“And there was Cap’n Washington,
And gentle folks about him;
They say he’s grown so ‘tarnal proud
He will not ride without ‘em.
Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.”
– “Yankee Doodle,” written in 1755 – although some verses (like the one before the famous chorus above) were later added, when this became the first American patriotic song
Our Revolution and Civil War (particularly the latter) receive much interest in America …
This might seem a strange way to begin a blog post about these American topics … but, in nearby Canada, people strongly remember the “Seven Years’ War,” including the portion known to Americans as the “French and Indian War.” Canadians also strongly remember the War of 1812 – in which they fought against the United States. But Canadians usually forget the American Revolution (where they had been fighting against the Americans), and the American Civil War (which coincided with the peaceful Confederation period in Canada). Conversely, Americans usually forget the “Seven Years’ War” (including the “French and Indian War” portion thereof), and they usually forget the War of 1812 as well. But the American Revolution is considered a big deal here in the United States, and so (to an even greater degree) is the American Civil War. Why is this? Why are there still many American Revolution buffs here – and why is our Civil War still one of the most popular historical topics in the United States? And why do these subjects remain important today, all of these years after both of these conflicts ended – one in 1865, and the other even earlier in 1783? These are the questions that this post will try to explore. I will try to show how both of these subjects can shed some light on the American identity – by telling us who we are as Americans. They are related to promises about liberty and equality, and what they mean for Americans today. To some extent, this may explain why Americans are still interested in these conflicts today.
Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge
The American Revolution was actually “in the minds and hearts of the people”
My own interest in the American Revolution began in early childhood. I read an illustrated children’s book about the American Revolution (more about that reading here). This ignited a lifelong interest in the American Revolution. To some degree, my fascination also began in elementary school, where I learned something about our country’s difficult origin story. Strangely enough, there might be some parallels with how people like to hear about the origins of comic book characters, such as Batman and Superman. That is, it’s interesting to hear our own country’s origin story. It’s interesting hearing about how Bruce Wayne became Batman, or how Clark Kent became Superman – or, in other words, how they became crimefighting superheroes. In this case, we hear about how previously loyal British subjects became armed rebels in the cause of independence, eventually becoming a separate country: the United States of America. In a letter to Hezekiah Niles, John Adams once expressed an interesting thought. In that letter, John Adams asked: “What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The revolution was effected before the war commenced. The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.” (Source: Letter of 13 February 1818) It would take me much time here to distill the reasons why Americans rebelled against the British Empire, starting in 1775. Since I have done so elsewhere (in posts like this one), I will thus refrain from doing so here. Suffice it to say here that we were rebelling against a British tyranny, for reasons listed in our country’s Declaration of Independence. In 1776, the long list of colonial grievances therein was usually considered to be the most important part of the document. This might surprise us today, because many of us would today consider this list to be somewhat long and tedious. But, in its own time, it was considered to be the most important part, and certainly the most interesting part. Anyone who wants to read this list can examine it here. The upshot of its argument is simply that the British tyranny was not a series of isolated incidents, but part of a larger design to oppress the American colonies. Some Americans today disagree about this part, but there are still many who sympathize with its arguments today.
Fourth of July fireworks behind the Washington Monument, 1986
The Declaration of Independence rightly proclaims that “all men are created equal”
But there is good reason that contemporary Americans instead give the most emphasis to another part of the document. When Americans quote from the document, it is more likely to be from the Declaration’s elegant statement of political ideas. To quote its hallowed language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” (Source: Declaration of Independence, 1776) In particular, we tend to remember phrases like: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal,” or the part about “unalienable rights,” such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Source: Same as above). These words continue to be debated today. During our later Civil War, people debated about whether African Americans were meant to be included in it. (More about that later on in this post.) And, today, we debate about whether “created equal” means equality of opportunity or equality of outcome. This, in itself, brings people back to their long-ago history lessons about the American Revolution. Controversies about the American founding lead people on both sides to return to this subject, and to try to make some sense out of what happened therein.
