The Battle of Bull Run - Literature review Example

Literature review Literature review Loewen, J. W. . The First to Secede. American Heritage, 60(4), 13. The civil war period was one of the gravest moments in American history as this was an interstate clash. During this period, many events occurred since the onset of the war in various states until the end of the this dark moment in moment in the history of America. One of the greatest event was the secession of South Carolina in December 20, 1860 as discussed by Loewen in an article that focuses on American heritage and history. According to the article, a troupe of men, most of them above the age of fifty marched in Charlestown after holding a meeting that intended for this state to secede because; of their disgruntlement over the running of their state. For a long term, the citizens of South Carolina had carried their desire to secede from the United States, but they were not certain on when the appropriate time would be for them to become an independent state. Ideally, most of the aged men that marched from St. Andrews Hall in Charleston were planters that had slaves working on their plantations while four of them were senators and five were governors of federal states. The article asserts that the reason why the citizens of North Carolina wanted to secede was because the national state had made plans to abolish the slave trade. Therefore, the secession attempt was a way for the plantation owners to continue having slaves at their farms because they viewed this as a deliberate attempt to bring down their crop production level. Loewen (2011) asserts that the major contributors to the secession of South Carolina, where the fraction of the population that were pro-slave trade where this attempt began in 1850. Between 1850 and 1860, the USA had adopted many laws that had made slavery harder for the beneficiaries of this trade, making South Carolina feel oppressed because it depended on slavery for its survival. With this, the legislature of South Carolina met on 17 December 1860 where they unanimously agreed to secede in order for them to fulfill their economic desires, which the federal union had refused them to achieve. Other than that, South Carolina also expressed its displeasure in the ways in which African-Americans in the North had the right to vote and were free, which led the region to enforce laws that could not allow Northerners to access the South. Results As per the author, most of the Americans in present-day America still believe that the states in the South seceded during the civil war period because it was their civic right and not because of slavery, which is somehow misguided. Others also believe that South Carolina secede because of the fact that the President had recaptured the presidency, making them to express their discontent because this president advocated for the abolishment of slave trade. In essence, when the author holds discussions over this subject to various audiences, their views seem to be split in that 55-75% believe that the secession was because of their right to vote while less than 5% believe that Lincoln’s reelection caused the secession. Slavery and taxation tariffs tend to take almost 20% of the audience as a possible reason why South Carolina chose to be an independent state while others may not give a correct answer concerning this aspect. 2. DeAngelis, G. (2012). They Meet Again... at Bull Run. Cobblestone, 33 (9), 27. In this article, DeAngelis (2012) narrates the event that characterized the Battle of Bull run, before and during this time in the civil war period. Ideally, this battle took place on 29 August 1862 after Major General Pope John felt that the fire at the Union supply base was the doing of major general Jackson Thomas. With this Pope ordered his men to converge at Bull Run for a retaliatory attack that commenced on the 28 of the same month at John Brawner’s farm. DeAngelis asserts that the start of the war drew influence from assumptions without the generals investigating why they needed to begin the war in the first place. The article also suggests that the generals did not physically participate in the war, but they rather commandeered from a safe distance without endangering their own safety. According to DeAngelis (2012), Pope’s men experienced a heavy fire on the battle field despite the fact that he sent in his men in small troupes. On the other hand, Jackson used confederates to return fire in which Pope managed to break his line because they had no time to regroup making the confederates’ line of defense to be weak. In this battle, at least more than 22,000 soldiers lost their lives masking this battle to be the first principle battle during the civil war period. Results The author attempts to illustrate that this battle lacked proper planning and that both the confederate and the Union soldiers did not have the standard training for such war. The generals also lacked adequate exposure for war, which led them into pushing their men to their deaths. The article also does not give the accurate information regarding the war because the actual commandeers of the battle at Bull Run were Jackson Thomas and McDowell Irvin. This makes this article to lack credibility because it twists the actual history and also gives shallow information regarding this battle, which was a major event during the civil war period. Further, this article does not give details of the other individuals that were instrumental in the war hence making it to be shallow interpretation of the actual events of that