James McPherson: Why the Civil War Still Matters

One of the nation’s leading Civil War historians, James McPherson, explores why the war remains so deeply embedded in the national psyche and identity of Americans today, as described in his highly anticipated book, The War that Forged a Nation.

[@CaptainHarlock-kv4zt]

I just finished ''Battle cry of freedom''. An excellent, excellent book !!!

[@Framer_Mike]

Excellent book!! Shows Democrats for what they still are

[@CaptainHarlock-kv4zt]

A very different era though..

[@TheJunehog]

@Shanti Saks : Ancient-American History & Style Oh really? Please show a single lie in that work.

[@firstnamelastname3280]

@Shanti Saks : Ancient-American History & Style give me a page number so i can see the lie

[@jjdonnellan1]

Fully agree. Best single volume on the Civil War I have heard of. Great read. First and only time America fought a major war on the US mainland since Independence, bar perhaps, the Mexican War. A terrible loss of life. As Shelby Foote said in the Civil War series, some say that Americans never knew what it's like to lose a war pre-Vietnam. Just ask a Southerner he says. Perhaps it explains why the US it not slow to fight wars on some one else's land. Not enough Southerners remember what it actually was like to fight & lose one on their own soil.

[@Matt_D_370z]

“A large part of McPherson’s success is due to the fact that his sources are incredibly reliable since they originated from the actual war years instead of potentially revised, sentimentalized, or sanitized remembrances recorded years after the war. More importantly he addressed one of the most crucial concerns that dominate this type of scholarship: What made men willing to go to war, and, once there to endure it? By tackling this question, he was able to confront an imperative issue of our own generation-the soldiers personal ideology to slavery” (William B. Rogers and Terese Martin ‘A Consensus at Last: American Civil War Texts and the Topics that Dominate the College Classroom’ p. 524). “A considerable part of McPherson’s success can be contributed to the fact that he clearly conveyed the relevance of the slavery issue in regards to the cause of the war. In particular, his research on the years leading up to the war clearly demonstrated how the economic, political, and social struggles of the time were all interconnected with slavery” (William B. Rogers and Terese Martin ‘A Consensus at Last: American Civil War Texts and the Topics that Dominate the College Classroom’ p. 527). “Most of these monographs as well as McPherson’s text share one common thread; they acknowledge the significant role slavery had in the events leading up to the war as well its lasting ramifications on American society. Thus, many of these works contain little debate over war causation since they recognize that slavery was the root cause of the war” (William B. Rogers and Terese Martin ‘A Consensus at Last: American Civil War Texts and the Topics that Dominate the College Classroom’ p. 530).

[@henriomoeje8741]

The Reconstruction Amendments perfected or rectified the contradiction in the Declaration of Independence.

[@prestonphelps1649]

Population of usa would be approximately 12 percent more if no civil war

[@brianniegemann4788]

You are correct on a number of points. The US today is ruled by an oligarchic regime. If the Civil War had somehow been averted, slavery would have diminished because ot couldn't compete with mechanized farming and manufacturing. Those opposed to the war were right, it was a disaster that solved really nothing. And the whole thing was a damn shame. I'm puzzled why you think that opposition to civil rights would have helped anything. True, the 13th - 15th Amendments were widely ignored in the south. But in the north, they created opportunities for blacks to attain education and political power. Without them, they would have remained an oppressed, powerless minority nationwide. And l doubt that slavery would have disappeared altogether without any law against it. For one thing, it would be a very attractive option to those oligarchs. Thanks for listening.

[@scotty4427]

You could have skipped the announcement of some upcoming duopoly debate at the start. James is too great to have to be a backdrop to that nonsense.

[@clconstruction3072]

Sorry there weren't more comments on Grant's Presidency in the context of this dicussion.

[@davegregson2337]

I agree especially since Grant decimated the KKK, used the military to protect black voters and was hell bent on only readmitting southern states back into the union once they accepted the 13, 14 and 15th amendments. Had he won a third term we may have never had Jim Crowe policies. Hayes undermined all that. A good and accurate Grant biography is American Ulysses by Ron White.

[@mattbouldin1]

His conflation of the tea party and antebellum slave holders is demonstrative of everything that is wrong with contemporary political discourse. It’s alarming that someone of his acumen could make such an analogy.

[@firstnamelastname3280]

i enjoyed his book but his opinion that FDR was a good president is questionable to me

[@Phoenix_Films]

Oh boy

[@firstnamelastname3280]

@@Phoenix_Films what?

[@howardclegg6497]

No one to this day can justify a state wishing to leave the union as the states had sovereignty and no limit as was such under the articles of confederation which was removed in the building of the constitution, can claim that a peaceful withdraw from the union was uncostitutional. And so it was by force of arms that the states were compelled to rejoin to subject themselves to tyrany achieved by such means.

