The Union Today by Abby Banks

UNION TODAY THE

Stillwater Area High School | 5701 Stillwater Blvd. N, Oak Park Heights, MN | December 22, 2017 | Issue 5, Vol 82

150Anniversary th

Edition

Six score and ten years ago . . . Want to learn even more about the civil war? Check us out at theuniontoday.com

Abraham Lincoln addresses massive crowds at his landmark address after an estimated 50,000 deaths at the battle. “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live,” Lincoln says. pg 6

Point, counter-point : Was the Gettysburg Address or the Emancipation Proclamation more impactful?

Article by Editors

Sojourner Turth, escaped slave, fights for women’s rights. “He says women can’t have as much rights as men ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him,” Turth explains. pg 3

Women in the Abolition movement: Sojourner Truth and the Grimke Sisters affect change

Article by Amy Longtin

NEWS

Fort Sumter attack ignites a nation divided

Robert E. Lee decided to launch an attack to keep the Confederacy strong. What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors,” Lee says of the conflict.

Fort Sumter stands tall in the face of the surrounding confederacy as one of the few Union strongholds in the Southern territory. The border regions are extremely important to both parties. “A merica will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves,” Abraham Lincoln said of the sectionalism.

The 1st Bull Run led to massive losses on both sides due to bad leadership and strategy. “ Ideas are more important than battles,” Charles Sumner, leader of the Massachusetts Antislavery Movement and the Radical Republicans, says. By Amy Longtin Just a few short weeks after Lincoln’s Election, which generated lots of grumbling by the South, Fort Sumter, located off the coast of South Carolina, was placed under siege by the Confederate States Army but occupied by the Union. Union President Lincoln told the governor of South Carolina, and Jefferson Davis the President of the Confederate States, that he was sending a ship of provisions, not rein-

forcements, to the fort. This left Davis backed into a corner, for he was left with the choice of defending what was his or letting Lincoln threaten him further. Early on the morning of April 12th, 1861, the Confederate Army opened fired on Union occupied Fort Sumter. The violence lasted for thirty-four hours, when finally the Northern troops surrendered and evacuated the island. There we no casualties due to opposing shots, however two Union soldiers did die in a gun explo-

Ulysses S. Grant works as a tactician for the North. “I look forward to an epoch when a court, recognized by all nations, will settle international differences, instead of keeping large standing armies as they do in Europe,” Grant states.

Confederate troops stand off against Northern defenders in Antietam. ““A war undertaken and brazenly carried for the perpetual enslavement of the colored men, calls logically and loudly for the colored men to help suppress it,” Fredrick Douglass says. sion during the surrender ceremonies. Does this mean the end of a truly united United States? Many believe that Davis may not have realized the consequences of his actions— that his one decision would lead to a full on civil war. Fighting between the Union and the Confederacy further increased just a few short months later, in July with the First Battle of Bull Run which became the first major battle of the new Civil War. The battle took place in Virginia, with both

the North and the South fighting with 18,000 poorly trained troops. This confrontation ended with nearly 900 casualties and a Confederate victory. The First Battle of Bull Run opened the door for more battles down the road. More battles such as the Battle of Antietam, which took place just over a year after the 1st Bull Run, in September of 1862 and was the bloodiest battle of the war. This battle pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Union General George B. McClellan,

ended with a Confederate retreat, nearly 4,000 dead, and many more injured or missing. Antietam gave Union President Lincoln the confidence to dictate his Emancipation Proclamation. The war is clearly only beginning, providing both hope and despair for many. Most are still left wondering what this means for the future of our country and the freedom it promises. Others, like Clara Barton, are focused on providing aid to those in need, whether they be from the North or the South.

