The Civil War

“He hates what he believes and loves it at the same time,” -Kitchen Sink by TOP

This week I’ve been studying the American Civil War. From the Battle of Bull Run to the Battle of Cold Harbor, to the Siege of Petersburg, and many bloody battles in between, the whole thing was a viscous mess.

The prompt says to tell what my favorite part about this weeks’ lessons. I quite liked the fact that I didn’t have a PDF worksheet. I like the map, I think mostly for the fact that I used sharpies, which I love.

What I found most interesting about studying the Civil War was the fact that I’m human, that they were human. Me and you and them and us, as a species, we did that. Even though we weren’t alive then, and we had nothing to do with it, we did that. And life as we know it now is a product of what people did then.

Can you imagine it? Not being a specific person or anything, but just being there, apart of it? Fighting for what you believe in, sometimes to the death, fighting for your rights and your freedom. Killing people. That’s the bit that gets me; people killed people. I mean it’s completely downplayed from what it was, made softer for the public’s consumption, but it was brutal and bloody and violent. And that’s the thing. Violence is sick. Its freaking disgusting. BUT at the same time, I get it because I’ve got some freakish, violent fantasies, and I’ll cheer when someone gets a popped in the face, and I love horror movies and oh my gosh. And then I guess that’s human nature, right? We are violent and murderous, but at the same time loving and caring and sweet. I can’t think about any of this without twisting it into a pressing psychological matter, which I find disturbing in myself, and along with the fact that apparently “everyone goes through stuff like this”, I find people in general disturbing. After this thought process, I go back to the matter at hand, the Civil War, and basically I decide that everyone involved just cared so much about what they believed and what they thought was right, that they would defend it with everything they had, crossing psychological lines and mental borders and moral boundaries, killing and maiming and destroying those who stood in the way.

Slavery was one of the baseline causes of the Civil War. You could say it was THE cause, but that wouldn’t be necessarily true. The area the Southern states occupied were more equipped with the natural resources and good soil and such to grow crops such as cotton and tobacco, so they grew and developed and a great many plantations popped up, and as they used slaves for laborers on plantations, slaves were more employed in the Southern area rather than the Northern area, and Southerners relied more heavily upon slaves for their income. The boss-men of the country tried to tell the states what they could do and what they couldn’t slave-wise, saying that this state or the other would be a slave state or a non-slave state, which freaked the Southerners out because a lot of them had became prissy gentlemen who couldn’t work like the slaves had done. They wished to secede, to make their own country were slavery was perfectly legal and they couldn’t be told they could own slaves. Now, Abraham Lincoln thought that secession was illegal, although he didn’t really have a position on slavery at the beginning; he said he wouldn’t get into that because it wasn’t his business. But he did think secession was wrong, as I said, and that was what the fight was about. These states had every right to secede, even if they had shoddy reasons for wanting to do so. And the people believed that they did have this right, even those against slavery. It doesn’t make sense for them to not have it. Lincoln was going against what the people believed, and he realized it. He changed his stance. He changed it from anti-secession to anti-slavery, and this grabbed the people. Many thought slavery was wrong, possibly a by-product of not relying on the slaves to keep food on the table, possibly pity, possibly its just they thought it was wrong to treat other humans like defecation. Lincoln gained a following with this new stance, enough so that the Union side was able to beat the rebel side. There was no secession, slavery was abolished, the war officially ended.

This is the Civil War to my understanding. Battles took place that were bloody and vicious, and things were gained that aren’t so much material as emotional… And people became free. The notion that a human could own another human was abrogated.

Abraham Lincoln

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln

Quite arguably one of the most influential Presidents, Abraham Lincoln made a huge impact on our nation, inspiring many with his rationality and charm. The sixteenth President of The United States and Prezzy during the Civil War, Lincoln will be remembered for centuries because of his efforts to disintegrate slavery in our country, for the Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address, and for his reputation as ‘Honest Abe’.

Lincoln was born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12^th, 1809. Thomas was a farmer who did fairly well for his family, but in 1817 they moved to Perry County, Illinois. When Abraham was 9, his mother died of tremetol, which was absolutely devastating. A few months after her death, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, with whom Abraham quickly bonded with.

