Prior to the civil war american s had illusions of innocence and isolation from the forces of history. After studying literature from the period known as realism, we know that these writers used their words to portray realistically america’s various social issues and struggles such as states rights, slavery, and death. These writers portrayed social issues and the struggles of ordinary people. No longer did the literature contain the supernatural of the romantic period. On the contrary, works such as “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, “War is Kind” and “ Letter to Son” changed america’s idea of innocence and isolation from the horrors of history because the civil war was the only war where every death was American.
It provides insight into a very important period in American history. For those who do not like history or this period of history, this memoir will be dull and the reader will most likely dread reading it and give
David Blight, is a detailed study of the ways that Americans chose to remember the Civil War during the first fifty years following the conflict. Blight argues that throughout this period Americans used the two expression to remember and give meaning to the war with rhetorical effectiveness throughout the excerpt. Blight accomplishes the main theme of competing memories with different ideals of the Civil War seeking to overcome the issue for reunion. A majority of America’s white community chose to obscure the Civil War’s racial meaning behind a front of attitudes that acclaimed both Northern and Southern soldiers. Later Blight uses the themes of ending the war with a push for national reconciliation to demonstrate how the country’s efforts
In Drew Faust book, This republic of suffering, Faust attempted to depict the social impact the Civil War had on the American people. In decribing individual stories, and going beyond the tactial information about the battles fought, this retelling of the Civil war pays homage to the individual lives that sacraficed and persevered during one of the most trying times in the nation. The act of dying is described in nine different acts, dying and killing,burying, naming, realizing, believeing and doubting, and accounting. Amongst the many differences between Union and Confederate soilders, the unifying sting of death united them, as well as the mothers, widows and orphans that the deceased left behind. The combined stress of fatalities, the economic
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.
Despite the many years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the war’s significance was still great enough to have caused such controversy with the public over its meaning. In David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion, the meaning of the war changes throughout the period of Reconstruction not due to the misconception of it solely, but due to what we wanted to interpret from the war (or rather, what we remembered from the war that eventually changed over time). Blight argues, “I am primarily concerned with the ways that contending memories clashed or intermingled in public memory, and not in developing professional historiography of the Civil War” (Blight, Prologue). With this being said, the meaning of the Civil War changed through what people felt and
The Civil War is seen as disastrous, upsetting, and a new start for America. In Across Five Aprils, written by Irene Hunt, she shows all of those feelings. The Civil War was a hard time for many families. Their son’s are going to war, they still have to work, and they need someone to protect the family. You worry for your safety, and your children’s.
It’s no joke that the Civil War is America’s bloodiest war. And throughout these tumultuous times, tensions were high among all Americans. On the last legs of the Civil War, there was considerable doubt about the future of America. Would America ever recover from its harsh divide? Abraham Lincoln certainly thought so.
A war of wars, between brothers. Such a war it came to be. Fought over freedom, sacrifice, and civil rights. It killed thousands, a bloody group of battles indeed. But, what caused this, why did this come to be?
What Caused the Civil War? Slavery helped build the United States, but it did help disjoin it as well. The Civil War costed over 600,000 lives who were all fighting over one question. Should slavery exist or be abolished?
Four characters in particular show the emotions and the persona of the American people before and after
Slavery came to a complete end, the South lost much of its power, and President Abraham Lincoln died for his belief in the iconic words “All men were created equal.” Understanding the many effects of the end of the American Civil War can lead to a better understanding of the nation as a whole, and some of the current problems it
The aftermath of the Civil War caused drastic transformations among the American people between the years 1860 and 1880. Of these changes rose the issues of political and social relations within the nation. The issues of political and social relationships arose among several different groups of people, causing these relationships to drastically change. Through the transformations of public liberty, right of succession, and slavery, the Civil War and it's inevitable aftermath was able to alter the political and social relationships that had been instilled in the fabric of America before the times of 1860.
Many people in many countries often change their ways of life especially in times of war. The culture during the Civil War proves that change most occurs in difficult times. Clothing, architecture, agriculture, and transportation were only a few parts that are included in culture. The fashion of men and women’s clothing and the architecture of buildings are great examples of America's culture in the 1860s because they show that our bodies and shelters constitute our environment. Transportation is included in culture because it reveals that the people are efficient in getting from one place to another in a shorter amount of time and that our economy is available everywhere.
In less than 300 pages, with 100 being dedicated to notes of original sources, he presents a captivating story of why the South went to war, the reasons for its self-destruction, and the effects that arose from this conflict on the lives of blacks and whites who lived during
The living legacy of the United States Civil War is a complicated time in American history one finds difficult to describe. The ramification of the war prior, during and after still haunt the current citizens who call The States their home. Tony Horwitz’s book Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War looks at the wide gap of discontent that still looms in the late 1990s. For some southerners, the Confederacy still lives on through reenactments, stories and beliefs. For others in the South, reminders the land was dedicated to the Confederacy spark hatred and spite.