Chandra Manning’s book about soldiers, slavery, and the Civil War was a combination of her views and a collection of thoughts from soldiers about what started this war. Manning read many different collections of soldiers’ journals and pieces of newspapers to develop her understanding. Her impression on what started and caused the war all pointed to the topic of slavery. Soldiers found themselves talking about slavery rather than other topics such as issues that went with along the government. From her research she outlined the soldier’s views of the war and proved that this war was in fact about slavery. From what I understood, Manning was trying to push the soldiers’ writings to show that even from the beginning the two sides knew it …show more content…
This softened their view on slavery but not on equality. As time passed and practices such as selling children was witnessed and talked about the soldiers understood more about what they were fighting to abolish. They could not understand how Godly people could sell humans based on a race, break up families, beat and even rape their slaves to gain money and social clout. Seeing slavery up close made the Union committed to the abolishment of slavery. They believed that the United States could only rebound without slavery. “...the soldiers who decided that the Army must either get rid of slavery or prepare to fight the same battle all over again. 132 As a New York soldier put it, “as long as we ignore the fact (practically) that Slavery is the basis of this struggle so long are we simply heading down a vigorously growing plant that will continually spring up and give new trouble at a very short intervals.” (50) The Union did change and allow black soldiers to fight during the war and many previous slaves agreed to fight. When they joined the Union they shared the belief that slavery was wrong and it was an evil that was preventing the nation from being better. “By war, God is regenerating this Nation.” (182) The blacks that fought wanted more than the abolishment of slavery. They wanted rights that every human should have. They wanted to go to school, own property, and even …show more content…
They were fighting to separate from the Union because they wanted to maintain their livelihood. They fought to protect their homes, land and property which included slaves. Just like the north, they fought for slavery, but the difference between the two was that the Confederate soldiers believed that slavery needed to exist to maintain stability in the south. The Confederate soldiers believed that slavery needed to exists because it affected every aspect of their life. The southern way of life balanced on slavery. “So intrinsic was slavery to southern life and culture, pervading everything from white men’s individual identities to safety to the structure of society, that many white Southerners simply could not imagine its absence.” (38) Manning states that slavery was the south’s security blanket, even for those who did not own a slave. Manning also wrote that having slaves was protection. “…the protection of their families, interests, and very identities as men, and they relied on it to prevent race war. Perceived northern attempts to destroy it had to be stopped.”
Question 1: McPherson and Horwitz have differentiating arguments on the Civil War. In McPherson’s interpretation, he explains who the war “redefined the United States” and list the reasons why it would be considered a total war and how it ended with the founding of essentially a new nation. Horwitz has a bit different viewpoint. He questions the necessity of the war, points out the fact the North did not fight to abolish slavery, and becomes upset of the legacy of the Civil War soldiers.
They felt secure that the Confederacy soldiers had the benefit of prepared troops. Those who were raised in the South had the opportunity to learn skills with guns and riding horses, which prepared them for battle. Whereas the Union troops were industrial workers whom had not been prepared. They assumed that since the Union were conquering land they had to leave soldiers behind at some point to protect the land conquest. In which the Confederacy believed it was reasonable to wait, until the North became vulnerable and surrender.
During the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln; it declared that “All person’s held as slaves within the rebellious states henceforward shall be free”, but blacks still felt that they were being treated unfairly. Slaves responded to the Emancipation Proclamation by leaving their overseers and dividing the land and implements among themselves. When opportunity came, two-hundred thousand blacks joined the Union army, Historian James McPheron says: “Without their help, the North could not have won the war as soon as it did, and perhaps it could not have won at all” (194), but when blacks were in the Union army and the northern cities during the war, it gave hints of how limited the emancipation would be. Black
They could fight against their old masters. About 200,000 former slaves fought in the war. This policy changed the nature of the war. It had been a war to reunify the states. It became a war for freedom.
