David Blight quotes Robert Penn Warren as he states, “Somewhere in there bones most Americans have a storehouse of lessons drawn from the Civil War.” I think that the use of this quote is particularly effective because it parallels successfully with Blight’s argument. Blight aims to depict a history of how Americans remember the most divisive and tragic experience during the Antebellum period and beyond. He also aims to examine various forms of memory in American culture preceding the Civil War. Three visions are centralized in this discussion of race and reunion in the post Civil War era. These include the reconciliationist vision, the white supremacist vision and the emancipationist vision. These mechanisms are effectively used as a springboard to develop other important aspects of remembrance of the war.
David Blight argues, “The great challenge of Reconstruction is to determine how a national blood feud could be reconciled at the same time a new nation emerged out of war and social revolution.” Each of the prevalent visions were heavily influenced by political motives at the time. The reconciliationist vision deals with tangible circumstances of the war itself. It puts the focus on battlefields, prisons and hospitals instead of placing …show more content…
To the African American, emancipation meant “new creation.” This vision approaches the emancipation of slavery as merely a beginning for freedmen. The goal was for this action to prompt other movements for equality. Namely, property ownership, suffrage and equality before the law. Proponents of this cause were black abolitionists like W.E.B Du Bois and Fredrick Douglas. Furthermore, President Lincoln was seen as an “emancipationist hero.” While the emancipationist vision might had been the most effective means of moving forward, it was put down by the other two dominant
David Blight argues, “The great challenge of Reconstruction is to determine how a national blood feud could be reconciled at the same time a new nation emerged out of war and social revolution.” Each of the prevalent visions were heavily influenced by political motives at the time. The reconciliationist vision deals with tangible circumstances of the war itself. It puts the focus on battlefields, prisons and hospitals instead of placing …show more content…
To the African American, emancipation meant “new creation.” This vision approaches the emancipation of slavery as merely a beginning for freedmen. The goal was for this action to prompt other movements for equality. Namely, property ownership, suffrage and equality before the law. Proponents of this cause were black abolitionists like W.E.B Du Bois and Fredrick Douglas. Furthermore, President Lincoln was seen as an “emancipationist hero.” While the emancipationist vision might had been the most effective means of moving forward, it was put down by the other two dominant