Many good folks delve into the key moments of the Civil War. It can be a way of second guessing and pondering what ifs.
As I used to tell my students: What I am about to deliver should in no way be considered an answer to anything. It is however; an attempt to create a question. We second guess, that is human nature. It is very easy to take a hindsight approach. This essay does not attempt to study all of the critical junctures in the Civil War, just a few--And hopefully this essay will provoke questions. To believe that I have the right to come up with a definitive answer to all of the nineteenth century problems in warfare would be an effort in futility and an exercise in stupidity.
The people is never in the right as soon as it begins to revolt. This is a fact, and when I speak of people I refer to the constituents of a government, thus the word is instead of are.
English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...
The battle of Gettysburg, Pa. July 3d. 1863, depic...
Overview map of the second day of the Battle of Ge...This is a fact when it came to Lincoln's' perception of the people and also his perception of a government under revolt. When creating a new government, it is important not to tie one's hands by laws that are too detailed. Constitutions are the work of time, and it is impossible to leave too wide an opening for improvements. Lincoln understood this, and Davis did not. With this understanding Lincoln also knew that Laws are like the statues of certain divinities which are veiled on certain occasions.
One of the first key moments of the war was found in the security of the border states and the long wide, rolling transportation conduits known as the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers. These were the grand prizes that would either...