Tide Turns Blog Post

During the Civil War, there were points that turned the tides in the favor of the North. One of these points was the battle of Gettysburg. This battle was considered a turning point for many reasons. One reason this was a turning point is because of the high number of casualties for both sides. While you might think that this would be even for both sides, the North had more men to replace the casualties. This meant that casualties had less of an effect on the North than it did on the South. Another reason it was a turning point is because the Confederates lost all hope because of this defeat. Also, Lee has asked to resign from the army because he feels like he is not doing the best job he can. Finally, this battle is a turning point because Lincoln was able to spark Union moral by claiming that the North was fighting for freedom for everybody. This helped the Union army keep on persevering through the war. 

I don't think that it was acceptable to use total war in these circumstances. This is because total war involves harming the property of citizens in order to gain an advantage in war. This is an okay strategy in some situations as long as innocent civilians are not being harmed. However, in this case some civilians were forced to go live in caves and eat animals in order to survive. These extreme conditions were not fair to civilians who had done nothing wrong. This proves that unless justified, total war is not the right thing to do. 

At the end of the war, there were many different reactions as well. First, Lincoln was very tired and completely worn out. Secondly, Northern soldiers began to celebrate but were then reminded that the people who they defeated are once again their fellow countrymen now and they should respect them. This humbled the Northern soldiers and brought peace between the two sides. The Southern soldiers wanted to honor their leaders for the valiant job they had done in the war and then they were finally relieved of duty. For this, they were able to keep their cows and all of their property. 

Is Discrimination Ever Acceptable?

The question about whether it's ever acceptable to submit to discrimination is an interesting one. On one hand, people can argue that discrimination is never okay, no matter what one could supposedly gain. On the other hand, people could say that doing anything to advance yourself is okay. I believe that it is okay to submit to some discrimination in order to gain advancement.

 

For example, during the Civil War, union soldiers accepted lower pay in order to be able to fight. In this case, these soldiers didn't care what happened to them, they just wanted to fight for what they believe in. They accepted a little bit of discrimination by taking lower pay, but the advantages they gained was that they were able to fight in the war and fight for what they believed in. In this case, the advantages gained were definitely worth a little discrimination.

 

Also, in the photograph we went over in class, a slave and his master are shown sitting next to each other looking like they are about to go into war. The story from the master's family's perspective was that they set this slave free before they war and he fought alongside his former master and even saved his life at one point. However, this story turned out to be false. This slave was in fact not freed and was still a slave. Since no one knew this side of the story, it is probably that the slave was discriminated against and forced to go along with this false story. However this discrimination led to his eventual freedom. I think again in this case the discrimination was worth it because Silas the slave was able to become a free man by just going along with a simple lie. This shows that some discrimination is acceptable in order to gain advancements.

 

 

Picture Link: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/10/30/chandler_wide-bdf95b116e9519d7cb3d0cde7b1266e70769a86a.jpg?s=6