A Broken Union Essay

In 1994, McPherson wrote the book, What They Fought For: 1861-1865, about his exploration on the motivations of the soldiers that fought in the Civil War (“James M. McPherson” par. 6). He analyzed the letters and diaries of twenty-five thousand soldiers, ultimately determining the reasons for the soldier’s continuance to fight during the Civil War.

War requires a lot out of soldiers. They give themselves wholly to their country, including their mind, body, and soul. However, one thing that seems to vary among these men is their sense of duty. In Frank O’Connor’s “Guests of the Nation,” three Irish soldiers form an unlikely friendship with their British prisoners of war. However, things take a turn when they are given orders to execute their new-found friends. When the order reaches the men, the three of them interpret their new duty in various ways. Through the orders of execution, “Guests of the Nation” emphasizes how people react to a sense of duty in varied ways from embracing it with pride, carrying out their duty with confusion and regret, and disobeying by limited participation.

James M. McPherson sets out to discover what motivated the Confederate and Union soldiers to continue fighting in the Civil War in his book What They Fought For. McPherson analyses nearly a thousand letters, journals, and diary of Union and Confederate soldiers to determine what urged them to fight is this defining American Conflict. McPherson reads and groups together the common thoughts of the everyday soldier, from their letters and journals that none of which had been subjected to any sort of censorship, in that time period. He then generalizes the motivations that they used to fight for their country. Whether it be for slavery or for the Union, the author views both sides of the fighting to analysis their ideological issues, how deep their belief coursed through their veins to continue fighting, and how the soldiers held their convictions close to heart in the time of war.

     Michael Shaara’s fictional novel, The Killer Angels, is based on the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The novel allows the reader to recognize the heart and courage of the more than two million men that fought in the war. Shaara focuses the reader to better understand the reason why these men fight and the meaning of the war. Ultimately, the reader observes that the war is fought on an individual level as much as a governmental level. These men are there to fight for what they believe is truly right. The Confederates fought for their rights to hold slaves, their freedom tyranny of the Federal Government, and their

World War I pressured men into viewing enlistment as a patriotic/nationalistic and masculine right of passage. In the late 19th century, men dominated public, political, and economic occupations. They were the breadwinners. However, due to the massive recruitment during World War I, social and patriotic/nationalistic pressures to enlist were created. These pressures were so strong that men enlisted, even if it hurt their household finances. Men were no longer expected to be the breadwinners, they were expected to fight for their nation. For instance, “Promise not to bear my grudge to France if she takes me.” Even if this soldier perished, he still felt that it was to insure the best for France. His nation was more important than his life. If men did not fight for their country, they were not only unpatriotic, they were not masculine; “Men, not boys, exhibited the masculine virtues of courage, decisiveness, and vigor. War was both a rite of passage to manhood and a guarantor of that passage.” Young “boys” did not resist this pressure. For example, “By an extraordinary piece of luck I was

For Cause and Comrades is a book written by James McPherson, with the help of diaries and letters written by soldiers from the Confederate and Union forces, he is able to formally detail accounts on why men fought in the civil war. Consequently, McPherson is able to shed light on the mentality and motives that soldiers possessed that made them fight in the war. Although we will never truly know why soldiers fought in the civil war, this book most definitely gives readers evidence that soldiers had certain values and morals that gave them reason to fight.

Labor Unions have had an effect of American history as well as world-wide history from the time they became popular. Following WWII Americans were predominantly pro-labor, however, as time went on union’s credibility fell short of perfect. Union strikes proved to be bothersome to both the general public and company. Unions were also suppressing to employees through fraud and lack of worker rights (in earlier years, before Acts were passed). Although Union labor had its shortcomings, this type of labor is noted to be the most productive and economically beneficial. With both sides shown, I feel Unions will again thrive in the future with a few key adjustments made.

Civil War Attitudes Soldiers, civilians, and leaders attitudes about the Civil War changed as the war progressed. The soldiers attitudes went from excitement to discouraged. Civilians attitudes were uninformed of war and became fearful. Leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, went from determined to almost understanding. Each of these attitudes changed in various ways and for different reasons such as the rising of death tolls, drafts on civilians to war, along with victories constantly moving from north to the south.

“Duty and honor were indeed powerful motivating forces.” (p. 5) Honor is defined as “respect that is given to someone who is admired” by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. Many of the men who enlisted during the Civil War were driven by the desire to uphold their honor and/or their family honor. Because honor was essentially a masculine concept, the wives and mothers of soldiers did not understand how this desire for bringing honor to one’s name was more important than a man’s duty to his family. A South Carolina planter and thirty-nine year old father of several daughters chose to enlist after the Union capture of the South Carolina sea islands in 1861. He attempted to explain the driving force behind his decision to enlist: “The honor of our

For Cause and Comrades by James M. McPherson consists of mostly of soldiers’ diaries and letters home as to why the men were fighting the Civil War. The initial motivation the union and confederacy sustain throughout the story proves that personal honor is valued more than their lives.

Unionism is the concept that traditionally business, especially big businesses are inherently going to exploit their employees. Therefore, in order to protect themselves, the workers form organizations called unions, in which all laborers who work at a certain craft, or in a certain industry band together. By this process of “joining forces”, the unions gain power in numbers. Unions traditionally try to protect employee interests by negotiating with employers for wages and benefits, working hours, and better working conditions.

The great question that has arisen in our time of history is why did men keep fighting especially at the cost of terrible hardships during the time of the American Civil War. Some of the hardships that these men endured were permanent sickness, loss of family and friendship, along with death as a result of their injuries. They had to leave their homes, they suffered bloodshed that would leave their lives a complete mess for five long years during the time of the war. I think the answers to this question from a northern and southern perspective are many.

In navigating their wartime options, Friends of military age had to consider their identity as Quakers, as pacifists, as members of a local community of believers and of a national community of service. The United States' intense effort to raise a national army to fight the Great War forced many Friends to grapple with, likely for the first time in their young lives, what it meant to be a member of a pacifist organization. This challenged them to define their beliefs and evaluate their relationship to the religious community and the nation of which they were a part. However diverse their paths of service, these individuals are united by their drive to meaningfully contribute to institutions, communities, and ideals that they saw as larger than

Is it in the workers’ best interest to unionize? As part of their retention and benefit plan, many companies offer stock options. Do stock option plans for unionized companies perform better than for non-unionized companies? This question will be answered by a study authored by representatives of Rutgers University and New York Institute of Technology. Do the proposed union rules by The National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor help workers and support job creation? Two major components of the proposed legislation are snap elections and the formation of micro unions. According to James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation, these measures would undermine employees’ rights and discourage job creation. Data from a Hearing before

“Battle Cry of Freedom; The Civil War Era id a work of such vast scope necessarily emphasizes synthesis at the expense of theme. If there is a unifying idea in the book, it is McPherson 's acknowledged emphasis on “the multiple meanings of