Answer the question about a book - Essay Example

American nationalism and the Civil War Nationalism has been perceived, by many antagonists, as the primary cause of many of the twentieth century’s American Civil Wars. However, modern researchers describe nationalism as the basis of many achievements such as industrialization. Modern researchers also argue that nationalism defines citizens as part of the community, and they are bound together with many political and social factors, including other things that share ethical obligations and history with one another (Gallagher & Vittoz 23).

The American Civil War was worse than all other American wars, and from its results, a new freedom came for millions of Americans, who were previously held in bondage. Most historians have argued that this war was avoidable, and they put blame on the southern and northern firebrands for initiating the war, the former being pro-slavery and the later anti-slavery (Gallagher & Vittoz 46). This paper thematically describes the roles that nationalism played in the remembrance of civil war to the present world, with a focus on how Lost Cause, the Union Cause, and Emancipation Cause define the nation.

After the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln addressed how the union and the Constitution were going to be structured after the declaration of independence. He believed that the union formed a significant part of the State governments; a government whose equality principles give all the American citizens equal rights and business opportunities (Rwolf 12). In his first and second inaugural addresses, Lincoln spoke about the nature and significance of unions, how the federal constitution wants him to defend the union from rebellious groups, and why secession was invalid to self-government (Rwolf 17).

According to Lincoln, the struggle to preserve the union between the southern defiance and the northern triumphalism had to become a war as it was the only way for securing the freedom of former slaves. In his speech he said “the nation would have to experience a new birth of freedom so that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Gallagher & Vittoz 71). Slavery was one of the key causes of disunity between the southerners and the northerners.

The southern was pro-slavery and the southern anti-slavery. Therefore, in order to solve slavery issue, the north and the south had to go into war to find a common conclusion. A common conclusion to abolish slavery united the north and the south into one government of the people, and by the people. The “Lost Cause Myth” originated in the south, after the American Civil War, to explain the loss to the North (Towns 56). Several white southern political leaders and intellectuals attempted to construct a history of the south and the Confederacy.

In the attempt to justify why the southern lost in the Civil War and Confederacy, they resurrected the southern ideology and imagery of earlier years. In doing so, they glorified the southern part, claimed the American Revolution as southern heritage and liberty as a southern principle, supported white’s supremacy over other races in the south society, and celebrated the south’s idyllic plantations and natural beauty (Towns 84). The “Lost Cause” phrase was coined to provide southern distinctiveness, and develop a public memory “that would sustain earlier white southern advocates’ vision of an ideal South and white southerners” (Gallagher & Vittoz 106).

Through ideologies presented in “Lost Cause”, the southerners were probably expressing their regrets about failing to achieve their quest for racial slavery and political independence after the Civil War. This was a sign of conceding defeat after several attempts fighting for concepts such as slavery, constitution, union and federalism. This was one of the factors that led to the American nationalism. The key objective of Emancipation Cause was to restore Union control and peace during the Civil War.

The emancipation declaration granted freedom for all slaves within all states, and it was perceived as the main cause of the Civil war. Emancipation declaration was significant in defining the nation because it reversed the strengths of the conflicting sides, and defined the results of the Civil War (Guelzo 93). Emancipation Proclamation gained total effect after the Union armies took control of all confederacies. It also included clauses that addressed its elimination and rebellion, and it asserted that “any citizen who incites rebellion against the government shall be prosecuted and imprisoned for not less than ten years, and be liable to pay a fine of ten thousand dollars” (Gallagher & Vittoz 63).

Through Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln is credited for reducing tensions within a society, which was in a deep conflict, during the Civil War. In conclusion, the American Civil War significantly changed America, not only because of states’ rights and slavery, but also because of the several deaths that transformed the relationship between the government and the American citizens. After Civil War, Americans realized that, not only legislatures and political leaders were capable of transforming America and uniting their people, but their own contributions towards changing America was also of significance.

Earlier historians believed that the American Civil War was preventable, had it not been for southern and northern firebrands that caused the war, while current historians argue that the Civil War was significant in uniting all Americans and ending slavery amongst other fundamental concepts. Works Cited Gallagher G. W, Vittoz S. Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood & Popular Art Shape What We Know About the Civil War. New York: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Print Guelzo A. C. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006. Print Rwolf D. B. The Causes of the American Civil War. New York: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Print Towns W. S. Enduring Legacy: Rhetoric and Ritual of the Lost Cause. New York: University of Alabama Press, 2012. Print