[@richardaurre4840]

Well said!

[@johnries5593]

So what other contracts can be cancelled unilaterally without specific legal provision for doing so? Also, the US Constitution does not specifically prohibit Congress from expelling states from the Union. Does this mean that Congress has that authority? After all, it does have the authority to admit states into the Union; so why cannot it undo what it has previously done?

[@danwoodliefphotography871]

I think slavery was a greater tyranny than trying to hold together a nation.

[@Ctajm]

@@johnries5593 The Constitution doesn't work that way. It tells federal government in the enumerated powers what it can do. All other powers are reserved to the states, or to the people, in the 10th Amendment, which has never been repealed. Most of what the federal government does today is not found in the enumerated powers. There is nothing there that authorizes it's involvement in retirement plans, health care, or education. Those issues should be left to the states which consist of the same people who pay both state and federal taxes. I would suggest that the Civil War created more slaves to the state than it freed. It pretty much put an end to states' rights, and not by the Constitutionally prescribed process, by amendment ratified by 75% of the states.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

@@Ctajm Nothing in it authorizes its involvement in marriage either; that wasn't even a power of the state in 1789 but tell the Supremes that.

[@jimkelley1000]

Love Dr. McPherson. I would add a personal observation. Lee may have been the most clever General in history, but NOTHING else in his life is worthy of admiration. Just another self-anointed "Christian" who was certain his gawd supported the ownership of human beings. Really? To claim to know the mind of the creator is a sure sign of a delusional mind incapable of rational thought. Lee was responsible for the death of 600,000 (now they say 700,000) Americans because of his mindless and amoral view that a soldier can "just follow orders". No normal, caring human being could have ordered Pickett's Charge - only an arrogant old man with delusions of grandeur. The Civil War never ended. The Civil War was the 2nd revolution where we moved closer to perfection, but at a terrible bloody cost. The real revolution will continue to echo down through the centuries until we form a "more perfect union" or watch hatred and bigotry destroy our great experiment. Personally, I think the United States is circling the drain...

[@danieltorresdeluna4844]

sinceramente para empezar un buen psicólogo😐 nuevas motivaciones sacar este malestar que me despido toda mi vida lo decente lo más claro

[@danieltorresdeluna4844]

👀 20 años trabajando trabajos forzados removido Piedad de 200 kilos buscando una forma arrastrada de poquito poquito pero todo se puede😐 y seguro👀

[@halwarner3326]

James Kelley where does that put the other countries?

[@BowTie8Bit]

War is a battle of numbers, not individual human lives. The individual dissolves into unity as an army when battle ensues; troops are not people anymore, but powerful tools used to achieve political goals. There are reasons armies are directed by authority, instead of a chaotic army where every soldier does whatever they want. The best a soldier can do is just follow orders, and their life is forfeit from the time they enlist to the time they discharge.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Fascinating, isn't it, that slavery is allowed in the Old Testament and the NT admonishes slaves to be loyal to their masters. Slavery was an institution throughout the world until the 19th C, when suddenly things changed and slavery was looked upon as an evil... which don't get me wrong, it is and probably always was. You really sound like you think you know the mind of God in how he deals with the alleged guilt of Lee or any other human being on this earth.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

He talks like he writes, boring as hell.

True enough

[@therealtoni]

Maybe you don't read so well.

[@CaptainHarlock-kv4zt]

On the contrary I find his writing, hyperbolically good !!!

[@Framer_Mike]

You being a Democrat has nothing to do with it right?... Lefty.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

@@Framer_Mike Over the past 3 years I've read all 8 volumes of Allan Nevins' "Ordeal of the Union" opus, all 4 volumes of "Battles & Leaders", all 17 volumes of "Campaigns of the Civil War", 2 of 3 volumes of Freeman's "Lee's Lieutenants", 6 of Stephen Sears USCW books, am ready to start Freeman's "R. E. Lee" 4 volume biography, Shelby Foote's CW trilogy twice... so no, I have no problem reading, nor am I a dem (or rep) and definitely not a lefty. Some historians I find easy listening but dull reading (like Gallagher) but McPherson I don't find uninteresting, but I do find his writing DRY as a text book and his speech slow and tiring and neither without some points of interest.

[@LexHarrison]

-----------Lee and the South justly fought for their God given rights of self determination, and therefore Lee's participation and the South's participation against the War Of Northern Aggression was among the most noble, brave and exemplary acts of humanity that the world has ever known! ---------It's obvious that Lincoln's War Of Northern Aggression was among the most immoral and heinous acts ever perpetrated in the annals of history against the Southern States is both an indisputable and unalterable reality for every informed and objective individual of the, 21st century! --------The North's unjustifiable violence and egregious invasions against the South are grounds for reparations being paid by the United States Government to all Southern descendants of the Confederacy must be funded to off set the pervasive atrocities committed by Northern Forces upon the South and its abject deprivation and hardships must be compensated for without fail in the, 21st century!