Washington crossing the Delaware, 1776
Debates about the Constitution, and fascinating stories about battles and campaigns
There is also disagreement among Americans about the exact meaning of our postwar Constitution. For example, people debate phrases like “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Source: Preamble) To me, these are stirring words. But, today, some have asked what it might mean to “establish justice” – or to “promote the general welfare.” Many of us continue to return to the American Revolution for answers to these important questions. I am convinced that this is part of the reason for the ongoing American fascination with our Revolution. It is celebrated every Independence Day, on the Fourth of July. Of course, like any other war, there are also some fascinating stories about battles and military campaigns. There is Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware, dramatized in the Jeff Daniels movie “The Crossing” in the year 2000. Small wonder, then, that people are still moved by this kind of story. As John Adams once wrote in a letter to his wife Abigail Adams, “Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present generation, to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.” (Source: Letter of 26 April 1777) It did indeed cost that generation much to establish this country. Roughly 1% of the American population died in the American Revolution. This is greater than the death rate in any other American war, except for the American Civil War. (More about that in a moment.) And it took us eight years to get the needed British recognition of our independence, in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. This was a deliberate strategy, because deliberately prolonging the war made it more likely that the mighty British Empire would lose its will to fight and give up. But Americans nonetheless had to wait a long time for this eventual victory. It seems that this interminable length also continues to fascinate people today.
The Civil War started as an effort to “save the union,” and keep slavery from going west
Abraham Lincoln would later appeal to the American founding of 1776, in his 1863 “Gettysburg Address.” As the famous opening lines of that address would put it, “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war,” he continued, “testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” (Source: Gettysburg Address) From the moment that this war began in 1861, both sides were then comparing their efforts to those of the previous American Revolution. Southerners compared their attempts to secede from the Union to the Patriots’ earlier attempt to secede from the British Empire. And Northerners considered the abolition (or, initially, just the geographic limitation) of slavery to fulfill the work of liberation begun at their country’s founding (at least in part). At the start of the conflict, they wanted only to prevent slavery from moving west. Even when the war began, President Lincoln actually wrote to Horace Greeley that “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” (Source: Letter of 22 August 1862) But President Lincoln was already contemplating an Emancipation Proclamation at this very moment. On 22 July 1862 (the previous month), he had secretly introduced a Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet. But his Cabinet (wisely, as it turned out) had advised him to wait for a victory to officially release that document to the public. If not, said Secretary of State William Seward, it would look like “the last shriek on our retreat” (or words to that effect). Thus, Lincoln agreed to wait for a victory. It came on the bloodiest day of the war: September 17th, 1862. This was the day of the epic Battle of Antietam.
Battle of Antietam, 1862 – part of the American Civil War
But it soon evolved into a war that offered “a new birth of freedom” to African Americans
From the Northern perspective, Antietam wasn’t much of a victory. It had come at a great cost to the Union armies. But it was enough for the president to release his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. In that document, President Lincoln said that “on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” (Source: Text of the document) The Proclamation wasn’t all that popular in the North, and it was hated with bitter intensity in the South. But the British reaction was very different. To make a long story short, it prevented the British from intervening in our Civil War on the Confederate side. And, even more importantly, it gave the promise of freedom – and allowed Black soldiers to fight for that freedom themselves. That promise was (at least partially) fulfilled, when New Year’s Day 1863 finally arrived. In the actual Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln then said that “all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.” (Source: Text of the document) At this time, this language was only applying to slaves in rebel territory. But African Americans were soon allowed to fight, as a “fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion.” This was later depicted in the 1989 movie “Glory,” starring Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln later promised that “this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom” (Source: Gettysburg Address) And, eventually, chattel slavery was indeed abolished by a constitutional amendment in 1865. In the words of the Thirteenth Amendment itself: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” (Source: Thirteenth Amendment) One could argue that the war had basically been to add these 43 words to the Constitution – and some others that soon followed in two subsequent amendments. The “new birth of freedom” had finally come, although it was not yet complete.
