The Inevitable War:
Multifaceted Analysis of American Civil War Nationalism in Film Literature
Chen Wenxin, Chloe
University of Colorado Denver
The Inevitable War
Multifaceted Analysis of American Civil War Nationalism in Film Literature
Nationalism refers to the idea how people with common cultural and political backgrounds identify themselves as a nation. On the issue of the necessity of the American Civil War, two preferences on nationalism differences and slavery have taken the thoughts of the majority. While revisionists hold their opinions that this war is totally preventable because of some better decisions that should have been made on policies of slavery and blaming northern and southern firebrands for causing the
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Discriminating as it was, it did help create some form of cognition among American citizens, creating new meanings for the American nationalism. Based on the effects of the racial relations and nationalism, it can be easily summarized that the nationalism attained more actual effects than slavery and racial relations. Thus, a conclusion can be made that the nationalism is more likely to be the key element of this inevitable war, rather than slavery. Based on the arguments that the war took place due to nationalism rather than slavery and its reasons for the shattered cultural cognition among different communities, the ideas from leaders as well as the analysis on the outcomes of the war, a comprehensive conclusion can be made that the civil war was inevitable in the area of nationalism, because it is the core of the civil war, while the slavery abolition is more likely to be a hook and catalyst of the war rather than the essential …show more content…
K. (2014). Slavery and the Civil War in Cultural Memory. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Retrieved from http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13070064
Burns, K. & Burns, R. (1990, September 23). The Civil War. kenburns.com. Retrieved from http://kenburns.com/films/civil-war/
Carp, B. L. (2002). Nations of American Rebels: Understanding Nationalism in Revolutionary North America and the Civil War South. Civil War History, 48(1),
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
So the frequently understood notion regarding the similarities and differences amongst the Civil War and World War 1 was that the civil war was an undeclared war fought merely against ourselves while Word War 1 was a certified war battled with a foreign country that came to American shores. One specific concern that was continually fanning the blazing issues with the Civil War of slavery produced a profound divergence among the North and South in the mid-1800s. From that distribution, the next surge of municipal liberties for minorities expanded. Changes between the two wars were the fact that the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment shined a light on the fault lines of class and race. Racial animosity, injustices of the draft, and unrest during the civil war brings a head to our American nature.
But to my knowledge there isn’t a single day in the southern states or the nation that memorializes the generations of lives that were lost to enslavement and the generations of African Americans that were impacted beyond the physical injustice of slavery. Unless the United States becomes extinct, I do not believe the significance of the domestic slave trade will not change over time because it was the most vital component the United States economy during the industrial revolution which formed the United States as we know it today. Yet the relevance that the domestic slave trade has in the public mind is bound to decline if there isn’t talked about in a relatable manner or even acknowledged on an institutional
With the emotional tone the speaker utilizes, he provides logical evidence such as the “immortal Washington” and “Jackson” (10-11). By providing such terms, it motivates African Americans to fight the war because it reveals their patriotism. The descriptions and emotions the speaker used towards the treatments of African Americans set an empathetic but also an angry tone that urges many to fight for the Union army to defeat the tyrant system. This use of such evidence moves African Americans closer to fight the
Movies and Hollywood have captivated our ideas of history whether it being movies such as 300 or my current topic Glory. Movies have profound impact on our historical perception and even though these movies try to stay accurate they still present major inaccuracy. Now in this paper I will be reviewing and detailing the historical validity of the 1989 Civil War blockbuster Glory, the movie is centered on the Massachusetts 54th regiment that was predominately made up of African American free men and their commander Robert Gould Shaw, who was the son of a prominent Abolitionist family in Boston. Shaw was originally was apart of the 7th New York who had aided in the defense of Washington and later join and rise up the ranks in the 2nd Massachusetts.
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.
Throughout the war, Slavery was the main key that brought more problems to intensify the start of the war between the north and the south. To demonstrate in the textbook, “The Americans”, the author states that, “Most white southerners also feared that an end to their entire way of life was at hand. Many were desperate for
Teresa Garcia, 20405211, History 1301-13 Row 5. Lowe, Richard. “Willis August Hodges.” In The Human Tradition in the Civil War and Reconstruction, edited by Steven E. Woodworth, 213-222. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2000.
Dr. Elizabeth Varon’s lecture portrayed the complex legacy of Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9th, 1865 in the context of what it symbolized for the South, the North, and African Americans, what it’s practical implications were, and how it differs from our modern rendering of the event into folklore. Depending on their allegiance to the Union or to the Confederacy, people perceived the events that transpired at Appomattox very differently. Dr. Varon first addresses Lee and the South’s view of Appomattox a restoration of peace, with no obligations for the South to repent or change their ways. It was a noble defeat in the eyes of the Confederates in which Lee “had not stooped his proud head one
Throughout the teaching and the study of our History, we have discovered lots of facts and truths about the war between the two groups in America, which are the Confederate state that’s located on the South and the Union state which is located on the North. Both states had their own combination of preparing for a war, as well as power that supports the will of gaining independence. Each state had it’s own strengths and weaknesses throughout the war. The war was thought to be effective and ineffective for the two groups because of decisions they made and forces they brought in as their own separate state.
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.
Throughout all of these events the ideas of nationalism rose after resurging in the American people after victory in New Orleans and the end of the War of 1812. However despite the external unity and cohesive nationalism of the American people, tension was brewing between the North and South over the issue of slavery and in the newly admitted states, this tension grew and eventually ended in the Civil War. (civilwar.org). The War of 1812 had a significant economic impact on the United States, the war
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
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.
However, while these causes could not have been resolved to avoid the war, history has proved that the American Civil War was a necessary conflict that shaped the future of America in a way only hitherto imagined. President Lincoln’s Second