When Abraham was 22, the family was moving once again, this time to Coles County. Abraham didn’t go along. He instead moved to New Salem, where he worked as a post-master and a shopkeeper. It was here, by talking to all the different sorts of people who came in, that he picked up a knack for story telling and became quite popular in the town. When the Black Hawk War of 1832 began, the volunteers of that area elected Lincoln their captain. They saw no real fighting.

After the war, Lincoln began his political career. He was elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1834, as a member of the Whig party. The Whigs parties political stance formed Lincoln’s early views on slavery; he saw it not so much as immoral as he did an economical hindrance. Around this time, he decided to become a lawyer, self-teaching himself. After being admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois and began practicing law at the John T. Stuart law firm.

Lincoln served one term in The House of Reps., from 1847 to 1849. He was the only Whig from Illinois, and had a hard time finding political allies. He used his time in office to voice his distaste for the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for Pres. In 1848. His critique made him unpopular back home, so he did not run for a second term but instead returned to Springfield to continue law.

In the 1850’s the railways were expanding, and Illinois became a popular place for new businesses. Lincoln found himself with many clients such as banks and insurance companies due to his previous succes in cases. He did some criminal cases, in one of which a witness claimed they could positively identify Lincolns client because of the light from the full moon on the night of the crime. Lincoln checked in an almanac, and proved that said night was to dark for the witness to have seen jack clearly. His client was acquitted. 😀

Lincoln got engaged to Mary Todd in 1840. Mary was a well-educated woman from Kentucky. In 1841 the engagement was broken off by Abraham. They met up again later at a social hoo-hah, and finally got married on November 4^th, 1842. They had four children, Robert Todd, Tad, William Wallace, and Edward Baker; Only Robert made it to adulthood.

In 1857, The Supreme Court issued its decision, Scott vs. Sanford, declaring that African- Americans were not citizens and had no inherent rights. An indignant Lincoln, who believed that the Founding Fathers built this country on the belief that all men a]had certain unalienable rights and needed to be treated with decency, challenged then US Senator Stephan Douglas for his seat. He gave a speech in which he criticized Douglas, The Supreme Court, and President Buchanan, and declared that “a house divided cannot stand”. The 1858 Senate campaign featured a series of seven debates, Lincoln vs. Douglas, with the primary issue being slavery. Douglas was elected, but this exposure gained Lincoln much popularity and national attention.

In 1860 the Republican National Convention chose Lincoln as their Presidential Candidate. Lincoln received about 40% of the popularity vote, and 180 votes of of 303, the other 123 being split between Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell.

Before his inauguration in March 1861, seven states had seceded, and Fort Sumter was under attack. Lincoln pulled out all the stops; He dispersed two million dollars from the Treasury for war material, he called for 75,000 volunteers to join military service, and he arrested and imprisoned suspected Confederate sympathizers, all without an allotment from Congress, a declaration of war, or warrants. He used his power as President unlike any before him. He faced many various enemies, ranging from his generals and his Cabinet, to American citizens, right to the rebels.

The Union Army faced a great many defeats in the first year and a half, which made it difficult for Lincoln to gain any support, much less keep that which he had. But, with a hopeful victory for the Union at Antietam on Sept 22^nd, 1862, Lincoln felt he might be able to change his stance from the unification of the nation to the abolishment of slavery.On January 1^st, 1863, he issued The Emancipation Proclamation. All individuals who are slaves “henceforward shall be free”.

The North slowly began to do better in the war. Lincoln was challenged by George B. McClellan, former commander of the Army of Potomac, for the Presidential office. Lincoln won with 212 out of 243 Electoral votes and as re-elected in 1865. On April 9^th, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, and the war was over.

Lincoln was assassinated on April 14^th, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He was taken from the theatre to the Petersen House across the street, where he lay in a coma for nine hours before dying that next morning. His body lay in the Capitol until a funeral train took his body back to Springfield, Illinois, his final resting place.

Abraham Lincoln accomplished many things through out his life time. He set people free. He moved a nation. He will be remembered for centuries. Da da da da da dah deh… dah da da da da dah…