The Revolution Of 1861 Summary

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Andre Fleche’s book The Revolution of 1861: The American Civil War in the Age of Nationalist Conflict examines the Civil war on an international level. Unlike popular accounts of the Civil War as primarily a domestic dispute, Fleche assessed how the European revolutions of 1848 in influenced the North and South’s perceptions of the United States. This book examines how the Civil War actually fits into a general pattern of revolution where the nation developed into another form that would mature through modern history and how global events aided in the development of divisions and formation of the new Union.
During the Civil War, the North and the South stood firm for both of their causes and their beliefs. The United States had always admired Europe for their goals, determination and its ability to uphold central government and authority. Those in the North related their mission to suppress the Southern independence to the Austrian, French, and German revolutions that attempted to defeat aristocracy to create a more integrated and united nation. The Union associated those in the south who owned slaves to the aristocrats of Europe who had silenced the people who were leading the revolutions. Northerners also argued that not only did the Southern slaveholders have advanced political and economic
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Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis both claimed that they represented the spirit of 1848. Fleche goes on to support his argument for the importance of the 1848 revolutions by stressing how the revolutionaries in Europe helped form the nationalist disagreements in America in the years that led to the Civil War. He also showed how they continued to impact America after the revolution of 1861 had

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