Impacts of Civil War Reconstruction

547 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of civil war

The American Civil War drastically changed communications in America by introducing new means of communication, and improving on old ways. Before the Civil War, you would need to speak to someone in person to tell them important news, or just to chat. During an after the Civil War, there were new and more efficient ways to communicate without taking a carriage to get somewhere or sending a soldier out onto the fields to tell a general something. You could do things like send a telegraph or a letter using the Postal Service. If it’s national news, and everyone needs to know about it, like the assassination of President Lincoln, you could publish it in a newspaper. The Civil War impacted America’s communication.

The telegraph helped in winning the war, and changing America forever.

Before the Civil War, it could take leaders of a country days until they learned of an attack in a different part of the country. Telegraphs were being constructed during the Civil War. When they were done, they reached all the way to the west coast of the US. During the Civil War, Lincoln gave orders through the telegraph, asking questions to generals for more information, and sometimes, he’d speak to the generals in almost real time. After the war, telegraph lines stayed for both the use of the public, and for government and the military.

Imagine you’re a mother of a Union soldier during the Civil War. You get a letter from your son in the mail, from the US Postal Service. You’re overjoyed to hear about your son’s adventures from battle. You pick up the letter and you begin to read… All you see is a few scrawled words that are irrelevant to the rest of the letter. His letter has been censored. Censoring letters was a defensive strategy used ...

... middle of paper ...

...Richard. "Communications Overview (1850-1877)." American Eras. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Student Resource Center - Junior. Gale. Great Valley Middle School. 24 Apr. 2014 http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&source=gale&srcprod=SRCJ&userGroupName=malv12024&prodId=SRC-4&tabID=T001&docId=EJ2301500255&type=retrieve&contentSet=GSRC&version=1.0
Fox, Myron. “Censorship! War Letters” PBS “N.D” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/warletters-censorship/ 4/30/14 web.
Wheeler, Tom “In the Original Situation Room - Abraham Lincoln and the Telegraph” Civil War Studies, the Smithsonian Associates, “n.d” Web. http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_8/situation-room.shtm 4/25/14

Clinton, Catherine “The Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Civil War”, Published Sept. 1, 1999, Scholastic,
Encyclopedia

Show More
Related

  • The Home Front Effect in The American Civil War

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Civil War was unlike any other war ever fought in America and had many effects on the home front for both the North and the South. It is stated to be the first ever total war, which is a war against not only the civilians but also the armies. The Civil War is also considered the first modern war fought by the U.S. troops. Lincoln asked volunteers to sign up for only three months. Many people thought the war wouldn’t last long. However, the war continued on for four years. The Union armies had around 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men and the Confederate army had approximately 750,000 to 1,250,000 men. The entire North and South society was affected by the war and desired for many social and economic assets. The Civil war brought new military techniques which caused the armaments to be more destructive. Ironclad ships and railroads were sufficiently used within the war. The north had a motive; they wanted to weaken the South’s longing to victory. The North tried to achieve this last motive by inflicting wholesale destruction upon the South (Janda, 1995). More than a hundred people seemed to be spies or secessionists in Maryland. In time, they were arrested due to not being faithful to the union and their state. Pro-secessionist newspapers were shut down, and telegrams and mail were censored (Perret, 2004).

    Read More

  • Civil War Diary Of Cyrus F. Boyd

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil War had a very large affect on all of the States. It changed men from gentlemen that went to church every Sunday and never cussed to people who rarely went to church and cussed all the time. Some of the people in the war were also very corrupt and did not do things as they should be done. The way that the enemy was looked at was even changed. All of these things were talked about in "The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd".

    Read More

  • Civil War Reconstruction Dbq

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the time period of 1860 and 1877 many major changes occurred. From the beginning of the civil war to the fall of the reconstruction, the United States changed dramatically. Nearly one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence which declared all men equal, many social and constitutional alterations were necessary to protect the rights of all people, no matter their race. These social and constitutional developments that were made during 1860 to 1877 were so drastic it could be called a revolution.

    Read More

  • How Did The American Civil War Affected American Literature?

    58 Words  | 1 Pages

    The American Civil War caused a dramatic shift in style, form, and thematic discourse in American literature because it affected the people in the way they saw morality and reality. The works after the Civil War were mainly focused on how they experienced the war and its effects. It also caused some antiwar works and more on

    Read More

  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    On March 5, 1861 Abraham Lincoln got a message for Maj. Robert Anderson, who was at Fort Sumter, saying that there was less than a six week supply of food left. On April 8, Lincoln told Gov. Francis Pickens of South Carolina that he was going to try to refurnish the fort. The Confederate government ordered Gen. Beauregard to demand the evacuation of the fort. If it was refused he was to force its evacuation. (www.us-civilwar.com/sumter.htm) Anderson received a letter from Gen. Beauregard telling him to evacuate the fort or h...