NEWS

Reconstruction remains signifigant hundreds of years later By Eric Foner (New York TImes) The surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, 150 years ago next month, effectively ended the Civil War. Preoccupied with the challenges of our own time, Americans will probably devote little attention to the sesquicentennial of Reconstruction, the turbulent era that followed the conflict. This is unfortunate, for if any historical period deserves the label “relevant,” it is Reconstruction. Issues that agitate American politics today — access to citizenship and voting rights, the relative powers of the national and state governments, the relationship between political and economic democracy, the proper response to terrorism — all of these are Reconstruction questions. But that era has long been misunderstood. Reconstruction refers to the period, generally dated from 1865 to 1877, during which the nation’s laws and Constitution were rewritten to guarantee the basic rights of the former slaves, and biracial governments came to power throughout the defeated Confederacy. For decades, these years were widely seen as the nadir in the saga of American democracy. According to this view, Radical Republicans in Congress, bent on punishing defeated Confederates, established corrupt Southern governments presided over by carpetbaggers (unscrupulous Northerners who ventured south to reap the spoils of office), scalawags (Southern whites who supported the new regimes) and freed African-Americans, unfit to exercise democratic rights. The heroes of the story were the self-styled Redeemers, who restored white supremacy to the South. This portrait, which received scholarly expression in the early-20th-century works of William A. Dunning and his students at Columbia University, was popularized by the 1915 film “Birth of A Nation” and by Claude Bowers’s 1929 best-selling history, “The Tragic Era.” It provided an intellectual foundation for the system of segregation and black disenfranchisement that followed Reconstruction. Any effort to restore the rights of Southern blacks, it implied, would lead to a repeat of the alleged horrors of Reconstruction. Historians have long since rejected this lurid account, although it retains a stubborn hold on the popular imagination. Today, scholars believe that if the era was “tragic,” it was not because Reconstruction was attempted but because it failed. Reconstruction actually began in December 1863, when Abraham Lincoln announced a plan to establish governments in the South loyal to the Union. Lincoln granted amnesty to

most Confederates so long as they accepted the abolition of slavery, but said nothing about rights for freed blacks. Rather than a blueprint for the postwar South, this was a war measure, an effort to detach whites from the Confederacy. On Reconstruction, as on other questions, Lincoln’s ideas evolved. At the end of his life, he called for limited black suffrage in the postwar South, singling out the “very intelligent” (prewar free blacks) and “those who serve our cause as soldiers” as most worthy. A caricature of President Andrew Johnson’s 1866 veto of a bill to create the Freedmen’s Bureau. Credit Corbis Lincoln did not live to preside over Reconstruction. That task fell to his successor, Andrew Johnson. Once lionized as a heroic defender of the Constitution against Radical Republicans, Johnson today is viewed by historians as one of the worst presidents to occupy the White House. He was incorrigibly racist, unwilling to listen to criticism and unable to work with Congress. Johnson set up new Southern governments controlled by ex-Confederates. They quickly enacted the Black Codes, laws that severely limited the freed people’s rights and sought, through vagrancy regulations, to force them back to work on the plantations. But these measures aroused bitter protests among blacks, and convinced Northerners that the white South was trying to restore slavery in all but name. There followed a momentous political clash, the struggle between Johnson and the Republican majority (not just the Radicals) in Congress. Over Johnson’s veto, Congress enacted one of the most important laws in American history, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, still on the books today. It affirmed the citizenship of everyone born in the United States, regardless of race (except Indians, still considered members of tribal sovereignties). This principle, birthright citizenship, is increasingly rare in today’s world and deeply contested in our own contemporary politics, because it applies to the American-born children of undocumented immigrants. The act went on to mandate that all citizens enjoy basic civil rights in the same manner “enjoyed by white persons.” Johnson’s veto message denounced the law for what today is called reverse discrimination: “The distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate in favor of the colored and against the white race.” Indeed, in the idea that expanding the rights of nonwhites somehow punishes the white majority, the ghost of Andrew Johnson still haunts our discussions of race. Soon after, Congress incorporated birthright citizenship and legal equality into the Constitution via the 14th Amendment. In recent decades, the courts have used this amendment to

