The American Civil War: Conflict, Reconstruction, and Walt Whitman's Poetry

The American Civil War: Context and Key Facts (1861-1865)

The American Civil War was a four-year conflict spanning from 1861 to 1865.

Key Divisions and Economic Systems

• The conflict involved two primary sides: The North (The Union) and The South (The Confederate States of America).
• The Confederate States specifically mentioned here include Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas.
• The Union economy was characterized by industrialization and modernization.
• The Confederacy was heavily dependent on agriculture, relying extensively on the use of slavery.
• The Southern major cash crop was cotton.
• The first military engagement was the Siege of Fort Sumter.

Political Figures and Reconstruction Amendments

• A major political figure was Abraham Lincoln, the Union leader who strongly opposed slavery.
• The post-war era introduced three crucial amendments to the U.S. Constitution:
  • 13^th Amendment: Abolition of slavery.
  • 14^th Amendment: Granting of equal rights (citizenship).
  • 15^th Amendment: Voting rights for all men regardless of race.
• Union soldiers wore blue uniforms, while Confederate soldiers wore gray uniforms.

Terminology of the Era

• Refugees: Enslaved people who sought shelter or were held within Union lines to escape slavery.
• Freedmen: Formerly enslaved people who crossed into Union territory to become free.
• The Freedmen’s Bureau was an agency established to protect and aid refugees and freedmen.
• The Black Codes of 1865 were state laws created to severely restrict the freedom of Black people and force them to work for low wages.

Louisiana Ethnic Groups

Louisiana’s diverse population included:

• Cajun or Acadians: Descendants of French-speakers originally from Acadia.
• Creole: Persons descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the periods of both French and Spanish rule.
• Colored People: A term used historically to refer to Black people and their descendants.

Walt Whitman: Poet of the Civil War Era

Key Works and Literary Movement

• Walt Whitman is known for works such as "Beat! Beat! Drums!" and "Song of Myself."
• Literary Movement (Ism): Romanticism.

Why Whitman is Associated with Romanticism

Whitman's poetry is characterized by:

• A discussion of delight in sensual pleasures, which was considered immoral during that time.
• Exaltation of the body and the material world, contrasting with previous poetry that focused heavily on symbolism, allegory, and religious meditation.
• Use of free verse; his poems do not rhyme or follow standard rules for meter and line length.

Publication History of Leaves of Grass

Most of Whitman's poems were published after 1855, when he released the first edition of Leaves of Grass. This was a collection he continuously revised and expanded throughout his life, resulting in many different editions. The initial publication contained 12 poems, a number that eventually grew to over 400 poems in later editions.