Convention of nationalism in the United States

As many other nations practice, there is a convention of nationalism that is taught and practiced in the United States. In to instill the ideology of nationalism into the next generation there has to be censorship that monitors what is taught, discussed, and even visualized in and outside of the classrooms. However, the history lessons and great victories of the United states, always has and have had ulterior motives that turn these triumphant stories into what some may deem as horror stories. Julian Scott’s Surrender of a Confederate Soldier (Julian Scott), is a prime example of the heroism ideology that leaves out the truth over the motives behind the civil war and the life that awaits the enslaved individuals in the background.

Annotated Bibliography

Beckert, Sven. “Emancipation and Empire: Reconstructing the Worldwide Web of Cotton Production in the Age of the American Civil War.” The American Historical Review 109, no. 5 (2004): 1405-438. Accessed April 16, 2021. doi:10.1086/530931.

In Sven Beckert’s “Emancipation and Empire: Reconstructing the Worldwide Web of Cotton Production in the Age of the American Civil War”, the reader is educated on factors that benefited the onward movement of the Civil War. The journal connects the revolution of the cotton industry before and after the war as well as the transition from slave labor to paid labor. This source will be used to give a prime example of one of the main reasons for the civil war.

Foner, Eric. “Rights and the Constitution in Black Life during the Civil War and Reconstruction.” The Journal of American History 74, no. 3 (1987): 863-83. Accessed April 17, 2021. doi:10.2307/1902157.

In Eric Foner’s journal, he breaks down how the aftermath of the civil war manifested socially and what that looked like for African Americans. He goes into depth on Reconstruction and the rights that were given and taken from African Americans. The journal will be used to express how the victory of the civil war did not succeed in concern to the factors that are taught in general K-12 classes.

Julian Scott, Surrender of a Confederate Soldier, 1873, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Nan Altmayer, 2012.23

Julian Scott was once a soldier who fought for the Union during the civil war. After the Union’s victory Scott began painting. Surrender of a Confederate Soldier depicts a Confederate soldier accepting defeat. An enslaved black man in the background looks onward with a possible look of hope of what the future holds. I intend to unpack the symbolisms in the painting and use the painting and use the work as a primary example to connect to the other articles that will be used in the paper.

Martin Kelly, “9 Of the Increasingly Tense Events That Led to the American Civil War,” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/events-that-led-to-civil-war-104…. Accessed Aug. 7, 2019.

Martin Kelley’s article, “9 of the Increasingly Tense Events That Led to the American Civil War”, discusses key events that led up to the civil war. Some of the events include the end of the Mexican War, the publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the attack of Charles Sumner on the senate floor and more. Kelly’s article will be used to give background for a lot of what went into the start of the civil war to provide more context to what was happening during the time period.

SHEEHAN-DEAN, AARON. “The Long Civil War: A Historiography of the Consequences of the Civil War.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 119, no. 2 (2011): 106-53. Accessed April 16, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41310737.

In Sheehan-Dean’s writing he dives into the wake of the Civil war. In the reading, one will learn the negative occurrences that were prompted by the aftermath of the war. I will use this and connect it with the reading of the reconstruction era to further bring to the surface how in to maintain nationalism certain truths are brushed over in teachings.