time. It also seems to indicate that the battle was a one day affair and also the reason as to why the war broke out is not as documented in American history because this battle intended to conquer Northern Virginia. Therefore, DeAngelis’ interpretation of the events of that war seems to be fictional because the article does not give the facts because McDowell decided to execute the battle since politicians and citizens of the Washington area were not happy with the pace that he had in expanding their territory. The article further fails to illustrate the events that led the battle to begin in the first place as McDowell made use of a spy network that helped in the intelligence gathering of information rather than conducting the raid without having the accurate facts. Therefore, DeAngelis (2012) article does not present the accurate events of that event in history as documented in other primary or secondary sources. 3. Tidman, M. (2014). He Has Shot the President!: April 14, 1865: the Day John Wilkes Booth Killed President Lincoln. School Library Journal, 60 (3), 171. In this article, Tidman (2014) documents the events of April 14, 1865 that led to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at the park. The author makes use of fiction in order to make the article appealing to the reader rather than making it to be as somber as it was the case of the president’s death. Other than covering the assassination of the president, Tidman also narrates the capture of the Lincoln’s killer, John Booth Wilkes and also expands to include the murders of other top government during this reign. The article also allows readers to understand the life of John Wilkes through the gang that had planned the assassination and their fate after their plans to bring down Lincolns’ regime. The author does not clearly indicate the reasons as to why Booth alongside his determined conspirator’s wanted Lincoln and his vice president dead, but it is speculated that it was because of their stand against slavery. The Tidman’s book does not give direct quotations or references to most of the direct quotes made by the people mentioned in the book, but its still a good read. Remarkably, Tidman (2014) manages to stick to the story line despite the fact that he does not give actual details such as what the president did during the day before going to the theatre with his wife on that fateful evening. The book also does not link the attempted killing of the William Seward the then Secretary of State and Vice president Andrew Johnson. Essentially, their planned deaths were after General Robert Lee had surrendered bringing an end to the civil war, which was a premature victory because President Lincoln thought that this had broken the Confederate Army of Northern Carolina. This makes Tidman’s book not to be bold enough to relay the actual facts, but this does not overrule it as a source that does not give a history in its correct form. The author gives sketchy details because the author does not make use of other primary sources to the full in order to give the actual events of that day in the history of America. The intention of this book is more of to entertain and provide a thrill for members rather than giving a valid history lesson making it an unworthy primary source. The book also seems to be focusing on understanding Booth and does not talk more about the contribution that Lincoln gave during the civil war period, meaning that it appears to be celebrating the actions of the villain in the story. Brown also plays it safe as he does not draw much attention to other authors that have written on the same subject as he does not want to validate their work and cast a shadow on his. This explains why the bibliography page does not provide direct quotations hence implying that his information can be a primary source hence misleading a reader. The narration style used by Brown is a unique one in that it gives information over the events of that day and goes ahead to give the events that followed made it an interesting book because it gives another angle to the story of Lincoln’s assassination. 4. Damon, D. (2014). Mr. Lincolns ELECTION. Cobblestone, 35 (1), 35. In this article, Daman (2014) confers the presidential election of 1864 that saw Abraham Lincoln become the president of America and also information about his life. Further, the article discusses presidents Lincoln’s administration, political ideology and the opinion that the public held over his rule. According to Damon, Lincoln was certain that he was going to be re-elected because of the troubles that he had experienced since the civil war. A significant portion of the American population felt that Lincoln was to blame for the war and the duration that it had taken because their argument was that this president applied too many radical policies in his administration. Damon asserts that Lincoln wooed the Southerners to vote for him by promising them rejoined membership in the federal if he was re-elected to power despite the fact that he advocated for the freeing of slaves. As per this article, President Lincoln wanted the civil war to come to an end, hence he applied all the necessary policies that would ensure that the achievement of this would be faster. The assertion here was that Lincoln did not want to take sides in that the president found himself between radicals that advocated for war and conservatives that were willing to restore peace. Damon (2014) also intimates in this article that Lincoln was a staunch advocate of the emancipation policy for the African-American