Running head: The Civil War of Today 1

The Civil War of Today

Carter Johnson

Arizona State University

The Civil War of Today 2

Abstract

In todays society, America is trying to erase any racist figures in our nation. In my essay,

I talk about how the confederate statues are being removed and why I believe they shouldnt be

removed. Some of the reasons they shouldnt be removed is that they are a part of history and

need to be remembered. Also, if we dont have something to remember history could then repeat

itself and we could have another civil war in the future.

Keywords: America, Civil War, Confederate Statues, History

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The Civil War of Today

In todays society America is divided on pretty much everything. Mainly on the idea of

race and ethnicity. Many years ago, America went through a major war within itself over the

succession of the Confederate States of America. In the years 1861-1865, America divided into

two separate sections: The Union States and the confederate states. Although the major reason

people see for the secession is slavery, there are actually many other reasons for it: sectionalism,

protectionism, state rights, territorial crisis, and national elections. For the next 4 years, the

Union and the Confederacy fought in many battles resulting in 828,000 Union casualties and

864,000 Confederate casualties. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with todays

society but today hundreds of statues and monuments of confederate soldiers and leaders are

displayed across the nation. But people are calling for them to be removed because they

represent slavery and racism which is a major social issue going on. I dont believe the statues

should be removed because they are lessons people need to see, people need to see different

perspectives, and history could repeat itself if the civil war is forgotten.

In modern society there is a big push to erase all bad history in America, one being the

civil war and the confederates. I believe that this push is causing more division and more hate

into America rather than alleviating it. By trying to removal all statues and remembrances of the

confederates will not change what people believe. People today have the mentality that I am right

and you are wrong, even though the other side of the argument could be correct as well. I saw a

video on the internet that talked about why a pastor believes people are destroying each other in

America. He states that people are dividing themselves because of the lack of knowledge

between them. In the video he has two people stand face to face and he holds a Coke bottle

between them. He has each person read their side of the bottle, which is different. He then states,
The Civil War of Today 4

Perspective to me, is why there is such a racial divide in our nation which I agree completely

with. He then states that neither are wrong but they could argue that their side is right and the

other persons is wrong because its what they see that is correct. Both are correct, it just has to

perspective of the individual. America shouldnt point the finger at the south on the topic of

slavery, they should point it at America as a whole because it wasnt just the south who owned

slaves. The Union also owned slaves during the war but it was towards the end that they began

using slaves as soldiers to win the war. Americans got the mentality to start pointing fingers at

other people so they dont look in the wrong which is why we are in a crisis in todays society.

Americans believe that by getting rid of things that cause finger pointing, America will then be

perfect. This is where I disagree. America is trying to show its self in the world as a perfect

country and show that nothing is wrong with us where, in reality, there are actually a lot of things

wrong with this nation. I believe that the statues need to stay to be a lesson to Americans of why

the war was fought and what could come back. America is trying to have the social networking

effect, which is where people tend to present the best version of themselves and not what goes on

behind the scenes. I believe that Americans need to accept that the civil war happened and need

to move forward to prevent it from happening again. The civil war will never go away, it

happened and there isnt any way to make it unhappen so rather fight on things from the past, we

need to fight for the future of the United States.

In Memphis there is talk of removing the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest and digging

up the graves of Forrest and his wife (Sterling, 2015). People want to dig up the grave of the

Confederate Army General to get rid of any form of racism in America. The General was born in

Bedford County, Tennessee. The statue is in Memphis, Tennessee about 3 hours west. Why

should we dig up a citizen of America who is buried in his home state? A lot of people will say
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that because he was apart of the Confederacy and one of the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan he

shouldnt be remembered with a statue. Rather than look at his statue as a bad thing, why dont

we look at the statue as a lesson for Americans. Let the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest tell his

full story, which might surprise many But seldom are we told that 45 of Forrests slaves rode

and fought alongside him as equals, their loyalty such that they remained with him even after he

gave them their freedom paper (Sterling, 2015). Also, that Forrest spent his final years

advocating for political and social advancement for black Americans (Sterling, 2015) and over

