Skip to main content

Revolutionary and Civil Wars

The most important events in United States history to me are the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars.  The wars themselves are not a major interest to me because war just seems to be a sad loss of lives for either side of any war.  More important to me is the causes for the wars and the ensuing results.  The Revolutionary War set into motion the actualization of the great country we know today and the United States of America.  Citizens in the colonies felt that they were being treated unfairly and taxed while not properly represented in England.  The issues the colonist had with England led to the founders of the United States to create a democratic system totally different from a monarchy.  Today, we still hold tight to the beliefs of our founding fathers for the rights and freedoms we are privileged to have. 
The Civil War divided this country in ways that are still felt today.  The Civil War stemmed from many problems that were mostly either directly or indirectly caused by the issue of slavery.  The Civil War resulted in the eventual freedom of all slaves and the reunifications of the two halves of the United States of America, the Union and the Confederacy.  The effects of the Civil War affect us today in several ways.  There is still racism in this country towards blacks and there are still many white supremacist groups and just plain everyday racists.  Also, our country would be very different if the Confederacy took over the whole country or if our country was split into two.  We could have a very different looking map if the Civil War didn't end the way it did.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Male or Female? Issues Transgender People Face

            In “Aligning Bodies,” Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore bring to light the burdens endured by people in our society that don’t necessarily fit into preconceived notions of sex and gender.   On a daily basis there are issues they must consider:   when filling out forms that ask for their sex, when going to the restroom and when showing legal documents that may not match the gender they identify with.   Transgender people may or may not have surgery on their chest and/or genitalia and/or face or other surgery and may choose to use hormone therapy.   Some people are born with ambiguous genitalia or with genitals or chromosomes of both sexes.   Yet others may identify as a gender different than their birth sex and choose to not alter their body physically.   There is a wide spectrum of people in our world that don’t neatly fit into the “F” and “M” boxes.   Society and individuals need to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shifting "Color Line"

I see the “color line” as something that still exists today.  The scary thing about the “color line” of today’s society is that so many people don’t even see it.  Because freedoms and rights for every race is technically on the books, many people think that everything is fine.  The “civil rights movement” was in the 50’s and 60’s and we are technically past issues of segregation, separate schools, water fountains and just about everything else.  I would say that unfortunately, the “color line” is still here in the United States, but not as visible in outward appearances.  Yes, we have an African American president.  Also, we have higher percentages of African Americans stopped by, assaulted and killed by law enforcement, as well as higher percentage of African American population in jails and prisons.  In mainstream television, movies and advertising African Americans are still widely used for comic relief, in stereotypical roles, as well as being the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Emmett Till

I think the most important event in African American history since Reconstruction is the aftermath of the murder of Emmett Till.  Till was only 14 years old when he was tortured and killed by two white men in Money, Mississippi after flirting with a white woman at a store.  Till was beaten severely, shot and dumped into the Tallahatchie River, tied to a cotton gin fan.  African Americans were killed often in the South, many times by lynching.  The violence in the South towards African Americans was so prevalent that the two men that killed Till felt they were in the right and had no fear of being punished for this horrific crime.  When Till’s body was sent back to his mother in Chicago, she was shocked and horrified at how horrible her son’s body looked, due to the savage way Till was treated before and after he was killed.  Mamie Till Bradley made the decision to have an open casket funeral and to allow media to photograph his body before and during the f...
Post a Comment
Read more