In this Final post, I decide to have a revision of Project 6. In this project, I made a map about some important wars in the Civil war. They are Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Shilon, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Wilderness and Battle of Harbor. For me, a Military fan. Battles will be the focus point in my study. I think some of them were playing important role in the civil war. I did not talk about slavery or politic, I just have some slides about battles. One reason is because I like to talk about war and I had talked about others before.
In 1857, American female writer Stowe wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s cabin, which described the miserable life of black slaves under the oppression of slave owners, which touched the most sensitive nerve of the United States: the preservation or abolition of slavery. The book, which sold 300000 copies in its first year, is the best-selling novel in the 19th century. On the surface, Uncle Tom’s cabin is a matter of whether slavery exists or not. In fact, it is a problem of interests behind it.
In 1860, Lincoln was elected president of the United States. At this time, the South thought that the big brother of the North could not do anything about itself. The civil war broke out in 1861. The South took the lead in fighting. Why did the South have the courage to fire the first shot? There are three advantages in the south. First, they have a great reputation. They fight to protect their private property. Although there is a call for the abolition of slavery in the north, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is illegal to abolish slavery, which is not obvious. As described in the famous work gone with the wind, at the beginning of the war, white people in the South took up guns and rushed to the battlefield, which was very rare in the north. Second, the quality of officers in the southern army was higher than that in the north. At the beginning of the war, a large number of generals went to the south. It took time for the north to train new officers. Third, the white people in the South have a good tradition of riding and shooting.
In 1863, Lincoln issued the emancipation declaration of slaves, announcing the emancipation of all the slaves in 11 Southern States. Upon hearing this news, Southern slaves fled to the north in batches. It can be said that the moment the emancipation declaration was announced, it was doomed to the failure of the south.
Something interesting I would like to mention is at the same time in China. The is also wars and battles happening. Not only western countries invade, but also civil wars. A group call Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This “Kingdom” are actually all farmers and people who want to destroy the rule of Qing Dynasty. The built their kingdom at NanJing which means the South capital to fight the government army from BeiJing, the north. This is the largest uprising in Modern Chinese history. However, It lost without suspense although China was a really weak country at that time. If they won, a new kingdom will be built but the system would not change, people who worked as slaves still be slaves, people who rules the kingdom still be the emperor. This is the most important question. Things should be change, just like the civil war. People who fight for the north wanted to liberate slaves in the South, they want to change the south of the American. Saving people who worked like animal but without salary. It was good from the perspective of humanitarianism. People get the freedom which they born with but Be mercilessly plundered. However, the civil indirectly caused the increasing of crime rate and unemployment rate. Everybody need to work and everybody need to eat to survival. This is the other side of the civil and I mentioned many times in my blogs. I still think everything have both sides and justice also. What people will actually struggle and fight for is benefits. I don’t believe the North fight for the slaves just for their freedom. Nobody can refuse benefit since the first people appeared in this universe.
In essence, the American Civil War was a colonial war of plundering resources, markets and cheap labor by the industrialized North against the agricultural South. The U.S. government has been beautifying the civil war, claiming that the main purpose of the civil war was to liberate the black slaves. However, in fact, it was not until the middle of the war that the northern government was short of manpower and the North was in a hurry to issue the emancipation bill in order to attract the black people. To understand the essence of the civil war, we need to carefully explore what the South and the North disputed before the war. In fact, the biggest difference between the north and the south is trade protection. The south of the United States was one of the most important cotton producing areas in the world at that time, and also an important cotton fabric consumer market. However, the United States pursues trade liberalism, and the industrial technology level of the United States is far less developed than that of the United Kingdom, which leads to the price of cotton purchased by Britain in the United States is much higher than that given by the north of the United States, and the price of cotton goods sold is lower. The North hopes to implement trade protectionism and protect local industries, but the south is unwilling to sacrifice itself to compensate the north. The North has a large number of people in parliament, and the south is unable to block the passage of the trade protection bill. The south is independent according to constitutional principles, while the north is unconstitutional. Finally, the North defeated the South and won a very important colony, which ensured the development of northern industry and laid a strong foundation for the United States. In conclusion, the civil war is the remodeling of the United state, not only in the surface, but also the soul.
Something I want to say: I really like this history class and I think I had more opinions and idea about The US history. Actually, I also want to say you taught very well and I really like this class. For the missing assignment Blog7 and 8, I will reload them as quick as possible.
I sincerely gratitude for your patients reviewing to my work. Thank you.
I really enjoyed reading about your reflection of this class and your revision of blog six. I remember your story map and the strong details and context added to each slide. I am glad that you decided to pursue this project further in your final revision essay. I appreciate your interest in building more context into the story map; this is important because it helps set the stage for understanding the different battles of the Civil War. You covered a lot of historical ground in your reflections, and I especially liked the global connections in your discussion about China. I think this is incredibly significant because it highlights the long history of global slavery and the upheaval over abolition.
Lastly, I appreciate your kind words about this course. You should be very proud of how much you accomplished this semester and the amount of skills that you acquired. Your portfolio of work is a testament to that fact. Thank you for all of your contributions this semester and the amount of effort that you put into each blog assignment. You brought such a profound perspective to this course and that meant a lot to me. I wish you the best in your studies and your future!