavery is the cause because it is the most comprehendible concept that elementary schools students can understand. When I was in elementary school I had no clue what role government played, so if the teacher told me the war was fought over states rights, I would not understand.
DeleteAfter this unit, I understood that this war was way more complex than I initially thought. The numerous individuals who we studied in depth before, some of which I never even heard of before, symbolized a small section of the various people that had strong beliefs on issues. For example, I never knew that Roger Taney was on the supreme court and played a huge role in the fred scott case that a large impact on the future of the nation.
Also from this unit I learned that the north was so reliant on the south. This proved to be one the grievances of the south for when they seceded because they felt they were being taken advantage of. Although that was important, the most significant thing I took away from this unit is that Abraham Lincoln did not free the slaves. Coming into this unit I always though Lincoln was freed the slaves with the emancipation proclamation, but I was know taught that all the emancipation proclamation did was propose an ultimatum. This is the top misconception in my belief along with the belief that slavery was the main cause of the civil war.
When first coming in to the Civil War unit, I did not believe that I would end up respecting someone from the Confederate side. Years of learning about how the Civil War was about freeing the slaves from the South had made this simply a conflict between good and evil in my mind. However, after acting as Robert E. Lee, I have found that the issue of the Civil War is much more complicated than just a fight to abolish slavery. For example, Lee the general of the Confederate army was against slavery, calling it, "a moral and political evil." The biases I had because I lived in the North made me believe that the North was innocent and wanted to help the many African Americans who were enslaved. After reading "Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom," in A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, my views changed. While the South was wrong in enslaving people, racism was just as evident in the North, as, "off duty black soldiers were attacked in Northern cities" (Zinn 195). For the Civil War to truly end, the animosity between the North and South must do so as well. But the strong disagreements on issues held between the two parts on the country still represent the ideals of the Civil War 150 years later. After viewing "RIght America Feeling Wronged," the South was made to look like a terrible place where nothing but racism, intolerance, and ignorance were shown by the people. However, one person stated that it would be easy to find someone in Mississippi to use a racial slur and then broadcast it to everyone saying that the South was racist. But in reality these are used in the North, not just in Mississippi. Therefore, it is unfair to place the entire burden of intolerance on the South, because for intolerance to end the North cannot simply pin the blame on the South and act like it does not happen there as well. While the last battle of the Civil War ended over 150 years ago, the differences between the North and South today continue to separate the country, as both Northerners and Southerners have separate biases on the accounts of the war.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of this extensive Civil War Unit, I have come to realize that I had truly learned about just the sugar coating of this crazy time in history. When I stepped into our classroom, I had been exposed to minimal facts and figures, and actually nothing compared to the evidence we looked at in HUSH. Through portraying a single individual in our Around the Horn simulation, I am able to think in depth about what truly happened in the war, from a bias point of view of course since Salmon clearly was not neutral about the topic. I found it really interesting to have to interpret how my character would have answered certain questions and responded to the questions we were given to write speeches about. The one topic that was the most surprising to me was the Causes of the Civil War. Yes, I know that everyone has said this, but I had been lead to believe that slavery was the only cause of the civil war. I was sorely mistaken. I learned about so many other issues that were going on in our dividing country that I had never known were a problem. The ability that we have to go in depth on such a complicated subject is so important because the Civil War was a huge part of our history, and most kids couldn't tell you what year it started.
ReplyDeleteNow, after reading the articles linked above, I have been given yet another new perspective on the war. Not the war itself, but the ending, and how everything came to a close. The article that I found the most interesting was "Finishing Our Work," by Thomas Friedman. This article explained that the Civil War ended when our president, Barack Obama was elected. I never thought that the issue could have carried on this far into the future, but then I realized that he was right. Before now, things still weren't completely equal. By having Obama elected, the first African-American president that the country has ever had, we are proving our ancestors wrong that the Black is inferior to the White. Everyone is equal, and only we have the power to make that happen. Which we did, by electing our current president. After achieving this incredible milestone, we are now able to achieve almost anything as long as we come together to bring equality for all.
