To what extent does Lincoln’s use of the telegraph for military purposes impact the outcome of the United States Civil War?
Joshua Treece
Period 5
Word Count: 2,165
Identification and Evaluation of Sources:
The investigation will explore the question “To what extent does Lincoln’s use of the telegraph for military purposes impact the outcome of the United States Civil War?” The years 1861-1865 will be the focus of this investigation to allow for an analysis of Lincoln’s leadership and his use of the telegraph during the United States Civil War.
Of particular importance in answering this question will be Mr. Lincoln 's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War and Mr. Lincoln 's High-tech War, books about Lincoln’s use of the telegraph for war and his leadership. These two sources are important to the research because they not only discuss how Lincoln used the telegraph, but also how this demonstrated his leadership.
Mr. Lincoln 's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War is a book by Tom Wheeler published in 2006. The origin of this source is valuable because Wheeler has been CEO of multiple technology and telecommunication companies and is the current Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission indicating he is knowledgeable in the field of technology and communication, including the telegraph. He also is the author of a Civil War book in which he was named one of the Top Ten Historical Leadership
Abe Lincoln accomplished many things during the civil war. Abe Lincoln was a great leader and president. He ended slavery in the U.S. during his time period. During the year 1860, slavery was one of the biggest problems in america. Abe Lincoln, president at the time, was against slavery. During the
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at
Abraham Lincoln's foreign policy was a success in preventing other countries from messing with America's Civil War (Lehrman. “Mr. Lincoln and Freedom. P.2). Acts and amendments like the Thirteenth Amendment that ended slavery in the United States, the Homestead Act, the Morrill Act, the National Banking Act, and a bill that chartered the first transcontinental railroad, all helped Lincoln keep a great and preserving foreign policy (“Abraham Lincoln Biography. P 5”). Abraham Lincoln set an example of strong character, leadership, and honesty that helped him win the election. He showed this by giving many great speeches before and during his presidency like the House Divided Speech, the Cooper Union Address, the First Inaugural Address, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural Address (“Abraham Lincoln Biography. P
President Abraham Lincoln used numerous rhetorical devices in his speech at the Second Inaugural Address to present the audience with the effects of the Civil War. The purpose was to edify the audience on his vision for the nation’s future. He adopts an accepting tone in order to appeal to the feelings and concerns of the men present at the Inaugural. After reading the speech, one can observe the appeal to the audience’s emotion, building of self-credibility, and the use of parallelism used by Lincoln to aid in presenting his vision for the future of the nation.
Each woman faced their own set of problems depending on their race, social class and gender. These same issues also allowed for them to excel as spies during the Civil War. Lincoln’s legacy is preserving the nation that his predecessors had created and maintained. The Confederacy was fighting to preserve the Southern way of life which depended upon slavery. The system of slavery was all that most of them knew and change can be frightening. In the end, the lack of industry was a major factor that killed the South’s possibility of victory. The South also was more conservative with new strategies and weaponry. This caused the South to fall behind in a period of immense technological development. Lincoln was praised for his new integration of the
leading up to and surrounding President Abraham Lincoln’s death. The purpose of this book is to
Lincoln served as a great president who took on challenges head on. The biggest issue he faced was the Civil War. The Civil War was a conflict about slavery and expanding it. Lincoln’s goal was to gradually put an end to slavery however, the South did not agree with this and decided to (according to the government) rebel against the country. Doing this meant the beginning of a war where a country would fight itself. It was the North against the South. While the North was abiding to the government’s regulations they had to fight the South. After all the battles of fighting each other the Civil War went down into American History as one of their bloodiest wars. As a threat to the South Lincoln ordered the South to give in and join the Union again. He warned them that if this did not happen, he would free the slaves under their custody. He gave them a time limit for this but the South did not listen nor did they give in. As a result, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.
Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.
The presidency of Abraham Lincoln came during a highly radical and chaotic period of American history. For historians such as James McPherson, they see Lincoln as the greatest leader in American history. For McPherson, Lincoln succeeded in combining military pragmatism with the political ideologies of the North, as well as Lincoln’s own idealism, thus assuring Northern victory. However, not all historians agree that Lincoln was a masterful tactician. Chester Hearn, believes that although Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s most venerable statesmen, his presidency was marked by flaws and a general misunderstanding of how war is waged. McPherson’s Tried by War and Hearn’s Lincoln, The Cabinet and the Generals, make the argument for each of
To what extent did Lincoln’s economic, military, and political policies from 1861 to 1865 contribute to the preservation of the Union?
He played a major role in the War. “Lincoln risked his life while fulfilling his duties as commander-in-chief of the American military” (2). With over 2 million soldiers serving in the war, Abraham Lincoln had to command them all. However, in the 1800s the world did not have cell phones or other communication devices, like today. This meant that Abraham Lincoln was not able to command the Union army directly from the safety of Washington D.C. For Lincoln to command the army he had to be in the midst of the battle. Without Lincoln putting his life in danger and with the emancipation proclamation the war probably would not have ended in the union’s
When Abraham Lincoln gave his Cooper Union Address it is doubtful that he knew its impact on the country and ultimately the future of the Union. In his Cooper Union Address, future president Abraham Lincoln thoroughly rebuked the southern Democrats Stephen A. Douglas’ statements about the Republicans’ slavery stance by using not only the oppositions wording against them, he supported his arguments with true examples sited from the signatories of the Constitution and their past voting record, from information gleaned during his career as a lawyer, and from his sense of honor and ethics. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party had some very strong constituents, mainly those with very strong Free Soil tendencies. For this reason along with personal beliefs on Lincoln’s part the Republicans, led by Lincoln in the presidential election, were strongly against the expansion of slavery into the territories
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would
What these writings tell us about the Civil War and Lincoln as a National Leader was with the purpose of saving the Union was Lincoln's idea. He goes through time and changes his mind on altering the current status of slavery. When he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation his intentions were to free the slaves. As a National Leader Lincoln at first tried to please
"He prudently took advantage of the exigencies of war to maneuver the nation toward his moral goal" (Johnson and Guelzo). This illustrates that Lincoln wanted to get the "Emancipation Proclamation" address out in the world really quickly, so that he could eventually win the civil war and also try to end slavery for that little period of time. The author Abraham Lincoln had many purposes of writing the speech about the emancipation of the slaves.