WeeK 12-The US Civil War
Please read Before you answer the questions below
Read Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents, Volume 1: To 1877 Eighth Edition (chapter 15) on The US Civil War
Read The American Promise: A Concise History, Volume 1 Eighth Edition (chapter 15) on The US Civil War
This is a Discussion Threads so the work cities are going to be from the books on chapter 15. Include the page numbers on the paragraphs as you writing it please its very important
Also 3 paragraphs of your personal opinions
Week 12: The US Civil War
Causes of the Civil War
We've spent the past few weeks talking about the buildup to the Civil War, so as a mini-capstone, I want to ask the big question: what caused the Civil War? In your analysis, be sure to utilize the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes" document, which was drafted by South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union, as a sort of "Declaration of Independence," explaining why the delegates decided to secede. The other states in the Lower South drafted very similar documents when they seceded, as well.
Why the North?
Why did the North win the Civil War? What were some of the significant developments in American politics, culture, and society that came as a result of Union victory?
Emancipation Proclamation
TAP describes Gettysburg and Vicksburg as the two major turning points in the war (411-12), but most historians include the Emancipation Proclamation as the third (and most important) turning point. How did the Emancipation Proclamation change the nature of the Civil War? Why was it crucial to securing Union victory?
Who is Lincoln?
Abraham Lincoln has become the dominant figure in American history and mythology, and every generation reinterprets and reinvents Lincoln to meet their own needs. For example, to white demagogues in the turn-of-the-century South, he was quoted to justify white supremacy. In the 1960s, black nationalist groups used the same quotes to dismiss him as a white supremacist. At the same time, historical revisionists utilized his own words to interpret him as the “great emancipator.” My point is that pretty much every group has their own interpretation of what Lincoln was all about, which often has more to do with what they believe than what he believed.
As historians, we're tasked with the difficult mission of putting him in his own historical context and trying to understand his core beliefs. What did Lincoln believe about African Americans? What shaped these beliefs? Why is it so easy for different groups today to use different sets of quotes to suggest that Lincoln would have supported their particular agenda?
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Confederate flag
Why does Coates argue that the Confederate flag should no longer be flown? What evidence does he gather to support this conclusion? What does his analysis reveal about how rhetoric about the flag has shifted over the past 150 years?