Give Me Liberty Ch. 14 A New Birth Of Freedom: The Civil War - Review Questions
In what ways did the outcome of the Civil War change the United States' status in the world.
After the Civil War, many countries praised the Union for fighting for what was right in ending slavery. People saw Lincoln and other Union leaders as 'heroes of freedom', especially Ulysses S. Grant. Germany's Otto von Bismarck even compared the newly-united US to the newly-formed German states. Thus, the Union victory of the Civil War laid the foundation for modern America and led to a shift in which the US was brought forward, for perhaps the first time, as a rival to European powers.
Describe how President Lincoln's war aims evolved between 1861 and 1863, changing from simply preserving the Union to also ending slavery.
At first, when the Civl War broke out in 1861, Lincoln wanted only to preserve the Union and bring the southern states that had seceded back into the Union. His premise at the outset of the war was that the Confederate states had no right to secede, that their actions were traitorous, and that the Union was justified in trying to bring the Confederacy back into the nation. However, as the Union Army began fighting, Lincoln realized that the war would be difficult to win. It became necessary for him to provide a rationale grounded in democracy to motivate the Union troops and the North and to provide a broader context for fighting the war. IN 1862, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in 1863 and freed the slaves in the Confederacy. Though this was largely a symbolic action, it signified Lincoln's eventual commitment to ending slavery and providing a more meaningful rationale for tithing the deadly and long Civil War. In addition, Lincoln knew that by supporting the abolition of slavery, he would make it difficult for European powers such as England to support the Confederacy. This is because there was a strong abolitionist sentiment in England.
What role did blacks play in winning the Civil War and in defining the war's consequences?
BLACKS were allowed as SAILORS but not SOLDIERS for a while, for fear of 1. white soldiers' unwillingness to fight alongside blacks and 2. alienation of border slave states that remained in the union by enlisting BLACK SOLDIERS. For BLACK SOLDIERS themselves, military service proved to be a liberating experience. Out of the army came many of the leaders of the Reconstruction era. At least 130 former soldiers served in political office after the Civil War. In time, the memory of black military service would fade from white America's collective memory. Of the hundreds of Civil War monuments that still dot the northern landscape, fewer than a dozen contain an image of a BLACK SOLDIER. But well into the 20th century, it remained a point of pride in black families throughout the US that their fathers and grandfathers had fought for freedom. Within the army, however, BLACK SOLDIERS received treatment that was anything but equal to that of their white counterparts. Organized into segregated units under sometimes abusive white officers, they initially received lower pay ($10/month, compared to $16/month for white soldiers). They were disproportionately assigned to labor rather than combat, and they could not rise to the rank of commissioned officer until the very end of the war. Nonetheless, BLACK SOLDIERS played a crucial role not only in winning the Civil War but also in defining the war's consequences. Thanks in part to black military service, many Republicans in the last 2 years of the war came to believe that emancipation must bring with it equal protection of the laws regardless of race. One of the first acts of the federal government to recognize this principle was the granting of retroactive equal pay to BLACK SOLDIERS early in 1865. The service of BLACK SOLDIERS affected Lincoln's own outlook. In 1864, Lincoln, who before the war had never supported suffrage for African-Americans, urged the governor of Union-occupied Louisiana to work for the partial enfranchisement of BLACKS, singling out SOLDIERS as especially deserving. At some future time, he observed, they might again be called upon to "keep the jewel of Liberty (italicized) in the family of freedom."
How did federal policies undertaken during the Civil War transform the United States into a stronger nation-state - economically, politically, and ideologically?
Considered as second revolution of America, it redefined the meaning of Freedom. Freedom is self ownership, reinforced the sense that the nation was a progressive force in world history which lined with Northern value. Power of federal government increased during this time period as the federal budget also increased. Due to rapid economic development driven by the industrial revolution and the war many capitalist and selfmade men were created. American civil war also brought forward a phenomenon of Nation Building not only to the nation but throughout the world, Unification as a national entity. People in Nation started to call themselves as "American" versus Virginian or New Yorker. The war restrained the Confederacy's bid for national independence and destroyed the institution of slavery upon which it rested. The resulting peace - specifically, the Radical Reconstruction crafted by the Republican Part - reunited the national economically and politically, yet did so on terms that not just the defeated Confederates came to resent.