African-Americans celebrate the passage of the 15th Amendment with a parade. ““There was one thing that the white South feared more than negro dishonesty, ignorance, and incompetency, and that was negro honesty, knowledge, and efficiency,” says W.E.B. Du Bois. expand the legal rights of numerous groups — most recently, gay men and women. As the Republican editor George William Curtis wrote, the 14th Amendment changed a Constitution “for white men” to one “for mankind.” It also marked a significant change in the federal balance of power, empowering the national government to protect the rights of citizens against violations by the states. In 1867 Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, again over Johnson’s veto. These set in motion the establishment of new governments in the South, empowered Southern black men to vote and temporarily barred several thousand leading Confederates from the ballot. Soon after, the 15th Amendment extended black male suffrage to the entire nation. The Reconstruction Acts inaugurated the period of Radical Reconstruction, when a politically mobilized black community, with its white allies, brought the Republican Party to power throughout the South. For the first time, African-Americans voted in large numbers and held public office at every level of government. It was a remarkable, unprecedented effort to build an interracial democracy on the ashes of slavery. Most offices remained in the hands of white Republicans. But the advent of African-Americans in positions of political power aroused bitter hostility from Reconstruction’s opponents. They spread another myth — that the new officials were propertyless, illiterate and incompetent. As late as 1947, the Southern historian E. Mer-

ton Coulter wrote that of the various aspects of Reconstruction, black officeholding was “longest to be remembered, shuddered at, and execrated.” There was corruption in the postwar South, although given the scandals of New York’s Tweed Ring and President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration, black suffrage could hardly be blamed. In fact, the new governments had a solid record of accomplishment. They established the South’s first state-funded public school systems, sought to strengthen the bargaining power of plantation laborers, made taxation more equitable and outlawed racial discrimination in transportation and public accommodations. They offered aid to railroads and other enterprises in the hope of creating a New South whose economic expansion would benefit black and white alike. Reconstruction also made possible the consolidation of black families, so often divided by sale during slavery, and the establishment of the independent black church as the core institution of the emerging black community. But the failure to respond to the former slaves’ desire for land left most with no choice but to work for their former owners. It was not economic dependency, however, but widespread violence, coupled with a Northern retreat from the ideal of equality, that doomed Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and kindred groups began a campaign of murder, assault and arson that can only be described as homegrown American terrorism. Meanwhile, as the Northern Republican Party became more conservative, Reconstruction came

to be seen as a misguided attempt to uplift the lower classes of society. One by one, the Reconstruction governments fell. As a result of a bargain after the disputed presidential election of 1876, the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes assumed the Oval Office and disavowed further national efforts to enforce the rights of black citizens, while white Democrats controlled the South. By the turn of the century, with the acquiescence of the Supreme Court, a comprehensive system of racial, political and economic inequality, summarized in the phrase Jim Crow, had come into being across the South. At the same time, the supposed horrors of Reconstruction were invoked as far away as South Africa and Australia to demonstrate the necessity of excluding nonwhite peoples from political rights. This is why W.E.B. Du Bois, in his great 1935 work “Black Reconstruction in America,” saw the end of Reconstruction as a tragedy for democracy, not just in the United States but around the globe. While violated with impunity, however, the 14th and 15th Amendments remained on the books. Decades later they would provide the legal basis for the civil rights revolution, sometimes called the Second Reconstruction. Citizenship, rights, democracy — as long as these remain contested, so will the necessity of an accurate understanding of Reconstruction. More than most historical subjects, how we think about this era truly matters, for it forces us to think about what kind of society we wish America to be.

FOC

Tensions explode in Kansas, destr The Kansas - Nebraska Act and its impact on popular sovreignity, coinciding with wartime development By Abby Banks Stephen A. Douglas’s proposal led to extreme controversy due to its overhaul of the existing Missouri Compromise. The legislature allows popular sovereignty to govern a state’s use of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act took any delicate balance struck by the Compromise of 1850 and threw it to the wind. All the known methods of diplomacy for slavery negotiations were made moot by the lack of input congress and other elected officials now had on the situation, due to its control by the people. Arguably, it was some of the most direct influence the voting public had on the policies of the nation. When the vote on the Lecompton Constitution exploded into a rebel government and droves of backcountry voters, tensions became violent and manifested in Bleeding Kansas. “We must, by a national policy, prevent the spread of slavery into new territories, or free states, because the constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does demand such prevention — We must prevent the revival of the African slave trade, because the constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does require the prevention — We must prevent these things being done, by either congresses or courts — The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both Congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it,” Lincoln said. The acquisition of new land in the west, already a contentious topic between Whigs and Democrats, was further controversial due to the argument it caused about slavery. The Northwest ordinance

