The Civil War is a timely topic as the Sesquicentennial commemorations
are occurring throughout the nation. We
live amongst the remains of the Civil War fought 150 years ago – and seldom do
we acknowledge the sites of horrific battles; the scars on our churches,
buildings, and national character; or, its impact on the American psyche. For four long and terrible years, the United
States was interrupted by a brutal war that helped define American democracy.
In popular memory, the Civil War is
often seen as having been fought solely between the North and the South over
the issues of slavery or state’s rights. During the course of the war, however, both
the Union and Confederacy faced numerous internal divisions. They were divided by fierce controversies
over conscription, the curtailment of civil liberties, and the unequal economic
burdens of war. One’s experience of the
war often depended on where one and the members of one’s family were physically
located. In no manner was the Civil War
a civil war.
Civil
War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning through the Words of Those Who Lived
It goes beyond the surface view of the conflict by revealing
the deep divisions in the country before the war and gives an in-depth look at
the lives of soldiers and the home front as well as the political process of
creating emancipation. The readings and discussion groups dig even deeper into first
person accounts about the circumstances of the Civil War, their perceptions of
the war, and ultimately their understandings about the war.
The institution of slavery had been a
source of contention since the founding era. The South Carolina Declaration of
Causes looks back to Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence as a model and as
the source of the core principles of the new slaveholding republic. Both the South Carolina Declaration of Causes
and Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address deal with the nature of the American
federal union, while offering very different views of the Constitution.
1. How did Southern and Northern
understandings of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the
nature and purpose of American republicanism differ? How did these different perspectives shape
the question of secession and of slaveholding?
2. The editorial in the Charleston Mercury calls for the
convening of a secession convention “at the earliest possible time.” Why was time such an issue? What did the election of Abraham Lincoln as
president signify to the Mercury?
Judging from this piece, so you think contemporary Southerners anticipated war
as a consequence of secession?
The assigned readings suggest that
many Americans, North and South, approached the secession crisis with
well-developed preconceptions of the causes of the conflict, and whom to blame
for it.
3. Consider how assigning blame for the
war affects one understanding of what the war means to them:
a. What, for Charles C. Jones Sr., was
the religious significance of the war?
b. How might the use of biblical imagery
have affected the way northern readers understood slavery, or the cause and
purpose of the Civil War?
c. Douglass enthusiastically embraces
the coming war. Why?
d. Does Greeley’s letter to Lincoln
achieve the author’s purpose for writing it? How does the act of writing the
letter help Greeley make sense of his experience of the Civil War?
4. The nation’s early republican ideals
did not extend to tens of thousands of people of African descent who were kept
in forced servitude. How would you
characterize attitudes toward slavery of:
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. Frederick Douglass
c. The Citizens of Liberty County
Georgia
d. The Confederate senators
e. The missionaries/teachers
5. The Emancipation Proclamation is
often remembered as a major turning point in the lives of African Americans
throughout the United States. It applied
almost exclusively to states and regions in rebellion, however, failing to
extend to slaves in the four Border States (Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and
Delaware and the recently seceded from Virginia mountain area of West
Virginia).
a. How did the adoption of emancipation
as a war goal and the raising of black troops change the meaning and the
experience of the war in the Union and in the Confederacy?
b. How did the Emancipation Proclamation
change public opinion regarding the war in the North and the South?
c. Was it simply a military tactic or
was it meant to have a more permanent, social impact?
6. Initially, Americans in both the
Union and the Confederacy believed that the war would be a short, nearly
bloodless fight. After the initial years of the war, it became clear that
neither of these assumptions would come to fruition.
a. How did families deal with the
worsening of the war?
b. How were the Confederate and Union
reactions similar?
c. What role did the development of new
technology, like the railroad and telegraph, play in the changing role of
families at home during the war?
d. How did newspaper reports affect
public perception of the Union and Confederate successes and failures?
e. How did war change the role of women
in society as a whole?
7. Discuss presidential leadership in
times of crisis, with an emphasis on Lincoln.
a. How did he shape the presidency?
b. Did he set a precedent for future
American leaders?
8. How did the Civil War shape and
change the relationship between the states and the federal government?
9. What did you find most surprising or
unexpected about the writings chosen for this discussion group?
10. According to a 2011 Pew Research
Center poll, 48% of Americans believe that the Civil War was fought “mainly
about state’s rights” while 38% believe that slavery was the root cause. What do you think? Was the Civil War fought “mainly about
state’s rights” or was the root cause the issue of slavery? Will the discussion today of these first
person accounts affect your answer?
