ipl-logo

Summary Of What This Cruel War Was Over Chandra Manning

1004 Words5 Pages

What this Cruel War was Over: Chandra Manning Chandra Manning opens up her important book with a quote that states, " The fact that slavery is the sole undeniable cause of this infamous rebellion, that it is a war of, by, and for slavery, is as plain as the noon-day sun."(p.3) This book is about what soldiers thought about slavery and what it has to do with the civil war. In 1862 the white southerners did not agree with the Wisconsin men on a lot of things but one thing they did agree on was that any man who believes that this is not a war for the freeing of blacks is either a fool or a liar. Getting to the question on how did white Union soldiers’ understanding of slavery change during the course of the war, well two years later black men …show more content…

White soldiers understanding of slavery changed during the course of the war because at one point they were willing to free some slaves but not all and when the president fed into this it only made the southerners upset because then they knew all of them would be free. Soldiers identified slavery as the reason for the war. For Manning, such samplings of soldiers' writing represent the fundamental fact that right from the beginning soldiers knew that the war was about slavery. Chandra Manning tries to get at how common troops black, Union, and Confederate viewed the Civil War and the reasons for fighting in the war. The answer? Slavery. They tried to separate the issues of slavery and black rights, but the more they saw of slavery, the more they came not only to dislike the institution but to give special importance with the slave. Although in the beginning they were for slavery, many soldiers later thought they were …show more content…

White men knew what they were doing owning slaves and fighting in the war. Even unmarried men owned slaves because all white men had a duty to protect women. I agree with Manning when she says this is "patronizing and insulting" because it was, men were fighting and risking their lives just to own slaves. They wanted power over another human being, I have read many articles and books on men being "breadwinners", and I understand the men were in titled to make the money and protect their families but slavery was horrible. Slavery is something I do not agree with and maybe if it was the other way around white men would feel differently but this is a part of history. To the north slavery was cruel and wrong and what made them upset was the south pushing the expansion of slavery. The north thought this was taking more jobs away from the whites. Racism was something I was familiar with but after reading this book it made me open my eyes more to real life issues this world had to go through. I'm happy manning made this book to show how life as a soldier was and I'm also happy slavery was

Show More
Related

  • Book Review Of Confederate Reckoning By Stephanie Mccurry

    585 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stephanie McCurry, in her revolutionary book Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, claims that her book is about “politics and the power in the Civil War South, about the bloody trial of the Confederacy’s national vision, and about the significance of the disfranchised in it.” Choosing to examine both yeoman/poor white women and enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy, McCurry’s book distances itself from the historiography focused on answering the question of “why the Confederacy lost the Civil War.” Instead, McCurry focuses more exclusively on the effects of the Civil War and how war changed both the United States and the world, most notably in Cuba and Brazil. Conjecturing as her primary thesis, McCurry argues that “the power that counts in politics, is often exercised brutally, and almost always wins, but that once in a long while – as in the Civil War South – history opens up, resistance prevails, and the usually powerless manage against all imaginable odds to change the

    Read More

  • Calvin Holly's Letter Protest Conditions After Civil War

    513 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overview: Calvin Holly’s A Black Union Soldier’s Letter Protesting Conditions After the War was written to Major General O. O. Howard on December 16, 1865 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Holly tells Howard how people of color have been struggling to survive since the end of the Civil War. Holly describes how freedman and women have faced challenges like losing their homes, sleeping in the freezing cold, being forced back into slave-like living conditions, and being murdered and left in the street. Holly calls for equal rights to that of a white man.

    Read More

  • How Does Alfred M Green Address

    866 Words  | 4 Pages

    Its April of 1861, first month of the Civil War, Alfred M. Green is delivering a speech in Philadelphia in order to persuade African Americans to join the Union army. At the time African Americans were not allowed to join, but Green felt as if they should and be preparing to enlist. In his speech Green uses a variety of ways to change his audience view on the war by explaining to them by helping in the war they will be fighting for there freedom.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Alfred M. Green's Speech

    935 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Civil War remains one of the most devastating, horrific conflicts in American history. During this period of time, relationships with family and friends disintegrated as everyone decided whether they would side with the North’s cause, the South’s cause, or stay neutral. Men were being killed left and right, both on the Union and Confederate side; they urgently needed more men in their armies. In order to obtain a larger army, people must be persuaded that putting their lives on the line for this cause is what they truly want to do. Though that may seem like a rather arduous task, Alfred M. Green proved with his speech delivered to slaves in 1861 that persuasive words and tone is key.