Being completely honest, I walked into this class with little more than a textbook education on the history of the Civil War. As a common theme though out all the units of this class, we are obligated to use critical thinking and dig deeper into a time period in order to discover what really happened. No better unit could supply us with dirty secrets and misconceptions, as a New York Times Article states, "It’s a bottomless treasure, this Civil War, much of it encrusted in myth or still unexplored" (Horwitz). As for myself specifically, I was enlightened by the commonly mistaken lives of many of the key figures of the Civil War, such as Lincoln. I learned after this unit that he was a wise man who understood what it would take to secure the safety of the his nation. While it may seem that he was incredibly forceful with his argument against slavery, he has repeatedly spoken his opinion of keeping the Union together as his primary goal. However, the South misheard what he had to say, such as when he stated during his election of 1860 that, "[...] the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction." More than anything else, Lincoln was a man who was misunderstood, at the wrong time, by the wrong people, over a significant component to the Southern society that he may have slipped in understanding how powerful his words were.
ReplyDeleteWhile my knowledge of who Lincoln was greatly changed, I also found it incredibly important when analyzing the exact reason for the South seceded in the first place. There was a general dislike between the two sides that came with physical boundaries and opposing cultures, but I always previously linked the reason for the South seceding to slavery. And while it is quite convincing that slavery was dominant in causing secession, an the article from the New York Times paraphrases interviews with present day Southerners/descendants of the Confederacy, stating, "Secession and the Civil War, in other words, were about small government, limited federal powers and states’ rights" (Ball). One hundred and fifty years later, and I have realized that people are about as stubborn as they were before. While the reasons these citizens made could be argued as valid, they somehow conveniently forgot to mention slavery, possibly an attempt to hide away the dark side of their past. As these Confederate descendants celebrate in the light of all that was good in the Confederacy, I have learned only but to keep digging for information when I find such a monumental event as the Civil War. There will always be something else to learn, as it is clear now that both sides have their fair share of secrets, only now being revealed with the nation.
“The civil war was caused by slavery. Slavery is bad. We are a better society for the Civil war. We live in a country full of peace.” Those were all things drilled into my head, and that was my perception on the Civil war. But basically this unit destroyed every idea and fact that I thought I knew about the Civil war. By this decimation of my knowledge, I gained a new and deeper understanding. Like many other historical events that I have learned about, the Civil war was just a preponderance of facts in my mind. Now there is so much more in my mind than just facts when I think about it. There wasn’t just one Zinn chapter this time but two, and we actually had to be a part of the Civil War immersing ourselves into roles. Many new reasons for this war were discovered and both sides of every reason were exploited. Even today, I can see the division in this nation from reasons of the Civil war, that many believe are long dead issues. As I learned and looked deeper into the war, I discovered that there really was no end. The idea of one main cause, such as slavery, isn’t a realistic question, because there were too many factors in this bloody Civil war.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no end to this war in sight. It is no longer a physical war, but purely psychological. The ideas and tensions from that period are still with us in society. As exampled in “Gone with the Myths”, many different states in the South had different reasons for secession and the war. Some held to believe that it was due to the institution of slavery that their state seceded from the Union while others still hold to believe that it was the fight for States rights, Ball even said, “since I was a boy, the answer I’ve heard to this question, from Virginia to Louisiana (from whites, never from blacks), is this: “The War Between the States was about states’ rights. It was not about slavery” (Gone with the Myths). The division is evident, in the north we learn that the cause of the Civil war was indefinitely slavery, while in the south they learn that it was for States rights, and then Lincoln himself thought it was for keeping the union together. Even so the African American’s in this country still faced indefinite oppression, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” Even though the Civil rights movement are long over, poverty and discrimination is still rampant around the country.
Cont.
