The Role of Media in the American Civil War
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- 1.Introduction
- 2.The Eve of War
- 2.1. Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Election
| Masaryk University
Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature
Bachelor Thesis Brno 2014 Supervisor: Author: Michael George, M.A. Kristina Půdová I proclaim that this bachelor thesis is my individual work and that I used only the sources cited in the bibliography. Brno, April 2013 Kristina Půdová I would like to express my genuine gratitude to my supervisor Mr. Michael George, A.M. for his valuable advice, essential materials and also for his very kind approach. Annotation This thesis examines the power of information in the American Civil War. People, whose grandfathers were fighting side by side in the War of Independence, were suddenly mortal enemies willing to lay down lives for their cause. The thesis illustrates the period through the eyes of chosen newspapers. The aim of this work is to study the general mood in both Southern and Northern section, to catch the attitude of the contemporary newspapers and finally what the exact information provided to people during the Civil war were. Key Words: Civil War, newspapers, media literacy, impartiality, slavery Content1.Introduction 7 2.The Eve of War 8 2.1. Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Election 8 2.2. Secession and the Birth of the Confederacy 10 2.3. Battle of Fort Sumter 14 3.The War Years 19 3.1. The Early Years 19 3.1.1. The Scott’s Great Snake 19 3.1.2.The Battle of Fredericksburg 25 3.1.3.First military drafts in the American history 26 3.1.4.The Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg 28 3.2. The Last Years of War 31 3.2.1.The Battle of Atlanta 31 3.2.2.Lincoln re-elected 33 4.The Aftermath 36 4.1. The Surrender at Appomattox 36 4.2. Abraham Lincoln's Assassination 40 5.Conclusion 44 6.Works cited 45
1.Introduction“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed.” – Mark Twain By buying the newspapers, watching TV or listening radio news people have proved, that the information are valuable. They help to create or adjust personal opinions and thus adopt a stance on an issue. People tend to adopt other people’s view and this is what makes the media a powerful tool. To control the news generally means to control the people who read them, and thus the media should be as unbiased as possible nowadays. The American Civil War was the first conflict, where the people were informed fast about the progress of the war, owing to the newly-adopted telegraph and the newspapers boom. As I find writing about tense situations more intriguing, I chose to describe what the newspapers reported to their readers on selected events. The goal of this thesis is to illustrate the general mood in the divided nation from both Southern and Northern point of view through the eyes of the contemporary newspapers. 2.The Eve of WarThe United States before 1860 was a prospering, eager country at first sight. Waves of immigrants were coming to live their dream to a place where everybody had equal chance to get rich. However, there were dark clouds coming on the horizon as the gaps between southern and northern parts of the country were getting deeper. The two sections were as different as night and day. In general the North was a booming section with big urban areas and a flourishing industry owing to variety of natural resources, whereas the South was predetermined for agriculture due to its climate and fertile soil. The one thing that both sections had in common in past years was slavery. Although the North abolished slavery voluntarily before 1850, the slavery in the South did not end before the Civil War was over. Historian Douglas Harper claims that “slavery in the North never approached the numbers of the South. The North failed to develop large-scale agrarian slavery, such as later arose in the Deep South, but that had little to do with morality and much to do with climate and economy.” Thus by the end of 1850s a two different cultures lived united in one country. 2.1. Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential ElectionThe 19th Presidential elections were announced on November 6, 1860. The newly-elected President was expected to solve not only the question of spreading, but also section’s different view on centralism. In 1854, a new party entered American political life – the Republicans. The party had had a rather short history and thus it seemed improbable that its candidate could conquer the Presidential post. Besides, the Democratic Party possessed not only the South, but also several major northern states. At the end, the elections of 1860 entered four men as the Southern Democrats refused to support Stephen A. Douglas, the candidate of the northern branch of democrats and chose John C. Breckenridge instead. Those who were unable to choose any candidate nominated neutral John Bell and created the Constitutional Union Party. Harry T. Williams described the Republican Party’s demands when searching for a suitable candidate in his book “the Union Sundered”: “He had to be from a large state, to possess some reputation and to be a firm antislavery man but not an extremist. Only one man fitted the specification”(92). Finally, when the elections were over and Abraham Lincoln, a rather unknown lawyer from Illinois, was about to become a President of the United States, the Republicans knew their choice was good. Being unbiased was not a common feature for 19th century press. The reactions varied as every newspapers was rooting for a different candidate and furthermore, a several ones were being created and published only in order to get its candidate elected. On November 8, 1860, the White Cloud Chief from Kansas celebrated crushing defeat of Democrats in the young territory in the article “Whoop-ee”: “The Millennium come! We have the glorious tidings to proclaim, that Lincoln and Hamlin are our next President and Vice President, by overwhelming majorities” (1). The Republican’s platform for Kansas was to add the territory to the United States as a free state and the party fulfilled the pledge in January 1861. Massachusetts was one of the first states to abolished slavery in early 1830s. The state was heavily republican-oriented so as a result, Lincoln got there 13 electoral votes. The Massachusetts Daily Spy saw in Lincoln’s election “a great political revolution” when publishing an article “The Disunion Outcry”: It does not mean evil to any section of the country. It is not only regular and lawful, but is necessary to restore the old spirit and policy of the country, and give peace to the land. Mr. Lincoln will be inaugurated peacefully, and we believe confidently that his administration will reproduce the era of good feeling. (2) However, in spite of the Daily Spy’s positive conviction, the war broke out 6 months later. The democratic-oriented South was not willing to make any compromise in the matter of slavery; therefore, the election of Abraham Lincoln raised negative reactions only. The Richmond Dispatch predicted the future development in the section in the article “The Presidential Election”: “The event is the most deplorable one that has happened in the history of the country. The Union may be preserved in spite of it. We think it will; but we are prepared to expect trouble. We have already one sign from South Carolina, and this may be followed by others of more serious character.” (1) A month after the election in December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to leave the Union, followed by seven other states from Lower South before Lincoln’s inauguration in March 1861. “In a sense, the spark which ignited the whole was set by a tall, inelegant lawyer from Illinois.” (Nofi 15) Download 142.04 Kb. Share with your friends:
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