Main Aspects of Civil War - Assignment Example

Running Head: Civil War.... Civil War Order#: 362452 Topic: Civil War 1. What are the points of agreement and disagreement between the two authors, Stanley Elkins and James McPherson, concerning the institution of slavery? James McPhersons book describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that related to the race issue that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The reconstruction process was as important, in some areas more difficult, than the Civil War itself. The author elucidates the motivations and experiences of common soldiers. Women begin to play their roles in the war effort and the author explains how effectively they do it. As a leading civil war historian, with the credentials of many books on the subject of slavery to his credit, he has dealt with the subject with the perspective of a true historian, without bias. He writes history in the narrative form by giving detailed explanations and explores the causes of war. How disputes took the worst form, attempts to compromise failed and in the end, the war erupts. He provides the graphic description of many battles by giving comprehensive information. A lay reader is able to understand the complexities related to the war. Elkins feels enough of the routine platitudes about slavery and the Civil war have been written by the multitude of authors. His perspective is different. His approach is revolutionary. He writes, “ Although few inquiries, from the viewpoint of sheer research, have been conducted with greater energy, the sources have now been mined and re-mined, it is hard to imagine major veins of primary material lying still untapped.” (Elkins, 1976, p1,2) 2. Specifically, what influence did institutions like the church have on the character of American slavery? McPherson did condemn the institution of slavery outright. According to him, it was a human institution, legal and with an economic perspective. It permitted the slaves to associate culturally. That was the silver lining in the generations of life of bondage and servitude of slaves. Some of the slaves became eloquent preachers. While slavery made stable family life difficult, a majority of slaves nevertheless formed strong ties of kinship and family. Thus, although slavery’s impact on black people could be repressive, the countervailing force of a positive black culture provided and impressive example of survival in the face of adversity (McPherson 2001 p.38). Elkins states that such arrangements are just superficial formalities in the life of the slave and they do not contribute to anything tangible to improve the status. Its rural congregations are full of humane and decent Christians, but as an institution of authority and power it has no real existence (Elkins 1976 p.61).He strengthens his viewpoint and quotes many laws that restricted any form of religious activity by the Negroes. McPherfson mentions about the original quality of the music of the slaves and opines that it is moving. Negro spiritualists hoped that God would liberate them from bonded life and their poems express that intense longing for freedom. 3. How much control did the masters have over their slaves? Did the slaves exercise any autonomy over their own lives? The control of the master over the slaves was absolute, according to Elkins. He compared them to Holocaust survivors and each house of the white that had slaves was equivalent to the concentration camp of the Nazis. The brutality was matchless. The original individual personality of the slaves were totally shattered, and the masters rebuilt them, forcibly, according to their whims. Masters dominated, slaves had no say on any issue and they became dependent,lazy and dishonest. The slave system in America was more totalitarian than the one practiced by the Spanish. In that system, slaves were allowed legal and family rights, scope for spiritual growth, and room for eventual emancipation. America gave none of such facilities to the slaves and crushed them psychologically. McPherson does not see all-evil in the institution of slavery. Though he is not willing to praise it, he analyzes it as a human institution, with its merits and demerits. 4. Did American devotion to limited government and laissez faire capitalism ameliorate the brutality of slavery? Elkins view on slavery set the subsequent generation of historians thinking and they tried to put forth enough evidence to prove him wrong. Elkins demands shift about consideration of the psychological effect of centuries of bondage on slaves. The present thinking of the whites is not conducive to peacefully settle the debate on slavery on an amicable note, opines Elkins! He questions the motivations of the whites and does not see any genuine change of heart in them. Elkins relies on secondary studies to reinforce his arguments. He has not provided new evidence but his reinterpretation is novel and it sets a serious debate amongst the historians. He pleads that the time is ripe now to discuss about the philosophy and psychological studies about slavery. He sees the evil spirit of slavery present in the American society even now, though legally it is abolished. 5.What evidence does each author use to support his arguments, and is the evidence anecdotal or quantifiable? McPherson provides in the book maps, charts and photographs on the nature of the battles and campaigns which the Union and Confederacy fought against each other. The photographs speak about what war means, that too civil war,for the sake of important principles. The war has a strong cultural aspect. The photographs depict the horrors of war. The author has organized the information using appropriate methods. The information is voluminous that will enable a serious student of history to understand the issues related to the era well. The organization of the topics dealt within the text is comprehensive. The author does some plain speaking about both North and the South for the depth of racism, and their contesting attitudes on the subject of slavery. The patriotism of the author is showing as he hails the glory of crushing U.S. victory. He further explains how the legal end of slavery does not bring the issue to a happy ending. The aftermath of the war is more complicated and the author writes about the painful changing process. Elkins argues that slavery was and even now continues to be a problem for the American Society. He attacks the American intellectual and institutional life. The book comprises four essays: 1. an overview of the American historiography of slavery; 2. a comparison of the U.S. and South American slave systems; 3. a comparison of the African American stereotype with the personalities that emerged among survivors in German concentration camps; and 4. a critique of the Abolitionists and Transcendentalists, such as William Lloyd Garrison and Ralph Waldo Emerson et al., whom he calls intellectuals without responsibility. 6. Which author more accurately describes antebellum American slavery? Why? It is difficult to say which author has accurately described the antebellum years and the period of reconstruction, more accurately. Both have done their jobs but their perspectives are different. McPherson is a historian and therefore he analyzes the subject accordingly. Elkin has to say something different. In the introduction to the book he writes, “ How a person thinks about Negro slavery historically makes a great deal of difference here and now; it tends to locate him morally in relation to a whole range of very immediate political, social and philosophical issues which in some way refer back to slavery.” (p.1) Elkins writings is like the gush of fresh water. He breaks from the stereo-type writings on slavery and wishes the race to come out of the suffering mentality once for all, and emerge as dynamic human beings, willing to think independently, and not harp on the sufferings of their forefathers. To him history is a teacher with a progressive outlook. McPherson provides a historical document, and gathers information from authentic sources and accuracy is his forte. He is aware of the needs of a war-based book, where imagination has less role to play. It should not be a book of convictions but that of historical connections. From this point of view, McPhersons books is a war-classic and a book for all time to come. Elkins view point about slavery is entirely different. He has an issue to tender before the readers. His important question is: --why slavery was practiced at all in that ruthless form? What created that heinous mental make-up of the whites to inflict such cruelties on the black race? American Civil War or the Reconstruction Era are consequential issues to Elkins. The perspectives of the two authors are entirely different, though the issue is basically the same. Elkins rakes up an issue, and his viewpoints can not be dismissed outright. He is not a historian, and he does not claim to be one. Nevertheless, he has daringly opened a new front on the issue of slavery, that merits consideration, though not willing acceptance! ************ References Elkins, Stanley M. (1976). Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (3rd ed). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. McPherson, James M. (2001). Ordeal by Fire - The Civil War and Reconstruction (3rd ed). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More