The Civil War As A Propagandist War

In order to look into the lives of the U.S. citizens during the Civil War I decided to look into the first week from April 12, 1861 to April 18, 1861 of the New York Times. I looked into this week of articles to see how the New York Times covered the outbreak of the war and the people’s response to it. Some of the main war events covered were: call for Union to relinquish command of Fort Sumter and first shots of the war, reaction to the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln’s Proclamation to add seventy-five thousand volunteers to the war efforts, possible attacks on Fort Pickens, and the Confederate reaction to Lincoln’s Proclamation. During this week, the north was obviously nervous and scared yet felt they would win as well as confused as to why the war was happening at all.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Abraham Lincoln in Causes of the Civil War." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.

The Civil War that occurred was one of the darkest times in our history as a country. It was a time where there was a complete breakdown of social and political systems. Hundreds of thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands more were aversely affected. However, it was also a time of remembrance and significant moral progress. It is remembered as the turning point in American History and would be the foundation for the Civil Rights movement many years later.

The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties, including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease, and 50,000 civilians. The war accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.

There had been many wonderful misunderstanding between North and South in the years that led up to the Civil War, but the most tragic misunderstanding of all was that neither side realized, until it was too late, that the other side was desperate. Not until the war had actually begun would men see that their rivals really meant to fight? By that time it was too late to do anything but go on fighting. Southerners had been talking secession for many years, and most people in the North had come to look on such talk as a counter in the game of politics.

During the 1860s there were many issues and that the Southern and Northern states needed to work on. In 1861 hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteered to fight in the Civil War, also known as the First Modern War. The main causes of this war were the economic and social differences between the North and the South. These differences led to other fundamental issues such as slavery and its abolition. In addition to that as the war was coming to its end, federal authorities found themselves presiding over the transition from slavery to freedom.After the war, there was a 12-year period best known as the Reconstruction and the main goals that it had were to get the Confederate States back into the Union, to rebuilt the Southern economy

The civil war is by far the bloodiest war in American history. In the four deadly years of war, over six-hundred thousand Americans were killed. Many disputes that led to the civil war. These conflicts started under President James Buchanan who was a Democrat elected in the election of 1856. The issue of slavery, states’ rights, the abolitionist movement, the Southern secession, the raid on Harper’s Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln all contributed to the start of the civil war. The civil war and its aftermath transformed the entire nation by unifying the United States, abolishing slavery, and led to the American Industrial Revolution.

One of the few newspapers to act like Switzerland received a huge amount of backlash for doing so. The Republican paper did not succumb to the Union or confederate side and instead advocated for both sides, since the two editors of the paper had different views, but the public was not pleased with this decision. “The general public deemed it weakness and ‘a sign of duplicity’ to publish articles advocating both sides of the issue and dubbed the paper ‘the swill tub’ (Sachsman, 2014, p. 53). A Virginia paper tried this tactic as well, to no avail. “The attempt, however, on the part of any opposition paper to be simultaneously a Union journal and a Southern journal was becoming illogical if not well neigh impossible” (Cappon, 1936, p.14). This explains why the majority took a side during the civil war, as no newspaper wanted to loose the core of their audience due to not taking sides. It is important to note that not all of the papers in this era were propagandist. The Enquirer was able to omit their opinions and write objectively about the war. “Wise and his successors objectively reported the news rather than venting their dissatisfaction with Confederate’s conduct of the war” (Davis & Robertson, 2009, p. 37). This should have been how all the papers of this era reported the war yet a backlash amongst the public contributed to a public outcry, which can be detrimental to a newspapers survival.

This chapter “Transforming Fire the Civil War 1861-1865” covers one of the bloodiest war in Joined States history that made major political, money related, and social change for the North and South. Both the North and South expected that the Normal War would end quickly; in the meantime, as the exchange of the military engagements of the underlying two years appears, both were stirred up.

Some people argue there should not be statues honoring “traitors” such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, who fought against the Union. Victors of wars get to write the history, and the history they write often does not reflect the facts. Let us look at some of the facts and ask: Did the South have a right to secede from the Union? If it did, we cannot label Confederate generals as traitors.

The Manipulation of the Public by a Small Group of Southern Fanatics as the Cause of the Civil War

I am writing to express my concern in response to a recent article in Politico magazine. In the article, it examines how people view the civil war, mainly magnifying how citizens throughout the nation view the different possible causes of the civil war. In this letter, I’ll explain my support for the views of some of the interviewees, but also refute some of the claims of the interviewees, with evidence of course.

History is written by the victors; therefore the victor’s image and cause are often molded to appeal to the hearts and minds of the people, whilst slandering the opponents. Through every war in history, we have seen political propaganda try and make an appeal to the people of the world to rally support to their true cause, which is usually darker and more self-centered than the propaganda claims. The civil war was no different, or as it should be known “The war of Northern aggression against states rights”; propaganda was rampant, particularly on the Union homefront. The Union, though it was economically and socially more well equipped than the south, struggled to gain support due to social differences throughout the territory.

In “Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate: The White House and the Press during the American Civil War” Richard Carwardine discusses the incredible increase in the Press’ contribution to the American Civil War. Carwardine explains Abraham Lincoln’s role with the media and his use of newspapers as political weaponry from before the election and into his presidency. This topic is significant because it illustrates Abraham Lincoln’s intelligence and strengths as a president during the Civil War. The article gives insight to how Lincoln may have been as successful as he was during his presidency. Also, no previous political leader had had the task of managing an administration in a mass democracy where over a million of its citizens were

Propaganda, persuading to believe a biased opinion, through the forms of cartoons, news, and metaphors. Propaganda has been used throughout the modern century and far back to the beginning of religion and literature, it eventually carried over to the US with many iconic forms of propaganda such as, “We want you for the US army,” and “We can do it” (Mach). Nevertheless there are many other powerful types and examples of propaganda that influenced American wars, many of which were shown in the American Civil War. Four examples are, the Emancipation Proclamation, the church, Dixie, and King Cotton. The Emancipation Proclamation was Northern propaganda which declared slavery illegal, though it did not go into effect immediately and was had to be submitted twice till it became effective.