Political History Commons^™

The Meanings Of The "Privileges And Immunities Of Citizens" On The Eve Of The Civil War, David R. Upham

Notre Dame Law Review

The Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution provides, in part, that “[n]o State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” This “Privileges or Immunities Clause” has been called “the darling of the professoriate.” Indeed, in the last decade alone, law professors have published dozens of articles treating the provision. The focus of this particular study is the interpretation of the “privileges and immunities of citizens” offered by American political actors, including not only judges, but also elected officials and private citizens, before the Fourteenth Amendment, and primarily, on the …

Sons Of Our Founding Fathers: Men Of Renowned Lineage And The American Civil War, Ryan M. Nadeau

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Political dynasties have always occupied a strange spot within the democracy of the United States. Though the argument is frequently made that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant, and that it is only the ability of a person which propels them through society, it is foolish to ignore the effects that a name can have how a person is judged by society—for better or worse. In the decades following the Revolution, when the descendants and fortunes of the Founding Fathers were still easily identifiable, this was especially true. When you possessed a name like Washington or Adams while their …

What I Saw Of The Rally: A Few Observations From The Confederate Flag Protests, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The normally quiet town of Gettysburg was once more disrupted by battle when two groups of protesters went head-to-head over the memory of the Confederate flag. Since the tumult and confusion of that fateful Saturday two weeks ago, many have weighed in on the day’s events with varying degrees of accuracy and distorted perceptions of reality. The following is my account. [excerpt]

A Middle East Perspective: Civil War Memory In Syria And At Home, Anika N. Jensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Last summer, while on a trip with the Eisenhower Institute’s Inside the Middle East program, I stood at the Israeli edge of the Golan Heights and heard a bomb explode across the border in Syria. We had spent the day within several miles of the war-ravaged nation with all remaining quiet until that moment, and while none of us wanted to admit it, we had the smallest hope that we might catch a glimpse of the conflict. However, when the sound of the detonation roared across the hills, excitement was replaced by a sense of fear and grief. I had …

Challenging Lincoln: How Gettysburg’S Lincoln-Centric Emancipation Narrative Has Overshadowed Local Black History, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

When it comes to symbols of emancipation, President Abraham Lincoln is king. No other person is more associated with the abolition of slavery than "The Great Emancipator" himself. This holds true in Gettysburg just as much as it does throughout the country. Only last September, Gettysburg College erected a statue of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation in the hope that it would "promote the discussion of race relations in America today." Yet when it comes to commemorating and remembering the struggle for emancipation, Lincoln is far from the only face that we should look to in our historic town. …

Great Emancipator Was Radical Of His Day: Lincoln Opposed Economic Injustice, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,” Abraham Lincoln said in 1864. “I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel.”

Yet there has always been doubt about just how great an emancipator he really was. Why did he wait for two years into his presidency to issue his Emancipation Proclamation? And why didn’t that Proclamation free all the 3.9 million African-Americans then held in bondage? [excerpt]

This Month In Civil War History: January 2016, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Transcript:

Welcome to The Civil War Institute’s "This Month in Civil War History for January."

In January of 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana joined South Carolina in seceding from the Union. In their articles of secession, the states made explicit references to defending the future of slavery in their reasons for seceding. [excerpt]

Missouri Democrat [St. Louis], January-December 1864, Vicki Betts

By Title

Selected articles from the Missouri Democrat, published in St. Louis, Missouri, taken from the period January through December, 1864.

Mobile Daily Register, January-June 1860, Vicki Betts

By Title

Selected articles from the Mobile Daily Register, published in Mobile, Alabama, covering the months January through December, 1860.

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2016

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Lost Cause In The Oval Office: Woodrow Wilson’S Racist Policies And White-Washed Memory Of The Civil War, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

For the past several weeks, students all across the nation have opened up discussions on race relations on university campuses and in American culture at large. The latest battlefield in the fight for greater inclusion is Princeton University, where protestors from the Black Justice League staged a 32 hour sit-in at the president’s office. Princeton University, traditionally viewed as a bastion of progressivism and liberal ideology, is coming under fire for its reverence for perhaps their most famous graduate, President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson graduated from Princeton University Class of 1879 and served as president of the school from 1902 until …

General Mcclellan Is A Fruitcake And Other Tasteful Metaphors, Ryan M. Nadeau

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The idea for this post was born from a comment I made while bored and generally sleep deprived on a road trip to the James Buchanan symposium earlier this fall. After some serious historical discussion with my traveling companions, including two other CWI fellows, I made a very non-serious observation. It went something like this:

"You know, I think Buchanan looks a lot like a soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone" [excerpt].

