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Topic 1: The Meaning(s) of the Civil War

 Civil War  1861 - 1865

Guiding Questions:
How do people's interpretations of past events shape the future?

How did the various interpretations of the Civil War's outbreak influence its outcome, as well as post-war events?

(example: Vietnam War, 9/11 - varying interpretations)




The Outbreak of Civil War in 1861


Union North 

  • Industrial - factories
  • utilizing free wage labor (people working for wages)


Confederate South 

  • Agrarian - agriculture 
    • Southern cotton was a primary export for the US (roughly 1/2 of GPD 1830)
  • utilizing unfree save labor

The Dividing Question

Should this new territory (gained from the US/Mexico War) allow or prohibit slavery?

Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California

Civil War End - marked a profound change in the US

- 4 million Slaves of African descent

- What accounts for this high number, if the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in 1808? 

  • 1808 - end of the transatlantic slave trade
    • in 1788 - agreed south could keep its slaves but in 20 years end the slave trade
    • 1808 - (20 years later) end acquiring slaves abroad
  • 'Racialized Slavery"
    • inherited as a social status among persons of African descent
    • children of slaves inherit the social status of their parents 

Question:

Was the primary reason for the outbreak of war in 1861 due to Northern demand that slaves be emancipated?

  • the answer is no
  • It was political - it was a succession - the south succeeds from the greater union
  • Lincoln goes to war for a political reason - to prevent the break of the union
How do we know? 

  • Emancipation Proclamation - enacted in 1863 
    • Waited two2 years to enact it   
    • In the early part of the war - offered to pardon the Confederates
      • offered pardon & continued slavery if they ended the succession
      • would have been the 13th amendment if it would have been passed 
    • Lincoln interpreted the outbreak of the Civil War as a political problem, not a moral one
      • never recognized the South as a nation
      • saw it as unconstitutional 

Lincoln - The Meaning of the Civil War

  • The outbreak of war by 1861  - a moral imperative or eradicating slavery? Or a political move to prevent southern secession?
    • Lincoln's primary reason was to prevent secession
    • South believed Lincoln threatened Slavery
  • The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 - was Lincoln primarily moved by moral reasons, or by pragmatic ones?
    • was not put into effect until Jan 1863 (2 years into the war) 
    • Did not issue it right away


African Americans - Civil War interpretation

How did African Americans interpret the meaning of the Civil War? 

  • African American slaves interpreted that the meaning of the Civil War was to free the slaves
    • According to Han a drastic misinterpretation

How did this contribute to the outcome of the war itself?

Emancipation Proclimation

  • Freed slaves - several thousand slaves in the borderlands (near Maryland)
  • Confederates had their own President so it did not free slaves in the southern states.
Black "Agency"
  • agency - a philosophical belief that human beings, by virtue of the exercise of free will, have the ability to shape the course of his/her life
    • (Downplays external or structural factors in shaping outcome)
  • How did African Americans "free themselves"?
    • How did Black Agency decisively contribute to the end of institutional slavery?
      • slave 'misinterpretation' of the war
      • role of slave communication networks
        • spreading the word amongst slaves about the reason for the war
        • a lot of gossip spread & mistruths
        • as slaves travel with their masters they carried their messages
        • emboldens slaves to act and work toward their freedom
        • drag feet at work, deliberate sabotage, slowing down productivity
        • overt black defiance, fewer white male "masters" on plantations due to war
      • black agency and the undermining of the plantation economy
        • no longer productive
        • slowing down production
        • escaping from the plantation
        • undermined the plantation economy due to their misunderstanding of the meaning of the war
          • Lincoln finally caught up with the slaves - the war was a moral issue
      • the decisive role of African American Troops
        • slaves escaped the South and went to the North, and regiments of Black troops were enlisted
        • African Americans demonstrated ferocity and courage on the battlefield


Reading:

Stephen Hahn, “What Lincoln Meant to the Slaves,” New York Times

Video Lectures:

Civil War Meanings 1 - https://youtu.be/CIVhOBZwl_4
Civil War Meanings 2 - https://youtu.be/BZ4Gx3de364
Civil War Meanings 3 - https://youtu.be/vCBJIu5nyAM
Civil War Meanings 4 - https://youtu.be/yESLyW5g2RQ

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