Difference between revisions of "471A3--Week 7 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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In "A Tree is Best Measured When It's Down," the author discusses the way in which FDR uses Lincoln to get through the Depression. How do you think he accomplishes this and do you think political leaders might still use Lincoln and his presidency to think about political matters today or was this only something that might have been beneficial during the 1930s because of its close proximity to the Civil War and the time of Lincoln's presidency? -avanness | In "A Tree is Best Measured When It's Down," the author discusses the way in which FDR uses Lincoln to get through the Depression. How do you think he accomplishes this and do you think political leaders might still use Lincoln and his presidency to think about political matters today or was this only something that might have been beneficial during the 1930s because of its close proximity to the Civil War and the time of Lincoln's presidency? -avanness | ||
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| + | The piece "Shaping Public Memory of the Civil War" written by Gary W. Gallagher raises numerous important questions about the ways Confederate general Jubal A. Early and historian Douglass Freeman influenced the way Americans have understood the Confederacy and the Civil War. Why did Early and Freeman write about Lee so frequently? Also how did Early and Freeman shape the literature about the Confederacy and public understanding of Lee? -Nick J | ||
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| + | In the Cullen article, Sandburg is described as writing during the “golden age of Lincoln Culture.” (p.42) Earlier though, it discussed how portraits and anecdotal stories were being published as early as the 1880s. It also discusses how Lincoln was used by Roosevelt and others to help deal with the depression. But why do you think interest in Lincoln remained so strong for so long? How many biographies were really necessary for the country to get their fill of the Union President? - Angie | ||
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| + | Its interesting, especially in the case of Mercie’s Lee Monument, how controversial the distinction between “art” and “truth” could be. Of course a sculptor or artists of other materials would want to put their own artistic spin on their projects but the people commissioning the project wanted their hero to be portrayed their way. In the end, the people with the money won out, but I wonder how often an artist’s interpretation differed from what the commissioner wanted. - Angie | ||
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| + | During the Great Depression President Roosevelt talked about Lincoln quite frequently to the American public. Why did Roosevelt bring up Lincoln often during his speeches to the American public. Do you think this would be well received by the South?- Nick J | ||
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| + | I found it really interesting how people were judging Lee's looks compared to Lincoln's and how Lee's own body was sometimes regarded as "already a work of art." (132). Do you think this is why there was such controversy over the Lee monument and how it looked? Also, do you think that Lee's looks helped him embody the idea of "canonical whiteness and moral virtue" among whites in both the South and the North? -ABratchie | ||
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| + | In what ways does Lee represent the Odysseus of an American Odyssey, as Alan Nolan suggests?- DRadtke | ||
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| + | Why do so many people in the South use the argument that the Union had more manpower to justify the South's loss of the War? To me, it seems more than simply a question of the fighting ability of both sides, as this feels like a juvenile point to make. So why does this argument make Lost Causers feel better? - DRadtke | ||
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| + | Lincoln’s image changes throughout the decades, folksy Midwesterner in the 1930s and representing the ideas of freedom, equality, order, democracy, ideal and victory in the 1920s. How is Lincoln seen nowadays? –Megan Mc. | ||
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| + | There were north/south disputes when it came to putting in the Faithful Slave monument. Were there ever any big North/South tensions when it came to creating monuments of the heroes of the Confederacy (such as Lee and Early)? –Megan Mc. | ||
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| + | I might’ve missed this in the reading, but is there a reason why the women on the committee wanted all four feet of Lee’s horse to be on the ground?- Megan Mc. | ||
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| + | I agree with Gallagher point in this chapter that some of the lost cause myths about why the south lost the war are not myths but simple facts. I think one thing that we should ask ourselves would there even be a lost cause debate if the North had won the war in 1862? Are some of the reasons why the lost cause arguments have been so persistent over the years because the war lasted as long as it did? Is Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia the reason it lasted that long? Logan T | ||
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| + | I think it’s interesting that writings about Lincoln reflect the time they were written in the same way writings about the Lost Cause do. I think the image of Lincoln answers another question we have asked in class. Is the image of Lincoln the real reason why Grant’s image is not as large as Lee’s? Is the reason why Grant is not the biggest hero of the Civil War simply because that role is taken by Lincoln? Logan T | ||
