After the Civil War

1. After the Civil War

2. The states that seceded • During the war 11 southern states had seceded from the Union. • They had formed the Confederate States. • The confederate army was defeated. • President Lincoln said that he never considered the southern states as having left the union.

3. Post-civil war literature • More men died during the American civil war than in all previous American wars combined. • But, twice as many of them died from infections caught in the hospitals than died from gunshot wounds.

4. In the hospitals • We have a clear idea of what life was like in the civil war hospitals because of accounts written by those who visited them. • Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman both worked in war hospitals.

5. Louisa May Alcott • Alcott had a typical liberal Northern upbringing. • Her parents were transcendentalists. • She was an abolitionist and a feminist.

6. Louisa May Alcott • Louisa May Alcott lived in Massachusetts. • Massachusetts had abolished slavery in their constitution in 1780.

7. Hospital Sketches • Alcott worked briefly as a nurse in an army hospital in Washington. • She wrote Hospital Sketches in 1863. • This is quite a funny account of working in an army hospital.

8. Little Women • Louisa May Alcott’s most famous novel is Little Women. • It is a partly autobiographical book about four sisters growing up in Massachusetts during the civil war.

9. Little Women • Little Women is still an incredibly popular book. It explores the private lives of young women in the mid-19th century. • Even though it is set during the civil war, it doesn’t mention the war, or slavery, very much!! • This reflects the relatively mild effects of the war in the North.

10. Walt Whitman • (As we already know) the poet Walt Whitman worked as a volunteer nurse during the civil war. • He felt he had a duty to help the wounded soldiers.

11. Drum Taps • Walt Whitman wrote a collection of poems called Drum Taps about working in the civil war hospital. • He was a psychological nurse to the soldiers, so he spent a lot of time talking to them about their experiences.

12. Drum Taps Aroused and angry, I thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war; But soon my fingers fail’d me, my face droop’d, and I resign’d myself, To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead.

13. When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d • Walt Whitman was a great admirer of Lincoln. • He wrote When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom’d for Lincoln after he died.

14. Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. • This was the proclamation that emancipated (freed) the slaves.

15. The End of Slavery • What did the end of slavery mean for the former slaves?….. • They obviously had no savings, property or possessions. • Generally their only experience of work was on the plantations and they could not read or write.

16. Black Codes • The “Black Codes” were laws introduced in the southern states that discriminated against black people. • Many former slaves had to become share-croppers. • This was essentially a new form of slavery. http://www.hippocampus.org/hippocampus.php/course_locator.php?course=AP%20US%20History%20I&lesson=39&topic=2&width=800&height=550&topicTitle=The%20Black%20Codes&skinPath=http://www.hippocampus.org/hippocampus.skins/default

17. Harriet Jacobs • As a free women Harriet Jacobs could safely return to the town that she had worked so hard to escape from. • She spent the rest of her life working to help freed slaves.

18. Frederick Douglas • Frederick Douglas was appointed to several important political positions. • He continued to lecture and give speeches throughout his life. • After Lincoln died Frederick Douglas gave a speech at the unveiling of his memorial

19. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln • President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. • He was the first American president to be assassinated • He was shot in a theatre as he was watching a play.

20. John Wilkes Booth • John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln. • He and his co-conspirators had planned to overthrow the government, but the plot failed.

21. Lincoln Memorials • People today visit the Lincoln Memorial to ask for help. • At the unveiling of the Emancipation memorial Frederick Douglas was asked to speak.

22. Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) • Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. • He was called the “father of American Literature.”

23. Missouri • Missouri was a border state during the civil war. • It did not officially secede, but a large number of people were on the side of the confederates.

24. Twain and Abolition • “Lincoln's Proclamation ... not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also.” • Twain was an abolitionist and strongly anti-slavery.

25. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • This book is often just called Huck Finn. • It is the story of a poor boy named Huckleberry Finn and a slave named Jim.

26. Huck Finn • Huck Finn has faked his own death and Jim has run away from his owner. • They travel together up the Mississippi river on a raft.

27. Mississippi River • The Mississippi river is the second longest river is the United States. • In Huck Finn it represents freedom.

28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • Both Huckleberry Finn, as a young, poor boy, and Jim as a slave, have very little power. • White adults make all the decisions that affect their lives.

29. Controversial Book • Since it was written (and still today) Huck Finn has been surprisingly controversial. • When it was first written it was thought to be vulgar. • Today, people are offended by the frequent use of the word “nigger” in the story.

30. Freedom • But the story is an exploration of what it means to be FREE. • This was an important theme for America at this time.

31. Post civil-war • Twain wrote the book in the time after the civil war when tensions between white and black people were spilling out into violence. • Consider why Twain chose to set the story in the pre-war years…..