The Construction Of American Civil War Memory And National Reconciliation(1865-1918)

After the Civil War,the south had experienced a brief mild "Johnson reconstruction",it is essentially a continuation of Lincoln's reconstruction policy.After "Lincoln's death" and "Memphis riots",a long radical reconstruction was looming.As a congressional reconstruction to eliminate confederacy,it contributed to the south boycott of the republican regime representing the interests of the black,making the "Lost cause" in swaddling clothes rapid development,which paved the way for establishing segregation.The southern collective memory formation were divided into two stages.The first stage is from 1865 to 1865.Among them,the first stage can be divided into two periods,the first period is from 1865 to 1884,known as the divisional memories of the civil war,being from the rise of "southern reburied movement to inauguration of Robert lee statue in the New Orleans.The second period is from 1884 to 1898,known as the realization of unification in southern memory of the war,regarded the establishment of "Confederate Veterans' Association " and the " United Daughters of the Confederacyn as the end mark.The second phase is from 1898 to 1898,known as the "lost cause" concept widely accepted by the north.Southern white elite' "political redemption" was completed in 1877,but before1884,their collective memory is still divided.Memorial and decoration activities are various In the southern towns,but in the process of organization,there are more fragmented,leadership is not unified and target in chaos.For raising,meeting the members of the appeal,expanding its influence,such organizations to commemorate,including women's groups and veteran's association,was fraying each other.To the end of the 70s,the collective memory of southern whites stil was messy,while with the characters being sad,depoliticized and victimed.Different from the 1860s shrouded by the hatred memory,veteran's memory in the 1870s was in the inactivity,forced by making a live,many veterans had no time to discuss civil war memory,even though there are a few former senior offices starting to clear the war memory out.In the 1880s,since sensationalism and commercialism was popular in the United States,north and south veterans hold various reunited activities located on battlefield sites.At the same time,under the impetus of "century"and so on,the American society caused a wave of democratization and commercialization for civil war memory.Moreover,while abolished slavery abolished in the postwar,Southern region can't change a economic model of single crop.The situation made more dependent on the north of industrial capitalism for the south.A lot of problems in constructing "the new south" is a microcosm of the economic contradiction.The regional differences,however,is conducive to the collective memory of southern whites towards the direction of service for the industrial construction of the nation.Until the Spanish-American war,the south reluctantly realized the unity of the collective memory,but the way of "cultural reconciliation" with north veterans was in the air,even though the north younger generation has in the varying degree accepted the essence of Lost Causes.With the outbreak of the Spanish-American war,the army tide with patriotism ideology accelerated the process of national reconciliation.In 1913,for a common motive to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the battle of Gettysburg,the north-south civil war veterans held a grand memorial activity,by President Woodrow Wilson's "Gettysburg address" will be the process of national reconciliation in the climax.As "the birth of a nation" premiered,the northern veterans finally admitted the culture of the "lost cause struggled for a long time.Evidently,the implementation of all were finished at the cost of wiping out African American civil war memory.With the outbreak of the first world war,African Americans' once again won the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to awaken themselves.With ideas exchange with the Africa soldiers fought for French,African Americans gradually restored self-cognition and collective memory of war erased.After the first world war,African Americans chose the road of the internationalization for the civil rights struggle.At the same time,the internationalization of the road was long and dangerous.