Questions and Thoughts for Those Blogging on 09/23

1. Many people believe that the Civil War is solely about slavery, yet close inspection of the issues surrounding the beginning of the war show a much more complex set of problems that slowly ripped the country apart. Why do Americans seem to believe that the Civil War was about slavery alone? How did the events of the war help to create this historical myth? How have race relations in the United States been shaped by this widespread belief?

2. One of the most important issues of the Civil War was the division of powers between state governments and the federal government. Has this issue been successfully resolved? Could this issue lead to further conflict in the future? Has the power of the federal government become so great that states have been made into powerless administrative units at the whim of federal control?

3. When George Washington left office, he gave a speech warning that sectionalism would tear the country apart. 63 years later, he was proven right. Are there any issues in the United States right now that, while seemingly small now, may grow to the point of causing another Civil War in the UNited States?

4. At Vicksburg, General Grant disregarded the norms of warfare by pursuing a policy of total war against the city of Vicksburg, endangering civilians. General Sherman's march through Georgia and South Carolina left an unimaginable path of destruction through the South. Could the North have won without violating norms of war or causing so much destruction of private property? Would the peace and subsequent Reconstruction have been made easier by avoiding these tactics?

5. In what ways have the North and South remained economically, politically, and socially different from one another? Why have the divisions between North and South persisted? Is there any hope for unity between these two sections of the country in the future?

6. Some countries faced with Civil War undertake the prospect of rewriting their constitution. For example, when faced with rioting and possible Civil War in 1954, the French President rewrote that countries constitution. Also, when blacks finally wrested power away from the ruling white elite in South Africa, a new constitutional convention was held. Is this the path the United States should have taken after the Civil War? Was the Constitution flexible enough to withstand the division and reunification of the country or is the document inherently and permanently flawed?