sherman

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Sherman analyzes social and regional order. Major-General W. T. Sherman wrote a letter to Commander-in-Chief H.W. Halleck regarding his views on southern politics and society. The letter to Halleck was composed September 17, 1863 from Vicksburg, Mississippi. W. T. Sherman discusses that social order ranks need reconstruction. He arranges the order in four parts: planters, small farmers/mechanics/merchants/laborers, union men of the south, and the young bloods of the South. Sherman first addresses the planters. They are the upper class of all the ranks. They are wealthy, educated, and friendly. Some people have given up slaves while others have stayed conservative. According to Sherman, “In some districts they are bitter as gall, and have given up slaves, plantations, and all serving in the armies of the Confederacy; whereas, in others, they are conservative”(3). He talks about how this class can be managed. He states, “I know we can manage this class, but only by action”(Sherman,3). “Argument is exhausted, and words have lost their usual meanings”(Sherman,3). In his opinion it is better to replace the planters’ class than to reconstruct it if it resembled Europe but he forms a different idea. He allows the planters’ to recover their plantations to start brand new. Sherman expresses, “If our country were like Europe, crowded with people, I would say it would be easier to replace this class than to reconstruct it, subordinate to the policy of the nation; but, as this is not the case, it is better to allow the planters, with individual exceptions, gradually to recover their plantations, to hire any species of labor, and to adapt themselves to the new order of things”(4). He ultimately decides that having a civil government is a bett... ... middle of paper ... ...t care about the past, present, or future. They are a larger class but they are very dangerous. The young bloods are, “splendid riders, first rate shots, and utterly reckless”(Sherman,6). Sherman offers to share food with them. Additionally, he states that they either have to kill the young bloods or employ them to have tranquility. Given these points Sherman ranked the people from higher to lower classes and expressed the problems in each class. Sherman’s social analysis of regional order fails to fit the material from the readings. Sherman main objective was to elaborate the problems faced by the people in their rankings. He didn’t discuss any information about slavery or the impact of blacks. In the other readings they mainly discuss the treatments of blacks. The concept of how slavery was run. Finally, the idea of how families and slave owners viewed loyalty.

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