American History class. 5 pages essay about the Civil War. HIGH school level paper

Essay: Civil War Soldier and Civilians Killing more than 700, 000 Americans, the Civil War remains the bloodiest conflict in the nation’s history. That Americans endured four years of unrelenting sacrifice and death is difficult to fathom. We might well ask why Northerners and Southerners supported such a destructive war? For your second assignment, you will attempt to answer that question by studying the motivations of one group of Civil War participants. You may choose the perspective of Union soldiers or civilians or Confederate soldiers or civilians. Your goal will be to analyze why your group supported war in 1861, what sustained them through the brutal contest, and whether their motivations and support changed as a result of the war. Components of the Paper: - Choose one of the following perspectives 1) Union soldiers 2) Union civilians 3) Confederate soldiers 4) Confederate civilians - Examine a minimum of fifteen letters and/or diaries covering the entire period of the war. The letters and diaries should not be from the same person. See links to sources below. - The letters and diaries should be chosen to provide relatively equal coverage of the war from April 1861 to April 1865. Do not, for example, use letters only from the years 1864-1865. - Consider initial motivation, why men and women supported the Union or Confederacy at the outset of the war (roughly 1861). - Consider sustaining motivation, or why men and women sacrificed for the war effort after the initial excitement had passed (roughly 1862-1864). - Consider how motivation may have changed as a result of the experience of war? - Consider factors that may have caused people to turn against the war. - Apart from the letters and diaries I do not want you consulting any outside works except for your textbook. - Please keep in mind that this paper is not like the runaway slave paper. You are not writing about a single fictional person. Criteria: • An argument about why people fought or withdrew support from the war that is clearly stated in the introduction • Evidence drawn from primary sources to support your argument. • Strong organization. The paper should flow logically and make use of strong topic sentences and transitions. • Context, or a sense that you understand the narrative of the war and its major events as outlined in your textbook. Remember people respond to specific events and so any changes in opinion or behavior should be linked to the war. • Provide citations in the form of footnotes for both direct quotations and ideas borrowed from any source. • Provide footnotes in the form provided. Remember you must place direct quotations within quotation marks and provide a footnote. If you paraphrase ideas from the sources, you do not need to use quotation marks but you still need a footnote. • Well written with evidence of proofreading, editing, and polishing Class Textbook: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History (New York: Norton, 2017). Your paper will: • Be five pages in length. • Use 12 pt. font • Have a one-inch margin Include your name, date submitted, and a descriptive title. You do not need a separate title page or works cited page. Sources: http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/choosepart.html Go to the War Years. Letters and Diaries. The brief descriptions are very helpful in determining the usefulness of the contents. Augusta County for the Confederacy and Franklin County for the Union. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-civil-war/interactives/i-take-my-pen-letters-from-civil-war/transcripts http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/civilwar The letters and diaries in this collection are scanned hand written originals. Hitting the “Text” button will convert the handwriting to typed transcript copies. You may use original letters and diaries from outside of these collections but only after consulting with me. Footnote Form: 1 John Doe to Jane Doe, Aug. 15, 1862 Valley of the Shadow. 2 Duncan Jones Diary, Jan. 3, 1864, Gilder Lehrman Institute. 3 Jane Doe to John Doe, May 24, 1861, Washington Libraries Digital Collection.