1848

Wilmot Proviso 1848

had allowed for the introduction of new states, but had not made a decision on slavery. As King Cotton grew in the South, it increasingly became a matter of identity for the south to own slaves (as reliant as they were on that labour source). “That as slavery does not exist by law, and is not likely to be introduced into any of the territory acquired by the United States from the republic of Mexico, it is inexpedient for Congress to provide by law either for its introduction into, or exclusion from, any part of the said territory; and that appropriate territorial governments ought to be established by Congress in all of the said territory , not assigned as the boundaries of the proposed State of California, without the adoption of any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery,” states the Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850, designed to help create a better system for slavery in territory acquisitions, increased Northern agitation with southern slavery. They were now expected to obey a harsh fugitive slave law that they felt was unjust, especially given the Wilmot Proviso, seen as the best possible option by Northerners. With this, the Free Soil party wanted the Southern slave owners to submit to their moral high ground, though they themselves were rude to freed slaves they knew. “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done,” John Brown said of his generation. The actions of Brown in his attack on Harper’s Ferry further alienated the South from the North. The North resent-

Compromise of 1850 1850 Introduced stricter Fugitive slave law

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the works of literature at the forefront of the abolitionist movment, causing Great Britain to abstain from involving themselves in our civil war.

ed the South’s actions due to what they knew from ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ but now the South saw the North as a vicious terrorist organization, verifying what they thought they already knew about abolitionists and their attacks on Southern life. “There are two clauses in the Constitution which point directly and specifically to the negro race as a separate class of persons, and show clearly that they were not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the Government then formed,” Chief Justice Roger Taney said during the Dred-Scott case. The Dred-Scott decision proceeded to give the South a perceived moral high ground. The Supreme Court ruled that the slaves weren’t even real people, so the abolitionists seemed to be, for lack of a better word, ‘special snowflakes.’ The Kansas- Nebraska act took all of these tensions and exacerbated them. All of the anger from the South due to Northern incursion, and all of the moral indignation in the North culminated in the final face-off in the vote for the Lecompton Constitution. The following bloodshed only served as a final indicator to both sides that a radical change was needed, though the two proceeded in very different directions. Border ruffians popped out of nowhere, and the Free-Soilers created a rebel government. As the South began the cession process, the North began to panic at their slowly crumbling Union. On the Kansas-Nebraska Act ,Horace Greeley, New York Tribune publisher, said, “We are not one people. We are two peoples. We are a people for Freedom and a people for Slavery. Between the two, conflict is inevitable.” Kansas was just a microcosm of the trouble to come.

During this time period, most white families in the south were backcountry farmers. Women wer entering the workforce, but were still consdiered primarily the homemakers of society and ergo were in charge of the bulk of family life.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852

Dred-Scott Decision 1857

Bleeding Kansas begins 1854-1861 Kansas-Nebraska Act 1850 Uptick in popular sovreignity

Lincoln-Douglas Deb 1858

While most white p harsh farming cond paid and weren’t sl familiy. Most slaves fields and some wo Sabbath, off.

CUS

roys peace

I hold that the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding states between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good. A positive good.

If there is any one principle dearer and more sacred than all others in free governments, it is that which asserts the exclusive right of a free people to form and adopt their own fundamental law, and to manage and regulate their own internal affairs and domestic institutions.

- John C. Calhoun

Impart additional strength to our happy Union. Diversified as are the interests of its various parts, how admirably do they harmonize and blend together! We have only to make a proper use of the bounties spread before us.

- Henry Clay

- Stephen Douglas

To its benefits [Natives] have not attained, because that standard of civilization is above their race. Revolution succeeds Revolution, and the country mourns that some petty chief may triumph, and through a sixty days’ government ape the rulers of the earth. - Jefferson Davis

Have the colored people done anything to justify the prejudice against them that does exist in the hearts of so many white persons and, generally, of one great political party in this country? Have they done anything to justify it? No, sir.

- Hiram Revels

I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.