Their expectations of the outcome of the Civil War linked to their hope for a chance of reconciliation and freedom just as much as ay other white man. They knew exactly what they were fighting for, and because of this, the meaning for them became just as significant and meaningful. However for the blacks during this time period, their understanding of the significance of the war contributed to how it eventually changed during the period of Reconstruction when Blight says, “These black soldiers had no trouble defining the meaning of freedom and the war; they were only beginning the long struggle to protect the memory of their story… ” (Bailey, Chapter 1 p. 24). In Bailey’s statement, the meaning of the Civil War changed for blacks and was somewhat different from a white’s because of their basic placement in society that separated them due to their different meanings/purposes for the war.
Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did they free themselves? Many people would debate that Lincoln freed the slaves. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, stating all slaves in the rebellious state were free. This may have led to the slaves being freed.
In the South, all people wanted to keep the slaves. There were Southern land owners who wanted the labor of the slaves. They wanted to fight so they can settle their differences.
Following the war, African Americans throughout the war led to an alteration in the goals of the war, and therefore a contribution to the new politics and culture that followed later. As the war between the North and the South progressed, the abolition of slavery didn’t take a strong stand until after the Emancipation Proclamation. In document 1, Benjamin F. Butler questions, “Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free?”
Life for the Union Soldier was not only brutal on the battlefield, but the camp life for a Union soldier was just as cruel. With the lack of personal hygiene, unsavory and repugnant food, and the shortage of clothing made living, a very difficult thing to do. Growth in the number of people with diseases was also a contributing factor to the massive amounts of death within the camp and as well as the post-battle wounds that often left either a man with one less limb or put in a mental institution. A Union Soldier’s life during the Civil War was cruel and horrific during their stay at the camps.
They all believed that slavery should stay in the states and during the war they had slaves build fortifications and cook for the soldiers. A Confederate source published this poster trying to get people to lend their slaves to them for the war. "I call upon the Planters of Lowndes and adjacent counties for Negroes to complete the fortifications. "This shows that the Confederacy did not want their slaves fighting in the war, but still needed them to do other tasks. The Union wanted their slaves to be part of the war, but not to fight in it.
Before, during and after the Mexican War, notherners argued that a “slave power conspiracy” existed in government. What evidence is there to support that charge? The northerners argued that a “slave power conspiracry” existed in the government for many reasons. One of these many reasons would be the argument of, “Was not Polk a slaveholder?
The Civil War was a great turning point for Americans and their ideas and thoughts of freedom. Slavery began to be questioned because of this change, as several writings express the belief of everyone having freedom and equality. For example, the “Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln strongly expresses that every man was created equal and everyone should put that into action. Another great source expressing equality is “Ain’t I a Women” by Sojourner Truth. The Civil War reshaped ideas and beliefs Americans once had and molded them into understanding that all people men, women, blacks, and whites are all created equal.
Manning displayed this through this quote from an African American solider, “We of the free states have yielded to this peculiar institution… until it has become so deeply rooted that [removing] it will shake the nation and our institutions to the very center.’ Like many of his fellow enlisted men, Bailey knew a revolution when he saw one (85).” This quote proves that the Emancipation Proclamation did not just free the slaves, but also increased the number of Union troops. This gives the Union an advantage in manpower. Manning then goes on to discuss how religion played in to the war.
In chapter one, Lincoln and Liberty, of Chandra Manning’s What This Cruel War Was Over, (2007), Manning explains that although there were many reasons for why a solider white or black, Union or Confederate, slavery was the ultimate cause of the Civil War. At first Manning lists all the reasons soldiers from certain backgrounds enlisted but then she shows how those reasons were connected to slavery or how slavery very quickly became the reason someone was fighting. She does this in order to show the reader that slavery affected everyone is some way or another and that is why it became the main cause of the war. I believe Manning is successful in showing the relation between slavery and the soldiers fighting for its continuation or its end. Manning
What this Cruel War was Over: Chandra Manning Chandra Manning opens up her important book with a quote that states, " The fact that slavery is the sole undeniable cause of this infamous rebellion, that it is a war of, by, and for slavery, is as plain as the noon-day sun. "(p.3) This book is about what soldiers thought about slavery and what it has to do with the civil war. In 1862 the white southerners did not agree with the Wisconsin men on a lot of things but one thing they did agree on was that any man who believes that this is not a war for the freeing of blacks is either a fool or a liar. Getting to the question on how did white Union soldiers’ understanding of slavery change during the course of the war, well two years later black men