ReplyDeleteThe war isn’t over. Although many of the short term causes have long since been solved there still is a lot more issues that need to be resolved. Slavery and the Union have been saved and mended, but state power is still being fought over. Still in some states in the south, Confederate flags still wave proud. To us, people of the north, this seems like some one who supports slavery and rebellion. But to them it is a symbol of hope, and state power. Many people have hope of the war ending, “None of this will be easy. But my gut tells me that of all the changes that will be ushered in by an Obama presidency, breaking with our racial past may turn out to be the least of them. There is just so much work to be done. The Civil War is over. Let reconstruction begin”(Let Reconstruction Begin). But I believe that even though Obama is president, that won’t help anything. There are still more things that need to be resolved before we can rebuild.
I came into this unit with a brief knowledge of the Civil War, and I now know that most of it was askew, and I now wonder where these misconceptions came from. I can't pinpoint when I learned this, but I thought that Lincoln freed the slaves and that the entire war was caused by slavery itself. I now know that Lincoln did not free the slaves, the South did, and that the primary cause of the South's secession, and consequently the war, was states' rights versus federal rights.
ReplyDeleteI now have a knowledge of the Civil War that doesn't stop at one perspective. I can see the war through the South's eyes, the North's, and even Henry Clay's, from when we did Around the Horn.
Something that I find interesting was that prior to this unit, I had never tried to look at the War from the South's perspective. A recent ad from the Sons of Confederate Veterans stated that, “All we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves." This really doesn't sound unreasonable, and in fact, echos 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was written- the United States separating itself from Britain. The South certainly felt wronged at the time, and it is evident that they still do. Their feelings of hostility towards the North are less physically evident, but they're definitely still there. When looking at it this way, it's no wonder the South seceded. After they seceded, the North came after them, with General Sherman burning everything in his path, and destroying the homes of Southerners- and all they wanted to do was to govern themselves. That's how to view the war from the Southern perspective.
What I also learned from this unit was the horrible job that Reconstruction was. In fact, I feel that that is a very loose term to describe that time period and is actually irrelevant to the occurrences that happened during it. The only thing that was "reconstructed" was the North. The South had just lost the Civil War. They were burned, literally and figuratively, and all the government did was give them minimal funds to fix it. It's really too bad that Lincoln's death was so untimely, because he wanted to take it easy on the South. Perhaps if "reconstruction" had been executed more thoughtfully, the hostility today between the North and the South (mainly the South against the North) today would be to a lesser extent. Throughout this unit, I have learned to look at the Civil War from multiple perspectives, and the truths behind it that were previously unclear.
I think that this unit had made me look back and question the division in the nation and where it comes from. I think that the Civil War impacted the nation more than I actually thought, now with a greater understanding, I see evidence of the Civil War in modern American society as well. I used to believe that the war was simply an argument between the North and the South that happened to boil over into a war and that the outcome was final and not disputed. However, from this unit, I have realized that the Civil War was much more complicated and not so concrete. I think that the causes seemed to be one of the most controversial topics in the Civil War, and at the beginning of this unit my ideas were completely different than my thoughts now. Even now, the causes are still being examined for the 150th anniversary, “During the centennial of the Civil War …. Georgia celebrated the Confederacy and the view that the state had seceded in a valiant act of defending states’ rights against Northern aggressors. This time around, state historians are taking a different approach, declaring that Georgia seceded to defend the institution of slavery” (Causes and Secession). I think that this is an excellent example of my view of the Civil War and it shows that even entire states cannot find a clear answer to what caused the Civil War. I think that Meghan brought up a good point about looking at the Civil War from the South’s perceptive. In Around the Horn, I was Robert E. Lee, who was from the South and it was interesting to find more information on how Southerners felt about the war and reconstruction. I think that another point that I learned from Around the Horn was how some Northerners wanted to punish the South, and I think that it altered my views of the country as a whole today. I think that our nation still shows the division that was evident in at the time of the Civil War. The idea that the South was physically destroyed because of Sherman’s March and the battles and that little financial support was given adds to the modern hostility. The South never had the opportunity to rebuild and catch up to the North since many Northern states received more money than Southern states. Looking back at this unit and how greatly my views have changed, I think that one could argue that the Civil War never really ended. Political parties still divide our nation and the North and South are still very different places. The country really was never able to unite after the war, the South had so much hostility to the North, which can still be found today.
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