“Glory” (1989), a movie whose cut version I have actually seen
The race relations angles, and (again) some fascinating stories about battles and campaigns
But it had come at a terrible cost to both sides. A full 2% of the American population had died in the Civil War. The North’s death rate was also 2%, and the South’s death rate was even higher at 3%. These statistics easily make it the bloodiest war in American history. Whether in terms of the absolute number of dead (600,000, more than half a million), or as a percentage of the American population, the Civil War was easily the bloodiest in our history – especially by the latter measure. Thus, the sheer violence of the Civil War (for both soldiers and civilians) continues to fascinate people today. Thus, when my paternal grandfather invited me to revisit the movie “Gettysburg” in high school (I had watched it for a class in middle school), this revisiting convinced me to watch Ken Burns’ miniseries “The Civil War.” Incidentally, the book upon which “Gettysburg” is based (“The Killer Angels”) is the same book that convinced Ken Burns to make his own miniseries in the first place. Paradoxically, the war seems to receive the most interest today in the South, the part of our country that was militarily defeated in the Civil War. Why White Southerners feel such interest might be a better subject for another post. Suffice it to say here that, for different reasons, Black Southerners also feel much interest in the Civil War – and this is as it should be. The war’s legacy for race relations is hotly debated today, since the abolition of slavery had only been a new “birth” of freedom. Obviously, more progress would be needed in the years that followed this birth. But it had still been a “new birth,” and that birth had contained some real meaning for the former slaves of the time. This may be the most important reason that people still return to the Civil War today. For Union sympathizers like myself, this aspect of the war gives meaning to much (and perhaps even most) of the rest of it. It explains the awful carnage of the Civil War, and why it was necessary for Northerners to spill their blood on behalf of the Union. It turned the war into even more of a struggle of good against evil, and an inspiring Homeric epic about the meaning of “liberty” – and even “equality.” We continue to debate these words today, and the extent to which these promises have been realized. But most seem to recognize that there was, at least, some real progress towards the partial fulfillment of these promises, and giving these words a greater meaning. This, too, beckons people to return to the Civil War.
Screenshot from Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
Conclusion: Our Revolution and Civil War tell us much about the American identity today
I cannot speak for all American Revolution or Civil War buffs. I freely admit that I lack relevant survey data of any kind, and am only offering my own interpretation here. But, in my view, there is still a strong interest in both the American Revolution and the Civil War today. They are separated by more than seven decades, and yet they are rightly connected in the American mind. The former is connected to words like “liberty,” or to phrases like “all men are created equal.” The latter is connected with phrases like “a new birth of freedom,” or “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth” (Source: The closing lines of the Gettysburg Address). They both have great adventure stories of battles and military campaigns, with their own triumphs and sorrows and bitter losses. They are rightly seen as struggles of good against evil, where good ultimately (if not fully) prevailed therein. And, in many ways, these wars both saw some real progress for the United States of America – just in different ways. These wars are also connected with our Constitution, which still remains the “supreme law of the land” today. And, in many ways, these wars are also connected with the American identity, and with how Americans see themselves. We may disagree amongst ourselves about the twin legacies of these wars. But both sides occasionally come back to the American Revolution and the Civil War, for answers to these important questions. To a large extent, this is as it should be, and explains why both of these topics (particularly the Civil War) continue to receive such great interest in the United States today. They are topics for all times, and continue to be quite relevant. In many ways, they continue to offer insights into the American character, and how it was tested by both the nation’s birth … and the most traumatic event of the nation’s early childhood. A thousand years from now, people may seldom remember the funny Internet videos of today, or the trending hashtags on TikTok. But they will remember the legacy of the United States (at least somewhat), and that of its two most important conflicts.
“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.”
– The American patriotic song “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1861) – written by Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War
*****
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