• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1665 0

local government, prescription drugs, medical care, vehicle safety, and on and on. Before the Civil War this would have been an outrage. Today, the federal government directly takes huge amounts of people’s salaried earnings—considerably more than the local government takes; however, before the Civil War the federal government did not tax individuals directly, and it controlled far less money than the states. After the Civil War everything changed. Another enormous change was in the economy. The Civil War expanded the industrial economy of the North and helped to make the United States a world power of industrial production.

Let Us Learn

What can the Civil War have to say to us? How about moderation and understanding are all important in human relations, and impatience leads to trouble. The South went off half cocked and destroyed themselves. The Union sought to pressure people harshly, and almost destroyed themselves. Keep cool, be ready to bargain, know the other side, understand what they hold dear, and realize that half a loaf is better than none.

Another important historical lesson involves learning where things are going, and adjusting to the direction. After 1862, and the loss at Antietam, the South needed to get real and just settle with the Union. At that point Lincoln might have accepted a deal freeing the slaves and in return give the South monetary help to rebuild their shattered economy. This deal would leave the South unoccupied, its economy still half-way intact, and could reduce the punishment the Radicals were ready to bestow. Learn to cut your losses. If things are going bad, get out. Take the hit and keep the ability to control your destiny to some extent. With the war going against them, but still not real badly, the South kept fighting. Don’t do that. Life is not a football game where there is always next season. Life often hands us situation in which there really is no tomorrow. The best time for the South to approach the Union for a settlement was after a significant Southern victory like Chancellorsville (April 30, 1863). With a proper calculation of where the war was going the South could have chosen a good moment to approach Lincoln, thus bettering its chances of getting a decent deal. However, even if the deal was unconditional surrender the South should have taken it early on. Cut your losses, take what you can salvage, and build up for the next project. That is how to survive and prosper.

Books and Resources:

Great Books on the American Civil War (There are hundreds of books on the Civil War; a few are great, and a few of the great ones are listed below).

Bruce Catton: his writings include many wonderful books on the Civil War (Mr. Lincoln’s Army, Glory Road, A Stillness at Appomattox, The Coming Fury, The Terrible Swift Sword, Never Call Retreat, Grant Moves South, Grant Takes Command, and others).

James M. McPherson: The Battle Cry of Freedom (my favorite one-volume work on the Civil War), Ordeal by Fire: the Civil War and Reconstruction. I highly recommend The Battle Cry of Freedom.

Shelby Foote: The American Civil War, a Narrative History. Excellent set of books.

A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War, Symonds, the Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company, 1994.

The American Civil War (West Point Military History Series), Editor T. Griess, Square One Publishing, 2002. The West Point publications are always superb.

The Stakes of Power 1845-1877, Nichols, and Berwanger, Hill and Wang, 1982

From the Civil War to 1900

Industrial Expansion

From the end of the Civil War until 1900 was a period of relative peace and prosperity in the United States.[147] The power of America’s industrial base continued to grow. During this time Rockefeller, Carnegie, and other industrialists consolidated economic might into monopolies or trusts; and financial wizards like J.P. Morgan built financial empires spanning the globe. To demonstrate the power of these men we note that J. P. Morgan bailed out the US Treasury after the financial panic of 1893-1895 when a gold drain threatened the nation’s money