population, which him to be one of the most popular presidents among the ethnic minorities. The democrats that advocated for war used racial arguments in protesting the emancipation policy that Lincoln observed, but he also enticed them by promising that no repercussions would befall them. The article emphasizes that the Republicans applied major efforts in ensuring that the civil war would come to an end as they enticed the democrats that were in support of the war by nominating the vice president to be from their faction. Result The president won the elections despite the hurdles that he experienced against his closest opponent McClellan George, a democrat. The article focuses more on the President Lincoln rather than the election, which is one of the significant ones because it was the first one since 1812. Other than that, the article captures the uncertainties that Lincoln had that would influence his loss in that election, making it a relevant source for American history during the civil war period. This article can also be significant when explaining the effort that Lincoln made in ensuring that the civil came to an end as he brokered peace at any chance that he got. The article also aides in explaining the type of man president Lincoln was because it shows his true character when combated by pressure and that he advocated for the inclusion of all people in his rule. Despite the war engagement tactic that Lincoln used, his popularity still remained high as witnessed by his win in the 1864 election, meaning that Damon captures the possible reasons that could have influenced to lose miserably. The author also captures an almost accurate figure of the margin that Lincoln won by as compared to other primary sources, making it to be a disputable, but reputable information source. Despite these shortcomings, Damon’s article captures the basics of that election hence making it to be a relevant historical source for the events that occurred during the civil war period. 5. Draft riots. (2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. In this publication owned by the University of Colombia, the article discusses the Conscription Act of 1863 that made it law that all men that were of strength had to join the military as a mandatory aspect. However, a drafted was excusable from this only because he paid $300 to the government, a fact that created intense discomfort for many, especially for the population in New York and also across the nation. The article asserts that the intensity of the riots was in New York City as this escalated to bloodshed during the riots for a four day-period, because these Northerners did not agree with this legislation enforced in the South. This article emphasizes that the riots caused both social and economic discomfort because it had discriminatory elements embedded in it, hence influencing unfair treatment hence inclining the conscription was illegal. A majority of those involved in the protests were ethnic minority groups as intimated by the article that vandalized armory that had guns and set buildings on fire as a way of expressing their disgruntlement over this offensive law. However, the African-Americans received much of the blame as much as the violent protests included members of other races where many of those that lost their lives were from this race. The Colombian Encyclopedia (2013) also gives an account of the other crimes committed against the African-African population that included the burning down of an orphanage rendering the homeless. The major aspect that fueled the war was the fact that the rich could buy their way out of the law while the poor that could not afford the $300 had no option, but to pay because it was law. The amount of force used to bring back, calm to the distressed New York was too intense as the military and police deployment was high like that used in inter-country war. This article illustrates President Lincoln’s effort to restore calm through the establishment of a commission charged with reviewing this law and the resistance that he experienced from Governor Seymour who was in support of it. Further, the article also gives an incisive look at the amount of loss that this riot and the outcome of the review, which was the limitation for wealthy individuals from buying their way out of joining the military. Result The article gives an incisive look at the reasons that fueled the riots in New York, although it does not mention the age of those that had to join the military at eighteen. To date the conscription law is still in place, but as a contingency measure, unlike in that time where it was mandatory, but selective as indicated by the article. Further, the article fails to communicate that the $300 was for buying a substitute for those that did not want to join the military, but the article only mentions this without providing an explanation to the reader for the same. However, most of the information provided by the article is accurate when compared to that given in other primary sources concerning the events of that fateful week of July 13 to 16, 1863. References Damon, D. (2014). Mr. Lincolns ELECTION. Cobblestone, 35 (1), 35. DeAngelis, G. (2012). They Meet Again ... at Bull Run. Cobblestone, 33(9), 27. Draft riots. (2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. Loewen, J. W. (2011). The First to Secede. American Heritage, 60(4), 13. Tidman, M. (2014). He Has Shot the President!: April 14, 1865: the Day John Wilkes Booth Killed President Lincoln. 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