3,000 African Americans showed up to Forrests funeral. People only see the bad in people and

oversee the good things that people do. You can do 99 things for someone and all theyll

remember is one thing you didnt do. I believe that if you ask anyone in todays society who

Nathan Bedford Forrest was and why is he important, most people will either not know who he is

or they will say he was a racist human in the confederate army. This is why we shouldnt look at

the statues as symbols but more as lessons and stories of what the soldiers reasons were for

fighting. And same goes with other statues such as Robert E Lee, Jefferson Davis, Thomas

Stonewall Jackson, and other confederates.

There are many reasons people think the confederate monuments should be removed. For

example, people say that they resemble racism and should not be remembered as a statue but

should be remembered in a museum. And I agree that statues should be represented in museums

if the statues of the person are in random areas. But I dont agree that they should be moved if

they are represented in the soldiers home state or birthplace. For example, the Nathan Bedford

Forrest statue is in his home state and is by his grave so I dont believe that it should be

represented in a museum because his ancestors and legacy are still there. Now, I believe that a

statue or monument in a random place such as the unions states, then I do believe that it should
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be removed and placed in a museum because it does not have a purpose for being placed. Yes,

some statues, I believe, should be removed because they dont need to be there but if the statue

has a purpose for being placed where they then I believe they should stay to show the history of

the state as well as the Unites States as a whole..

Another argument they make is that you dont see statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany so

why should we honor Confederate soldiers. I disagree with the statement because what Hitler did

and what the Confederates did were completely different and in no way similar. Hitler was

responsible for the murder of over 6 million Jewish people and many other people of different

races during World War II and the holocaust. The Confederates killed about a tenth of that.

There were 828,000 Union casualties in total from the war, a lot not the confederates doings.

About 500,000 of the deaths were in battle or from confederate prisons. The confederates fought

against the Union to protect the rights that their states had. This is how most wars start. Both

sides have a stance that they believe is right and both are fighting to keep those rights alive. To

say that the confederates and Hitler are similar is like saying that apples are similar to oranges

because they are both somewhat round. Yes, both were responsible for deaths but the reason

behind the deaths are completely different so I dont believe that a comparison between the two

figures is on that can be made.

With division throughout America, people are trying to blame others for why this

division is happening. One of the arguments is that the confederate statues should be removed

because they are a bad part of history so there should be no reason that they are remembered. I

dont see the statues as racist but more as stories and lessons that everyone needs to see. If

people were able to see other sides of arguments, humans wouldnt be at such a disagreement

with each other. Perspective is key and people have a hard time of seeing the other side. For
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example, that the slave trade was a big part of the economy in the South so they were fighting to

save their economy because that was their lifestyle. Slaves had been in America for over 250

years so the people living during the civil war believed that slaves were apart of human life. This

perspective changed once the civil war was over. The confederate statues and monuments should

not be removed to show Americas history and to show that if times dont change, they may be

making statues of todays civil war in the near future.

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References

Blake, J. (2013, January 08). What Lincoln misses and another Civil War film gets right.

Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/showbiz/slavery-

pbs/index.html

F. (2017, November 09). Deep: Pastor Says Perspective Is Why Our Nation Has A Strong Racial

Divide! Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=wP1s7XdWbAY

History.com Staff. (2009). Slavery in America. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery

PRO AND CON: Should Confederate monuments be removed? (2017, May 16). Retrieved

November 19, 2017, from http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/pro-and-con-

should-confederate-monuments-be-removed/article_494c851c-34b2-11e5-8ec1-

9b24a8cc97e6.html

Pruitt, S. (2012, September 21). 5 Things You May Not Know About Lincoln, Slavery and

Emancipation. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from http://www.history.com/news/5-

things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and-emancipation

Sterling, K. W. (2015, July 27). STERLING: Lets start a new conversation on Confederate

symbols. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-

opinion/guest-columnists/article_a0bd0f2f-bf78-5222-be21-ec73402ca410.html