Seeing The Sorrow Anew: Recapturing The Reality Of Suffering Through Srebrenica, Matthew D. Laroche

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Those who know death know mourning. Those who know mourning know the meaning of empty spaces that we all wish had stayed filled. But do we, or even can we, as the few members of this society who habitually reflect upon the tragedies and triumphs of the past, fully understand the immensity of the suffering we dwell upon while wandering our battlefields? [excerpt]

Finally Speaking Up: Sexual Assault In The Civil War Era, Anika N. Jensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Trigger warning: This article contains detail concerning rape and sexual assault.

On March 12, 1864, in the midst of a bloody war which had long overflowed its thimble, Margaret Brooks was returning from her home near Memphis, Tennessee when her wagon broke down in Nonconnah Creek. Not long after her driver left to find help, three rambunctious New Jersey cavalrymen, all white, approached Brooks, demanding her money. She was then raped multiple times at gunpoint [excerpt].

“What About Thad Stevens?”: A Call To Action To Commemorate A Great Gettysburgian And An Even Greater American, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

I love Lincoln. He adorns my iPhone case. A poster of him hangs in my room. I occasionally wear his signature stovepipe hat around the house. Earlier this week, I wrote about the newly dedicated Abraham Lincoln statue outside of Stevens Hall. I now make an effort to walk by it every day on my way to class [excerpt].

President Lincoln Finds A Permanent Seat On Campus: The Dedication Of The New Abraham Lincoln Statue Outside Stevens Hall, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Students, faculty, and visitors to Gettysburg College have likely noticed the most recent addition to our campus. Last Friday, a brand new bronze statue of President Abraham Lincoln was dedicated outside Stevens Hall. The statue, which stands nine feet tall, depicts a seated President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation and was designed by Stanley Watts, who also designed the Lincoln statue outside the Gettysburg Public Library on Baltimore Street. The statue unveiling comes almost 153 years to the day when President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which gave the Confederate States 100 days to return to the Union before …

Burnishing Buchanan's Brand On His Birthday, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

James Buchanan’s brand needs refreshing.

Outside his hometown, his name does not much register with Americans today. When it does, the reaction is usually negative. What a comedown from the high hopes associated with Old Buck’s election to the presidency in 1856. [excerpt]

What If Abraham Lincoln Had Lived?, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The lead .41-calibre bullet with which John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, was the most lethal gunshot in American history. Only five days earlier, the main field army of the Southern Confederacy had surrendered at Appomattox Court House, and the four dreary years of civil war were yielding to a spring of national rebirth. But by then, the man to whom everyone looked for guidance in reconstructing the nation was dead. [excerpt]

Assessing Reconstruction: Did The South Undergo Revolutionary Change?, Lauren H. Sobotka

Student Publications

With the end of the Civil War, came a number of unanswered questions Reconstruction would attempt to answer for the South. While the South underwent economic, political and social changes for a short period, old traditions continued to persist resulting in racist sentiment.

Searching For Stevens, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

You haven’t seen much from me yet this semester. For this I apologize. I have been knee-deep in preliminary research for a special project I’m working on for the blog – one that can’t be completed until the weather breaks. I originally meant to learn just enough about the topic of this project to share a brief overview with you all, but, as sometimes happens during the research process, I’ve become a little obsessed with the central figure of my research: one Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. [excerpt]

Slavery's End Deserves A 150th Celebration, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

As the 150th anniversary of the Civil War winds down toward its conclusion in the spring, it's difficult not to look back on the four years of this sesquicentennial and wonder why it all seemed so lackluster. Unlike the centennial in 1961-65, Congress decided not to create a national commission. And President Obama took a pass on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

But the most surprisingly lackluster remembrance was the one that just slipped by us - the 150th anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. [excerpt …

Democracy And Nobility, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Americans love revolutions. Our national identity began with a revolution, and a revolutionary war that lasted for eight years; and we cheer on other people’s revolutions, as though we find satisfaction in multiplying our own. “I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing & as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. “No country should be long without one.” An excited James Garfield, in his maiden speech in the House of Representatives in 1864, asked whether his colleagues “forget that the Union had its origin in revolution.” Ralph Waldo …

Art, Artifact, Archive: African American Experiences In The Nineteenth Century, Shannon Egan, Lauren H. Roedner, Diane Brennan, Maura B. Conley, Abigail B. Conner, Nicole A. Conte, Victoria Perez-Zetune, Savannah Rose, Kaylyn L. Sawyer, Caroline M. Wood, Zoe C. Yeoh

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Angelo Scarlato’s extraordinary and vast collection of art and artifacts related to the Civil War, and specifically to the Battle of Gettysburg, the United States Colored Troops, slavery and the African American struggle for emancipation, citizenship and freedom has proved to be an extraordinary resource for Gettysburg College students. The 2012-14 exhibition in Musselman Library’s Special Collections, curated by Lauren Roedner ’13, entitled Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts of the Civil War Era and its corresponding catalogue provided a powerful and comprehensive historical narrative of the period.

