I just finally watched the Ken Burns documentary, “The Civil War”. I think I was out of the country the first time it ran. I remember hearing rave reviews, but I didn’t see how 12 or so hours on a war could hold one’s attention.
Boy, was I wrong. It is probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen. It really adds perspective to the nation. To think — it happened less than 100 years before I was born. That’s not very long ago.
A comment made almost at the very end sticks in my mind: Before the war they would say, “The United States are..” After the war they said “The United States is…”. We went from a loose confederation of separate “states” (which in those days was almost synonymous with “country”) to a single united entity.
Before the war you might argue that the association was freely entered into, and should be open to freely depart from. Lincoln disagreed, and forced the issue. If he had allowed the South to split off, later there might have been other disagreements and fractures, and we would have ended up as many small countries. It was forcing the union that brought our current greatness.
The theme song keeps playing in my head.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Mom // Jun 23, 2010 at 11:41 pm
This was the documentary which started my interest in genealogy. It was first shown in 1980, I think. That’s when I fell in love with Patrick Swayze, and I could never watch him in anything else and enjoy it. It still is clear in my mind; I wish they would show it again. Did you buy the series?
2 Daryl // Jun 24, 2010 at 9:23 am
I don’t remember that Patrick Swayze was in it at all. Do you think he was one of the voices?
I didn’t buy it — I streamed it from Netflix.
3 Donna // Jun 24, 2010 at 6:50 pm
You’ve piqued my interest. I might have to give it a try after I finish Dexter. I love Civil War era. (Gone With the Wind, and all that, you know. 🙂 )
4 Donna // Jun 24, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Mom might be thinking of the miniseries “North and South”.
5 Mom // Jun 25, 2010 at 10:45 am
Right, Donna! In fact, now that I think of it, I remember nothing about the Civil War series, and that’s odd because I love that time period. We had so many relatives involved, and it was so close to home. Give me a wee synopsis.
6 Daryl // Jun 25, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Mom — you want a synopsis:
The southern states decided they wanted to secede from the union. The northern states said they couldn’t. There was a long war which the north finally won.
🙂
7 Mom // Jun 25, 2010 at 3:05 pm
What a great story! I wonder if it really happened.
8 Dale // Jul 3, 2010 at 9:43 am
I don’t think it really happened. It was just a conspiracy theory to get more votes for Obama!
9 Mom // Jul 5, 2010 at 12:39 am
Thank you, Dale. I knew there was a logical reason for the whole thing. Yours shows very clear reasoning!