    Read More

  • Compare Civil War To The Modern Day

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    wonder how the Civil War has affected different aspects of the United States over the years. If

    Read More

  • The Successes and Failures of Reconstruction

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reconstruction could be considered one of the largest projects ever undertaken. The mess that was the south, left in the ruins of a bloody war, called for drastic measures. The inquisition that begs to be asked is whether or not this venture was a success. Unfortunately the answer isn't as simple as "yes" or "no". Although many promises were broken, the much-debated goals of Reconstruction are still present in the minds of today's leaders as we continue to rebuild our country.

    Read More

  • Reconstruction in America After the Civil War

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    America has gone through many hardships and struggles since coming together as a nation involving war and changes in the political system. Many highly regarded leaders in America have come bestowing their own ideas and foundation to provide a better life for “Americans”, but no other war or political change is more infamous than the civil war and reconstruction. Reconstruction started in 1865 and ended in 1877 and still to date one of the most debated issues in American history on whether reconstruction was a failure or success as well as a contest over the memory, meaning, and ending of the war. According to, “Major Problems in American History” David W. Blight of Yale University and Steven Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania take different stances on the meaning of reconstruction, and what caused its demise. David W. Blight argues that reconstruction was a conflict between two solely significant, but incompatible objectives that “vied” for attention both reconciliation and emancipation. On the other hand Steven Hahn argues that former slaves and confederates were willing and prepared to fight for what they believed in “reflecting a long tradition of southern violence that had previously undergirded slavery” Hahn also believes that reconstruction ended when the North grew tired of the 16 year freedom conflict. Although many people are unsure, Hahn’s arguments presents a more favorable appeal from support from his argument oppose to Blight. The inevitable end of reconstruction was the North pulling federal troops from the south allowing white rule to reign again and proving time travel exist as freed Africans in the south again had their civil, political, and economical position oppressed.

    Read More

  • Historical Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln And The Telegraph

    3590 Words  | 8 Pages

    When Samuel Morse developed the telegraph and sent its first message in 1844, he had no idea of the effect that it would bring to the future of communication. He would change warfare, politics, and the world forever. Before the telegraph, all warfare communication was very slow and costly via horseback. In the 1860s, the American Civil War raged on between the Northern and Southern states over the issues of slavery, states’ rights, and President Abraham Lincoln’s actions during his presidency. Abraham Lincoln’s innovative leadership as the Commander in Chief of the Union

    Read More

  • The Civil War: Reconstruction

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves. Although Reconstruction failed in many aspects such as the upraise in white supremacy and racism, the reconstruction era was a time the United States took a lead in the direction of race equality.

    Read More

  • The American Civil War

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    Following the American Civil War, the whole nation was forever changed and was the result of many good and bad things. Although it was a very costly war and was So, the Civil War did define us and made us the good and the bad things we are and led to an extremely significant change because slavery was abolished once and for all and African American rights followed many years later, the Federal Government imposed more power over the states, our country was divided for a while, and it left the nation in debt due to the fact that we fought each other.

    Read More

  • Impact Of The Civil War On American History

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil War was an important war over the freedom of slaves in the U.S.. The Civil War is well known for being caused by the issue of slavery, but it is really a combination of different events and actions that caused tensions to rise throughout the country. The economic and political issues in the U.S., along with certain actions caused the Civil war, which is one of the United States’s worst wars. All in all, the Civil War was one of the most devastating wars for our country as a whole, and the process of rebuilding would take years and is no easy job.

    Read More

  • The Causes of the American Revolution

    1691 Words  | 4 Pages

    Brinkley, Alan American History A Survey, Volume I: To 1877, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2003. pg. 101-122, 209-213.

    Read More

  • Changes of telephone’s impact on society

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    Starting from the communication, there were many ways of communication in previous history. For instance, people used to send mail to people via animals. In ancient China, people used pigeon to send messages. This approach was efficient but risky. If rivals captured the pigeon, then the information could not sent successfully. (Fang, 2008) Just before the introduction of telephone, electric telegraph was prosperous in the Mid-nineteenth century by using the Morse alphabet to transmit information.(Robertson, 2006) However, operators who acted as the intermediate business platform in that

    Read More

  • Censorship In Schools Essay

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    The result, however; is always and ever the denial of another's right to read. The censors are mostly parents and other community residents of all backgrounds, political and religious beliefs, who are sincerely concerned about the reading habits of today’s children. The situation leads to the personal standard of what one parent or small groups of parents, being mistaken for a community standard. A minority ends up dictating the silent majority. That goes against all of America’s basic freedoms.

    Read More

More about Impacts of Civil War Reconstruction

Open Document