- Nathan B. Forrest

The burning of rebellious thoughts in the little breast, of internal hatred and opposition, could not long go on without slight whiffs of external smoke, such as mark the course of subterranean fire. - Harriet Beecher Stowe

If a man is not capable, and is not to be trusted with the government of himself, is he to be trusted with the government of others... Who, then, will govern? The answer must be, Man — for we have no angels in the shape of men, as yet, who are willing to take charge of our political affairs.

- Andrew Johnson

In brief: I am for the Constitution first, and at all hazards; for whatever can now be saved of the Union next; and for peace always as essential to the preservation of either” - Clement Vallandigham, president of Copperheads

Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a ‘sacred right of self-government.’ These principles cannot stand together. - Abraham Lincoln

Map -1861

bates

people worked in ditions, they still got laves, like this black s spent all day in the ould have Sunday, the

Lincoln’s Election 1860

Fort Sumter 1861

Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Antietam 1862

1st Bull Run 1861

The Reconstuction led to the synthesis of the two branches of the Republican Party through the Compromise of 1877

Gettysburg Address 1863

Amendments 13, 14 and 15 1865, 1868, 1870

1870

Harper’s Ferry 1859

The telegraph acted as a means of communication to avoid Union detection thrugh internal service lines in the confederacy throughout the civil war.

VOTER LIFE

Rapid multiplication of political parties complicates elections for voters

By Amy Longtin Lately, political parties have seemingly multiplied like rabbits. What happened to our simple North versus South, Democratic Republicans versus Whigs? The division of parties is directly influenced by the increasing differences between the North and the South, and even differences within those regions. More specifically, the direct cause of the splintering of both the Democratic and Whig parties was slavery. The Compromise of 1850, created by Henry Clay, was also a huge fracturing point within both par-

ties. Both the North and the South felt as though they received the short end of the stick with this new plan. Clay’s compromise included five main points, two of which were the primary sources of the divide. The first being the installment of a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. This law stated that any escaped slaves captured in a free state were to be returned to their rightful owner in the South, all citizens, despite personal morals and beliefs, were to follow this law. The second most prominent dividing point of the Compromise of 1850 was the idea that new territories won in the Mexican-American War, name-

ly Utah and New Mexico, were to use popular sovereignty to decide whether or not they wanted to become a free or a slave state. This was very divisive because it created more tensions within and between political parties; it created stark contrasts as to who believed in what and who opposed that belief. The Whig party was divided during the early 50s due to disagreements about the existence of slavery, and the deaths of both Henry Clay and Daniel Webster weakened the party. This divided the former Whig party into the Free-Soil Party, who believed that all new territory acquired through war or otherwise

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should exist without slavery, which then was joined by many other political views to form the Republican Party. The more liberal Whigs, such as Charles Sumner, formed the Radical Republican Party, which was strongly against the war and the institution of slavery. Members often even went as far as to advocate for civil liberties of slaves and free blacks. The Democratic Party also began to crumble, again over the issue of slavery. Northern Democrats like Stephen Douglas, for the most part, joined the anti-slavery Free-Soil Party and then the Republican Party. However, a few northern Democrats united to form a group

Infographic from NNC.org

called the Copperheads, they opposed the Civil War altogether and demanded a peace settlements. The group was mistrusted by the abolitionist North. Therefore, what was left of the Democratic Party became isolated to the South. It remained a pro-slavery political party with conservative leaders, namely John C. Calhoun, and become known as the Southern Democratic Party. The creation of new political parties, five to be exact, caused a major increase in sectionalism, especially given that the parties tended to be organized geographically and split between the North and South.

PEOPLE

Women in the Abolitionist movement:

Sojourner Truth and the Grimke sisters, among others, effect change By Amy Longtin There has been a growth in the abolition movement, especially among women who are taking more leadership roles within the community. Take Harriet Beecher Stowe, for example, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which has become known as the most popular book of our age. In her book, she brings to light some of the harshest realities of slavery. These harsh realities have further fueled the fire for many other abolitionists. Stowe, along with many other female abolitionists like Sojourner Truth, a former slave, have been key leaders in the abolition of slavery. They argue that slavery is an evil and immoral institution that needs to be brought to an end. The latest series of religious revival has enlightened them towards injustices taking place in this country, and they have become motivated to take action and make a change. This revival has caused many to come to the realization that slavery is morally wrong and unjust. In the words of Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!” Clearly Mrs. Stowe, and many other women for that matter, firmly believed that the institution of slavery was simply evil. She decided, along with Ms. Truth, to dedicate her life to improving the situation for others who could not improve it for themselves, and also to persuade the vast majority of whites to take action as well. Ms. Sojourner Truth, made a name as one of the most highly visible female and African-American abolitionist. She was an incredibly powerful orator, delivering many famous speeches across the North during the time before and during the Civil War. Truth was also a very prominent recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, which was a unit comprised mostly of black soldiers and abolitionists, of which Truth’s grandson and Frederick Douglass’s son were some of the first to enlist. After the war, Truth was very actively involved with the Freedmen’s Bureau, and with that she worked to educate freed slaves, help them find jobs, homes, community, and lost loved ones. Sojourner Truth is yet another example of a powerful woman who dedicated her life to the abolition of slavery. Women were the main authors of anti-slavery discourse through published essays and literature. They would also form petition campaigns, lectures, and fundraisers in the name of abolitionism. These women contin-

Sojourner Turth was one of the first black women to win a court case against a white man, after appealing to recover her son after she and her daughter escaped to freedom. “The slaveholders are terrible for promising to give you this or that, or such and such a privilege, if you will do thus and so, and when the time of fulfillment comes, and one claims the promise, they, forsooth, recollect nothing of the kind; and you are, like as not, taunted with being a liar,” Truth says.

The Grimke sisters, feminists and abolitionists, fought hard for slaves’ rights in the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society. “I appeal to you, my friends, as mothers: are you willing to enslave your children?” Angelina Grimke asks. ued on with their fight against slavery despite the more conservative male reformers dislike towards them, though some men like Frederick Douglass —a former slave, abolitionist, and women’s rights advocate— who worked alongside these women to fight for the abolition of slavery. These powerful women, and the movement they created, are often blamed by the South for cleaving a divide between the country and for sparking the war. Ms. Stowe and her

novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in particular are accused of starting the Civil War. In fact, when President Lincoln met Ms. Stowe, he greeted her by saying, “so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Women were arguably the most important advocates for the freeing of the slaves. They had their moral compasses pointed in the right direction which allowed them to make such a huge impact on the lives of many and on the future of the Union.

OPINION

Point, Counter-Point

Arguments arise over the conflicting impacts of Lincoln’s words The Gettysburg Address was far more Emancipation Proclamation had a bigger emotionally impactful in change enacted policy impact, leading to its importance dent, there would be a continual spark of hope, even in sorrow like that after Gettysburg. People rememThe world celebrated and mourned along with bered Gettysburg - so they would always remember the American people through the devastating af- Lincoln and his policies. Even after John Wilkes tereffects of Gettysburg. In terms of impact, the Booth killed Lincoln in that theatre, Lincoln is still ranked as the best Gettysburg Address president in US histoacted as an inspiration Four score and seven years ago our fa- ry, according to CBS. to all those lamenting “Now he belongs their losses, helping thers brought forth on this continent, a to the ages,” Edwin to unite the “government of the people, new nation, conceived in Liberty, and ded- M. Stanton said after by the people, for the icated to the proposition that all men are Lincoln had just died. Lincoln’s abilipeople,” against all created equal. ty to connect to his odds of sectionalism. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, constituents is unique The civil war had been in full swing by testing whether that nation, or any nation among politicians. He the time this battle so conceived and so dedicated, can long managed to inspire two political parties rolled around, Gettysburg was essentially a endure. We are met on a great battle-field to action during his mass slaughter. Ulyss- of that war. We have come to dedicate a time - the Freedmen’s es S. Grant’s tactics portion of that field, as a final resting place bureau and the Radical Republicans. This leading to the deaths of around 50,000 sol- for those who here gave their lives that that eloquence is rememdiers showed his lack nation might live. It is altogether fitting bered through his two minute speech of priority in human and proper that we should do this. at Gettysburg, still life and heavier leanBut, in a larger sense, we can not ded- mainly what Lincoln ing towards winning the war, almost fore- icate -- we can not consecrate -- we can is known for. he faced shadowing similar not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, off against the best debater of the day in tactics used by Field Lincoln-DougMarshal Haig in the living and dead, who struggled here, have the las Debates, and Battle of the Somme consecrated it, far above our poor power won. Davis and the in 50 years. Lincoln’s to add or detract. Confederacy can’t famous address at the The world will little note, nor long rehold a candle to that. soon-to-be national By Abby Banks

