Shelby Foote
Shelby Foote
Shelby Foote was a renowned historian known for his work and knowledge of the Civil War. He wrote The Civil War: A Narrative that contained three volumes and 2,934 pages. In 1990, Shelby Foote stated the following:
Any understanding of this nation has to be based and I mean really based, on an understanding of the Civil War. I believed that firmly. It defined us. The Revolution did what it did. Our involvement with the European wars, beginning with the First World War, did what it did. But the Civil War defined us, what we are, and it opened to us what we became, good and bad things. And it is very necessary, if you are going to understand the American character in the twentieth century, to learn about this enormous catastrophe of the nineteenth century. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroad (Burns, K. & Burns, R. , 1990).
Foote’s Meaning and How the Civil War Defines Americans
Foote highlighted that the Civil War had more bearing on the United States and the American population than the other conflicts. The American Revolution gave the country its independence and the World Wars supported other nations and fought communism. However, the Civil War defined the people of the United States.
The war demonstrated the American peoples’ splintered belief system regarding slavery and basic human rights. The war revealed that although the United States was the new world, some things simply could not be decided without violence or war. Americans people reached a crossroad that took them beyond the brink. More than 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War. Many more carried its scars for the rest of their lives.
Foote mentions that the Civil War opened Americans’ to what they became. “During and shortly after the war, Congress passed laws supporting internal improvements, outlawing slavery, and expanding the developments of the Market Revolution” (Schultz, 2012, p. 275). Understanding that the American people
Shelby Foote was a renowned historian known for his work and knowledge of the Civil War. He wrote The Civil War: A Narrative that contained three volumes and 2,934 pages. In 1990, Shelby Foote stated the following:
Any understanding of this nation has to be based and I mean really based, on an understanding of the Civil War. I believed that firmly. It defined us. The Revolution did what it did. Our involvement with the European wars, beginning with the First World War, did what it did. But the Civil War defined us, what we are, and it opened to us what we became, good and bad things. And it is very necessary, if you are going to understand the American character in the twentieth century, to learn about this enormous catastrophe of the nineteenth century. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroad (Burns, K. & Burns, R. , 1990).
Foote’s Meaning and How the Civil War Defines Americans
Foote highlighted that the Civil War had more bearing on the United States and the American population than the other conflicts. The American Revolution gave the country its independence and the World Wars supported other nations and fought communism. However, the Civil War defined the people of the United States.
The war demonstrated the American peoples’ splintered belief system regarding slavery and basic human rights. The war revealed that although the United States was the new world, some things simply could not be decided without violence or war. Americans people reached a crossroad that took them beyond the brink. More than 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War. Many more carried its scars for the rest of their lives.
Foote mentions that the Civil War opened Americans’ to what they became. “During and shortly after the war, Congress passed laws supporting internal improvements, outlawing slavery, and expanding the developments of the Market Revolution” (Schultz, 2012, p. 275). Understanding that the American people