Civil War Debate On American Rhetoric - 2775 Words

Mikala Stokes Professor Beckelhimer Rhetoric in History 29 October 2014 Words: 2450 150 years later: Civil War Debates in American Rhetoric More than sixty years ago William Faulkner proclaimed in his novel Requiem of a Nun that â€Å"the past is never dead. It’s not even past† (Faulkner). These words reign especially true regarding the impact of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The reasons for the conflict were complex and numerous, but mostly controversial. The men who fought in the War were essentially deciding whether nearly 13% of the population (and their descendants) would continue in the United States in a condition of permanent, forced servitude. The nation had come to a point where either slavery would be legal everywhere or nowhere—the country could no longer vacillate on the issue. However, the War Between the States began as a dispute not exclusively about the institution of slavery, though it was the central conflict. The two regions, North and South were each fighting for the nationalization of their opposing cultural views. The North was a place built on the principle of free labor; while the South was constructed on the conflicting foundation of slave labor. These conclusions notwithstanding, 150 years later, in many ways Americans are still debating the causes and impact of the Civil War. As a country, we are still wrestling with the fact that a large portion of the country (the South) was willing to die for the right to own slaves. Consequently, theShow MoreRelatedSlavery And The Civil War958 Words   |  4 Pageshead on collision course: the Civil War. Slavery and the Civil War are more intertwined than face value would ever suggest. For some, the major cause of the Civil War was about slavery, this should not be a shock to anyone, but sadly, it commonly is misinterpreted. According to an article by James Illingworth titled, â€Å"Slavery and the origins of the Civil War†, â€Å"One hundred fifty years after it began, the Civil War remains one of the most misunderstood episodes in American history. In a recent Pew pollRead MoreThe Law Enforcement Operations Model1619 Words   |  7 Pagesargue that a law enforcement operations model should be applied rather than the law of armed conflict because of the nature of the operations that are involved. For instance, Kels notes that human rights advocates â€Å"insist upon a legal geography of war, whereby states must apply a law enforcement (rather than armed conflict) model to any hostilities conducted outside of universally recognized hot battlefields like Afghanistan† ( B3). This approach, however, ignores the realities of military operationsRead MoreAbraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address1093 Words   |  4 Pagesemotion. The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Southern United States seceded from the union. The first battle, taking only thirty-four hours, caused Lincoln to officially rally troops against the South. Most Northern Americans would eventually learn to love Lincoln’s courage; however, many Southern Americans would despise Lincoln. Throughout the civil war many lives were lost, and many families were torn apart. Lincoln would remain a strong figure throughout the war. He would giveRead MoreEconomic Anxiety And The Issue With Emancipation Essay1706 Words   |  7 Pagesforum for the abundance of motivations and ideas when it came to race relations leading up to the civil war. Economic, religious, and political justifications for slavery dominated much of the newspapers discussion, arriving from a wide array of viewpoints and sources. 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While the Confederacy lost the war on the battlefield, a failure to exam the social and political climate before the first shot fired on Fort Sumter and the furling of the CSS Shenandoah’s Confederate Navy Ensign— the war’s final surrender— does not capture the war’s impact on the nation. Certainly, one can’t discuss a war and never mention a battle. The field’s foundation is in traditional military history, but IRead MoreThe Rhetoric of LBJ: Speech Addressing Discrimination and Voting Right Legislation1076 Words   |  5 Pagesresponse to the unjustly attack of African Americans preparing to march in Montgomery. In his address Johnson confronted the problem of racism and racial discrimination. He declared that â€Å"every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. 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The selected speech is unique It was written by a champion of a civil movement at timesRead MoreThe Media And Its Impact On The World1280 Words   |  6 PagesNaturally, we Americans were looking for answers to why a devastation of this magnitude would happen to us. During the fallout of 9/11, the media played a major role in distributing information about a culture that many Americans knew nothing about. Americans were now pa ying attention to the Muslim community and though there was more awareness by the American people, it seemed the information was a little biased and the media painted Muslims in one broad stroke and it made Americans slide so easilyRead MoreCritical Analysis Of A Fierce, Wild Joy By Stephen Towne867 Words   |  4 Pagesinvestigations and exemplary rhetoric, Stephen Towne critically challenges the deep-rooted theories regarding covert battles between Union intelligence operations and Confederate sympathizers in the Midwest. Along with being commended by the coauthor of the classic For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States from 1607 to 2012, Dr. Towne is an associate university archivist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and editor of A Fierce, Wild Joy: The Civil War Letters of Colonel