This fall, students in my course at Gettysburg College “Art and Public …

Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts Of The Civil War Era, Lauren H. Roedner, Angelo Scarlato, Scott Hancock, Jordan G. Cinderich, Tricia M. Runzel, Avery C. Lentz, Brian D. Johnson, Lincoln M. Fitch, Michele B. Seabrook

Other Exhibits & Events

Based on the exhibit Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts of the Civil War Era, this book provides the full experience of the exhibit, which was on display in Special Collections at Musselman Library November 2012- December 2013. It also includes several student essays based on specific artifacts that were part of the exhibit.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Angelo Scarlato, Lauren Roedner ’13 & Scott Hancock

Slave Collars & Runaways: Punishment for Rebellious Slaves Jordan Cinderich ’14

Chancery Sale Poster & Auctioneer’s Coin: The Lucrative Business of Slavery Tricia Runzel ’13

Isaac J. Winters: An African American Soldier from Pennsylvania …

The Political War, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Pity Abraham Lincoln. Everything that should have gone right for the Union cause in the spring of 1864 had, in just a few weeks, gone defiantly and disastrously wrong.

For two years, the 16th president had toiled uphill against the secession of the Confederate states, against the incompetence of his luckless generals and against his howling critics from both sides of the congressional aisle. Finally, in the summer and fall of 1863, the course of the war had begun to turn his way. Two great victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg staggered the Confederates, and those were followed by a knockdown …

"To The People Of New Orleans" Broadside, By John T. Monroe, April 25, 1862., John T. Monroe

Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection

In this item, a broadside about 12" x 18", Mayor of New Orleans John T. Monroe addresses the citizens of that city just prior to its capitulation in the American Civil War, April 25, 1862.

William Vandever: Presbyterian, Congressman, General, Douglas Firth Anderson

Faculty Publications

What happens to Dutch ethnic identity after several generations in America? William Vandever (1817-1893) illustrates at least one path of acculturation. He was a Congressman twice--first from Iowa, later from California. During the Civil War, he raised a Union regiment from Iowa and was a general by the time the war ended. In the 1870s he was a U.S. Indian Inspector. His Dutchness, though, persisted through his self-identification as a devout Presbyterian--in the greater Reformed tradition of his Dutch ancestors of the 17th century.

"Public Sentiment Is Everything": Abraham Lincoln And The Power Of Public Opinion, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Book Summary: Since Abraham Lincoln’s death, generations of Americans have studied his life, presidency, and leadership, often remaking him into a figure suited to the needs and interests of their own time. This illuminating volume takes a different approach to his political thought and practice. Here, a distinguished group of contributors argue that Lincoln’s relevance today is best expressed by rendering an accurate portrait of him in his own era. They seek to understand Lincoln as he understood himself and as he attempted to make his ideas clear to his contemporaries. What emerges is a portrait of a prudent leader …

Bacteria And Politics: The Application Of Science To The Yellow Fever Crisis In Reconstruction New Orleans, Polly M. Rolman-Smith

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of germ theory during the nineteenth century transformed Western medicine. By the 1870s, public health officials in the American South used germ theory to promote sanitation efforts to control public health crises, such as yellow fever epidemics. Before the discovery of mosquito transmission of yellow fever, physicians of the late nineteenth century believed the disease was spread by a highly contagious germ. Prominent medical practitioners of New Orleans, such as Confederate Army veteran Dr. Joseph Jones, used available scientific knowledge and investigation to attempt to control yellow fever during the Reconstruction period, a period rife with political and …

Lincoln And Liberty, Too, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty,” Abraham Lincoln said in 1864. And surely, from Lincoln of all people, that statement must come as a surprise, and for two reasons. In the first place, no one in American history might be said to have been a more shining example of liberty than Abraham Lincoln. Not only had he exercised liberty to its fullest extent, rising from poverty and obscurity to become the 16th president of the United States, but in the process he became the Great Emancipator of over three million slaves, and if anyone …