gravesite united the member what we say here, but it can never Lincoln will alfailing union troops, forget what they did here. It is for us the ways be remembered almost erasing Grant’s for the work he did failures in the process. living, rather, to be dedicated here to the while in office, but “I should be glad, unfinished work which they who fought his address at Gettysif I could flatter my- here have thus far so nobly advanced. It burg helped turn the self that I came as near tide of the Civil War. the central idea of the is rather for us to be here dedicated to the He rejuvenated famoccasion in two hours, great task remaining before us -- that from ily members and reas you did in two min- these honored dead we take increased de- inspired tired troops, utes,” Edward Everwhile simultaneously ett, Whig orator and votion to that cause for which they gave expressing sorrow at congressman, said the last full measure of devotion -- that we the decimation. By of Lincoln’s speech. here highly resolve that these dead shall helping to remind the Lincoln’s abilisoldiers what they ty as a statesman far not have died in vain -- that this nation, un- were fighting for, outshone that of his der God, shall have a new birth of freedom Lincoln helped to Confederate counter- -- and that government of the people, by give Grant the fightpart. Jefferson Davis ing chance he needed lacked the ability to the people, for the people, shall not perish to bring the Union rally his soldiers in the from the earth. to victory. And if the same way the expeUnion hadn’t won - Abraham Lincoln the Civil War, Amerrienced Lincoln did. Davis delegated much ica would be a very to his commanddifferent place. The er Robert E. Lee, a prominent military strategist. 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments minimally Concentrating all his power in a military com- wouldn’t be there, or would be different in nature, mander allowed the confederacy to be kept down af- not even mentioning the likelihood of the lack ter its defeat, in a way the Union wouldn’t have been. of the same American economy or political sysBy having such an inspirational speaker as a presi- tem in the party platforms as one knows them.

By Amy Longtin Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in the border state of Maryland, prompted President Lincoln to give his Emancipation Proclamation earlier on the first of the year in 1863. Mr. President’s proclamation changed the legal status of all slaves from slave to free and made the eradication of slavery the clear goal of the war. However, it did not guarantee citizenship for all the newly freed slaves, outlaw the institution of slavery itself, or compensate owners for the investment they last. Upon hearing this news, many slaves walked away from their work and masters, others continued on as though nothing happened, and some even turned violent against their masters and overseers. Anyone can proclaim anything. A factory worker could proclaim himself supreme ruler of the world, and it would not mean anything. Confederate General Robert E. Lee could proclaim the war to be over with a Southern victory, but the North would not just cease fighting, pack up their gear, and go home. Without action, saying that all slaves are now free causes very little reaction or result among the common man. And the President’s Emancipation Proclamation was followed

by very little action, for there was no way to enforce the said freedom of the slaves, and the South surely is not going to do it willingly. Although, this proclamation had no way of being supported in the South, it did change the purpose of the war for the Union; the goal was no longer just to keep the South and reunite the country, but it was now also to bring an end to the institution of slavery. This was a radical switch for many Union soldiers, for some were not abolitionists, but for others, it strengthened their reason for fight and maybe even encouraged them to fight harder. Ultimately, what will be the real and long term result of this declaration? If the South win the war, will this still maintain true? The obvious answer is no, of course not. If the Confederacy wins the war, they will have their way and slavery will spread further and further to the west and possibly even into the North. Lincoln’s Proclamation is simply just that, a proclamation, with very few ways, resources, or authority to back it up. One can not seamlessly free the slaves through a speech, it takes action and determination to do that —it takes the North winning the war to free the slaves.

Cabinet members look on as Lincoln signs his landmark Emancipation proclimation. “Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature - opposition to it is his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely, as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow,” Lincoln says.