The Civil War
Questions
1) How did the Major General's personal backgrounds affect their opinions on slavery, this war, and the future of America as well as affect their actions in this war?
2) What battle tactics learned during the Revolutionary War were used during the Civil War, and how did these tactics aid them in the Civil War?
3) How did propoganda in both the Union and Confederate States affect American audiences and their view on the US Civil War?
4) If a supposed reason for the Union's partake in the Civil War was the abolition of slavery, why were black soldiers not treated equal to white soldiers?
5) What did the slaves in the South do with their new freedom after the War. Before the war's end, how did they feel about the prospect of being freed?
6)Why did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
Introduction - From the beginning of America’s history, the moment the Mayflower found land in 1620, government has played an integral part in both the shaping and falling apart of our country. Although most will quickly state that the Civil War was as a war between those who agreed with slavery and those who wished to abolish it, it seemed to begin for reasons of more grand stature. After America’s War on Independence, the USA was governed by the Articles of Confederation. This document provided for a weak federal government or central power, but very strong state governments. However, the Articles of Confederation proved faulty and was replaced with the Constitution shortly after. The Constitution put the power in the Federal government, and in turn left states wondering where their state’s rights had gone. This power struggle between keeping a country conformed and together and allowing state’s their individual freedoms was the basis of this war, and this struggle was only expanded with the issue of slavery. During the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln believed that the Missouri Compromise would create a balance between free and slave states as well as help to avoid problems between the North and South, Douglas supported popular sovereignty, a form of states rights which permit them to choose individually if they wish to a be free or slave state. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the Union over the span of only two months. This struggle over the power to rule oneself instead of being ruled upon began the bloodiest war on America’s soil.
Conclusion - Lincoln remained in power throughout the entirety of the war, running against George McClellan in 1864 and being reelected. Although Lincoln simply abhorred war, he looked beyond the blood and deaths to the future that he believed America could have. War was the only way he saw to save the Union. During the inauguration ceremony for President Lincon in Washington, he says, "With malice toward none; with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” (Lincoln, March 4th,1865) The war did bring about a United Nation, but it is evident that the issue of power struggles between the states and the country has not disappeared. Today, Vermont as well as many other states have formed organizations whose goal is to teach others about the advantages of seceding from America. Small states such as Vermont feel that they are not heard in a nation as physically large as ours. Although reasons for this secession are now different, focusing more on our corrupt government than slavery, the overlying importance of state’s rights is still very much the same.
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