[@Ctajm]

Lincoln had asked Lee to Command the Union Army, but Lee chose sides with his home state of Virginia, which had seceded. In retribution, Lincoln seized Lee's mansion and farm, and turned it into the Arlington National Cemetery. Lincoln also shut down newspapers who criticized him. He also signed a warrant to arrest the Chief Justice Taney for a ruling in favor of civil liberties, but the man he gave it to charged with serving it never did. No President ever abused his power more than Lincoln, yet this guy McPherson treats him like the greatest President ever.

[@mikepotter5718]

-----------Lee and the South justly fought for ... the rich southern slave owners.;

[@thundersucklefuzz]

Slavery apologist. The South wanted to spread the institution of slave labor into the new territories being rapidly acquired by efforts like the Mexican War. “Northern Aggression” was transgressions against Southern “honor” thru attempts by the North to stop expansion of slavery into the new territories, which the South saw as oppression. Suppressing the “rights” of the South to own slaves wherever they freely chose. All you have to do is read the Secession Papers written by the Southern secessionists, they spell it out plainly. Look up the filibusters of the 1850s attempting conquests in Central America and Cuba to establish a slave empire in those regions and expand the power of slave states

[@waynes.3380]

South fired first shot, no longer were the southerners acting in peace ,but rebellion.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

There's something slightly and humorously ironic in your post. Seems to be a satire on the whole descendants of former slaves deserving reparations for what they themselves never experienced. Am I right?

[@crippledcrow2384]

McPherson is too biased in his writing. He doesn't even come close to understanding the Southern view.

[@stephentrott9199]

And what’s the Southern view? That it’s okay to own people of a different race as slaves because they have no rights which the white man is bound to respect, as the Supreme Court said in 1857 in Dred Scott? The Confederacy’s constitution explicitly embraced slavery.

[@twotonne5580]

Interesting point. McPherson's arguments are thoroughly researched and referenced. Yours?

[@JPW3]

You don't think he understands the view of Robert Smalls, a proud South Carolina man?

[@THE-id1by]

By all means explain it to us?

[@acktionjackson666]

I say looking back at the Civil War in the Civil Rights Movement now in 2023 the people that were opposed to both of those things were correct. The expansion of federal power under the guise of something righteous like civil rights and ending slavery is what led to the corrupt oligarchy that we now have in the United States and what will eventually be the downfall of the empire in the near future. If the Civil War never happened and slavery was allowed to end naturally coinciding with the birth the Industrial Revolution there would have been a lot less animosity in the South and less animosity between blacks and whites in general in the early 1900s. Whole thing is a damn shame!

[@nunyabiznass3030]

Leftist rewriting of history more distortion and destruction of our history and culture by Globalist sponsored groups passed off as fact. You cannot judge the past by the leftist standards of of today. Becareful taking this as the truth read and watch more and educate yourselves for the sake of your future generations

[@milesdavis4796]

Your forebears were for the evil ownership of people for their own massive benefit. They seceded and started a war to continue that profitable exploitation and any explanation of the South that doesn’t start there is the revision of history.

[@kenzeier2943]

Miles Davis You have an adolescent understanding (interpretation) of history. This video starts off glorifying the constitution but Lincoln broke it violated it during the Civil War. Everybody knows that. Secondly Lincoln’s invasion of the South was criminal. The South or anybody has a right to secede they’re not slaves of a nation state. It’s funny how the liberals talk about slavery in the South but they refuse to acknowledge that we are now slaves of a centralized federal government and states have been rendered almost meaningless. There are great many people in this country who want a Leninist Marxist government and that is state enslavement of all people. Enslavement by the state of all people is acceptable to the left.

[@jk7140]

@@kenzeier2943 Cry all you want but it doesn't change that we freed all your grandpappy's slaves and never paid him a dime for his losses. At some point you'll have to stop whining about it. Maybe another 150 years is enough? Who knows and who cares.

[@andreabrown4541]

@@jk7140 Former slaveowners were recompensed to the tune of over $1mm. Not sure what that would translate in today's currency.

[@Ben00000]

@@kenzeier2943 "It’s funny how the liberals talk about slavery in the South but they refuse to acknowledge that we are now slaves of a centralized federal government and states have been rendered almost meaningless" The fact you have the freedom to post this idiotic drivel online for all to see is both proof that you're wrong about being a "slave" and an absolute, utter insult to actual slaves. The Confederacy is indefensible so all you can do is try to equate every other institution instead. So weak and transparent.