    Read More

  • Historical Validity Of The Movie Glory

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    Movies and Hollywood have captivated our ideas of history whether it being movies such as 300 or my current topic Glory. Movies have profound impact on our historical perception and even though these movies try to stay accurate they still present major inaccuracy. Now in this paper I will be reviewing and detailing the historical validity of the 1989 Civil War blockbuster Glory, the movie is centered on the Massachusetts 54th regiment that was predominately made up of African American free men and their commander Robert Gould Shaw, who was the son of a prominent Abolitionist family in Boston. Shaw was originally was apart of the 7th New York who had aided in the defense of Washington and later join and rise up the ranks in the 2nd Massachusetts.

    Read More

  • James M. Mcpherson's What They Fought For: 1861-1865

    1091 Words  | 5 Pages

    Southern soldiers viewed the confederacy as their country and were compelled to fight for the safety of it. Confederate soldiers enlisted to protecting their native lands from what they understood as invaders. The Confederacy sentiments of the Union was they were imposing upon the southern way of life. For instance, a young soldier from Kentucky wrote “sink or swim, survive or perish” (McPherson 11). The average Confederate soldier felt that they the Union was trying to destroy the legacy of the founder fathers by enslaving them and reversing the actions of the American Revolution.

    Read More

  • J. B. De Bow Thesis

    940 Words  | 4 Pages

    By understanding this historical context, we can better understand the motivations and perspective of De Bow and other pro-slavery advocates. We can see how they saw themselves as defending the interests of the South against perceived threats from the North, and how they used arguments about the economic benefits of slavery to justify the institution. At the same time, understanding the broader context of the Civil War helps us recognize the limitations of De Bow's perspective. It also helps us recognize the ways in which people, like De Bow, were shaped by the events, attitudes, and climate of their

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq Analysis

    700 Words  | 3 Pages

    The civil war began in the year of 1861, many historians have established theories for the main cause. Four of the possible theories include, morality and views on slavery, two societies, failure to compromise, states rights and Lincoln's election. Although all of these play a big role in the causes of the civil war, I believe the principle cause of the civil war was, the existence of two societies in the United States beacuse the South wanted to become more independent, had multiple uprisings due to slavery, and had differnt oppions on slavery. America was split into the North and the South, both very diverse. Some might say that the North was very independent and the south was very dependent on the north.

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq Essay

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 19th century American had it southern states secede thus causing a civil war between americans and there were 2 sides the Confederates from the south and the Union from the North the war was sparked by the elections of the 16th century. After the Union kind of won the battle of Antietam Lincoln decides to make The Emancipation Proclamation Which freed all the black slaves in the North. Once the Emancipation Proclamation was accepted Lincoln decided to allow African Americans to join the Union Army. This decision ultimately helped the Union in winning the Civil War. When the African Americans were accepted in the Union Army they were put to do labor for the Union and later they were given the opportunity to go fight for their country

    Read More

  • How Did African Americans Contribute To The Civil War Dbq

    514 Words  | 3 Pages

    Their addition into the fight against the confederacy was a great benefit for the Union. Therefore, the great contribution of African Americans in the Civil War with hopes of achieving freedom and rights caused an entirely new goal of the war and contributing to the Union victory in this bloody

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq

    2014 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Emancipation also ensured that “slaves who enlisted would become free, as would their families, with the government paying monetary compensation to loyal owners.” This gave the men an important reason to enlist, as it would guarantee their freedoms as well as their

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq

    1005 Words  | 5 Pages

    In his enlistment article Douglass frequently states that the war is being fought over the issue of slavery. He states, “A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery, outrage and wrong; our manhood has been denied, our citizenship blotted out, our souls seared and burned, our spirits cowed and crushed, and the hopes of our future race involved in doubt and darkness. But now relations to the white races are changed” (Douglass, 1).

    Read More

  • Civil War Dbq

    916 Words  | 4 Pages

    Historians analyzed the conflict and found that Slavery was only a small sliver of the cause of the war. There were many other reasons that not many people know about. There were economic issues that cause it. There were state rights issues. There were interpretation issues.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Slavery On African American Family

    1768 Words  | 8 Pages

    Slavery, the War on Black Family While slavery in America was an institution that was started over 400 years ago, the affects were so horrific that it is still felt today by modern day African Americans. Many families had to deal with the constant stress of being sold which made it difficult to have a normal family life. Slaves were sold to pay off debts, an owner dying and his slaves were sold in an estate sale, or when an owner’s children would leave the home to begin a life of their own, they would take slaves with them. Often times, children were not raised by their parents, other family members of someone designated to watch the children because the mother and father had to work long hours and the children were too young to join them.

    Read More

  • What They Fought For Chapter Summaries

    156 Words  | 1 Pages

    In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.

    Read More

More about Summary Of What This Cruel War Was Over Chandra Manning

Open Document