What was the impact of the Civil War on civil liberties?
Discussing this question in a broader historical context is important. The existence of civil liberties requires that people be free to live their lives as they see fit. Prior to and during the Civil War, there were no civil liberties for approximately four million slaves in the Confederate States. This was most famously expressed in the 1857 Dred Scott ruling by the Supreme Court, when America's highest judicial institution declared that slaves were a form of private property. To talk about the impact of the Civil War on civil liberties requires consideration to be given to the question of what the contribution of the conflict was to changing this state of affairs. The victory of the Union resulted in the greatest confiscation of private property to that point in history, freeing the slaves. Examples can be cited during the war to show that Lincoln broke with constitutional principles, but it needs to be remembered that from the standpoint of the north, and all progressive forces internationally who backed Lincoln's struggle, the Confederacy was in violation of the Constitution, which declared everyone to be created equal. From 1863, when Lincoln explicitly declared the abolition of slavery to be a necessary goal in the Emancipation Proclamation, the war had a liberating impact. This was summed up in Lincoln's famous remark that the conflict was a war "for a new birth of freedom." The subsequent policies of racist segregation that persisted until the 1960s and 1970s did not emerge directly out of the war but only following the ending of reconstruction in 1877.
Compare and contrast women's efforts in the North and South to support the war effort and their families.
Northern women moved into jobs like nursing and clerks in government offices. They gathered money and supplies for their soldiers and sent clothes/books to freedmen. They organized sanitary fairs to raise money. Southern woman were left at home to work plantations and discipline slaves. They also worked as clerks like the north. They asked for assistance because it was hard work to survive. this led to a morale drop in the souths soldiers. Women in the North and South were both supposed to help out with the war. Many took up positions previously occupied by men (especially in the South where there were a shortage of men). Their position and importance was raised by the war. In the North the ladies were supportive of their husbands (although the missed them) and aided in the war effort. They led political movements to get people's spirits more into the war. In the South however after a while the women became tired with the war and perhaps hindered the war effort. Some ran away with their husbands and/or their children. Their houses were burned and the war took a real toll on them and the families they nurtured, which made many of them opposed to the war.
What made the American Civil War the first modern war?
The American Civil War is called the first modern war because of the use of the incorporation of civilian targets, the ability to use resources, society effort to help the war, and the change of technology on warfare. For civilians it was a war of propaganda in which both sides tried to change public opinion in favor for their sides with using any type of communication to convey their message like music, or newspapers. The civil war required a huge amount of resources from each side to supply food and supplies to the soldiers. Technology changed the way the war was fought with improved ranges on rifles, the use of trains and many other improvements on technology like the telegraph. The ranges on rifles caused both sides to use trenches as a strategy. The military was using new technology to communicate faster with the telegraph. The use of trains to supply the army with goods changed the tactics of armies to attack supply lines like trains.
How was the North's victory over the South tied to the different ways the market revolution had developed in the two regions?
The North developed infrastructure and resources during the market revolution where the South continued to rely on cash crops like King Cotton. The North had a vast number of factories compared to the South. One of the most vital developments was the railroad development. The North connected itself to the West and throughout that part of the country. The South had few railroads and the ones they had were quickly destroyed by the North during the Civil War.
How did the actions of slaves themselves, northern military strategy and the Emancipation Proclamation combine to end slavery?
The actions of slaves to end slavery was by helping in the war effort as soldiers or in the navy. Former slaves became cooks, cleaned, and eventually fought in the war as soldiers. In the navy black were treated as equals and helped to fight the war on the sea. The north military strategy was to attack the economy of the south. The biggest part of the south economy was slavery. To attack the economy of the south President Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves that was under the confederate states control.
