The American Civil War: What we should remember

Well, the American Civil war kicks off the weeklong series on Wars: What We Need To Know So We Don't Keep Making the Same Friggin Mistakes. I'm fairly sure that most of you know the saying, "History repeats itself." Well, unfortunately for us, most politicians seem to be absent when you should have learned that. (Actually, most seem to have missed history all together, and simply live in their little fantasy worlds where the world revolves around them. So, I decided to put together this series so that hopefully, if any one that reads this blog ever becomes a politician, they won't screw up the world so badly.

The American Civil War- while most people think the war started on the issue of freeing the slaves, it actually started as a dispute about the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired territories.

I have to admit, that this war is the hardest for me to wrap my head around. This war put a straight-line split between pro-slavery Americans, and anti-slavery Americans. This war was fought over a difference of opinion. A difference of opinion was strong enough to rip the country apart down to the family level. Brothers, fathers, and neighbors fought against each other, and even killed each other.

The sad thing is, there are fault lines almost as deep as those during the Civil War which divide this country today. Between the political party lines, the controversial wars, as well as the issues of race and gender that still divide this country; we must remember something in order to prevent the lines from going deeper. We are all Americans.

This country was founded on the belief that all men are created equal. If we focus on the things that we have in common, rather than the differences, we can overcome the final boundaries, to become the country that our founding fathers intended.

We will be truly, the land of the free.



~Mer