Fence and red leaves at Gettysburg Civil War battlefield. : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Fence and red leaves at Gettysburg Civil War battlefield. / denisbin
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-改変禁止 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Gettysburg. The Civil War from 1861-64 was the most tragic and momentous event in American history. It had its origins in the economic and agricultural differences between the North and the South which were exacerbated by different views about the morality of black slavery. Once Abraham Lincoln (a Republican) was elected in November 1860 as the next President to be inaugurated in February 1861 the fears of the South could no longer be allayed by compromise and logical thinking. South Carolina, always the most firebrand and radical of the Southern states seceded almost immediately. So technically the Civil War was about secession and whether the constitution gave any state the right to secede rather than it being about slavery. But the expansion (not the mere existence) of slavery was the issue behind secession. Sth Carolina was joined by other southern states and they quickly formed the confederacy with Jefferson Davis as President. Lincoln wanted to avoid war. He chose not to be the aggressor but as an able lawyer and great humanist he warned that he would defend the property of the US. When the Confederates (Grey Coats or Rebels) fired on Fort Sumner in the harbour of Charleston, the capital of South Carolina in April 1861 the war began. The north had the advantage of a much bigger population, better rail system, almost all of the industry in America, and money, but they struggled for four years to win the war. Many of the battles were in the Border States near Washington DC where the southern state of Virginia basically abuts the northern states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. (But Maryland really had no choice but to join with the north as it was placed under military control by Lincoln. After all the capital, Washington DC is almost surrounded by Maryland.) One of the great battles that occurred in this region was the Battle of Gettysburg.Despite the advantages of the North it lost most of the battles in the first couple of years of the Civil War. The Yankees could not defeat the great southern General Robert E Lee. That is why Lincoln kept changing his generals. The turning point was probably the Battle of Gettysburg which raged from 1-4th July 1863. General Meade led the Union forces in their bloody defeat of the Confederates under Lee at Gettysburg. Around 163,000 men faced each other in the battles. At the end of the last day, Confederate causalities - dead, wounded and missing were 28,000 (out of 75,000 troops) and the Union casualties were 23,000 (out of 88,000 troops. ) After the battle General Lee had to retreat to the South quickly and leave the Confederate dead on the battle field. These were incredibly high death tolls for any battle. Is it any wonder the Americans still feel so deeply about the Civil War? By the end of the Civil War, over 620,000 men had been killed and nearly 300,000 wounded- many of them maimed for the rest of their lives: - a total of almost 1 million men. The death toll from the Civil War was greater than the combined US toll for World Wars One and Two. A total of16.47% of all troops were killed in the Civil War- a very high proportion. This compares badly with American involvement in say World War One- 2.46% of troops killed, or World War Two- 2.52% of troops killed. The Civil War was a huge tragedy.After the battle Lincoln went to dedicate a memorial to the men who had lost their lives in this great battle in November of 1863. The Gettysburg Address is a remarkably short speech, for a politician, and is considered by many to be one of the finest speeches in the English language. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant. At Gettysburg we will see battlefield, memorials and the interpretive centre with its dioramas and displays. Below is a map of the town and surrounding battlefields and memorials. Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865. The Republican Party emerged in American in 1854 to oppose the EXPANSION of slavery into the new western territories. In the 1858 congressional elections Lincoln made his most famous statement: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other."Four nominees stood to be the Republican candidate for the 1860 Presidential election and Lincoln was chosen as the Republican candidate. He won the election and became the first anti slavery president from one section (the North) party to win an election. During the campaign the Democrat Party split into a northern and southern democrat parties with different candidates. Lincoln kept a low profile after the election and because of assassination threats and safety concerns in Baltimore he was secretly taken to Washington DC in disguise on 23 February 1861 to be inaugurated as President on 4th March. Once the November election results were known, Sth Carolina and then other southern states seceded. Lincoln’s training as a small town lawyer held him in good stead as president. He studied the constitution closely and developed his legalistic arguments. The South had no right to secede. The constitution was a binding contract and no state could unilaterally secede. He would not attack the South but he would defend the property of the US in the rebelling (seceding) Southern states and the posts would be delivered. Historians argue that Lincoln chose to avoid war, and not be the aggressor, but the South had little room for manoeuvring out of war. The South began the war at Fort Sumter. Despite Lincoln’s expert handling of the military aspects of the war, his choice of generals and his handling of the affairs of state, he was unpopular with many Republicans as he was not radical enough. Lincoln stood as an independent candidate for the US presidential elections of 1864 and won, this time not as a Republican but as the leader for the National Union Party. Perhaps Lincoln’s most memorable act was the Emancipation Proclamation of 1st January 1863 which set slaves free in the rebelling states. (It required a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery in all states.) This act brought former slaves into the War in both the North and South; it bought strong alliances with European powers, especially France and England who could not support a pro-slavery nation ( the Confederacy had tried to get France’s financial backing) ; and it turned the war from a war about secession and constitutional issues into a war about slavery. Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth 5 days after General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865 thus ending the Civil War. |
| 撮影日 | 2012-10-05 06:27:30 |
| 撮影者 | denisbin |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | |
| カメラ | DSC-S950 , SONY |
| 露出 | 0.005 sec (1/200) |
| 開放F値 | f/5.6 |