The Real Memorial Day

Thursday, May 30, 2013

“On what rests the hope of the republic? One country, one language, one flag!”

- Alexander Henry 

Today is a special day for two reasons, one it is my birthday and two, it is the real Memorial Day, or as it was first observed in 1868 then known as "Decoration Day." When I was growing up my mother would always tell me I was born on Memorial Day however, every year Memorial Day would fall on a different day. This would confuse me and my mother could never explain to me why Memorial Day did not always fall on May 30th. When I got older, I started doing some research on the origin of Memorial Day and the truth proved to be very interesting.

The work of honoring dead soldiers goes back as far as our earliest civilizations. When ancient Athens was caught in its deadly Peloponnesian Wars, for example, Pericles encouraged citizens never to forget those who had died in battle.  Their noble courage, he said, was “graven not [just] in stone but in the hearts of men.”

Centuries later, as the United States was just coming through the Civil War, Americans found themselves grieving as deeply as any of their ancient ancestors. Having expected a short skirmish, our nation instead fought a four-year war that remains the single most deadly in American history. Historians estimate that 620,000 soldiers died in the Civil War, a number that surpasses U.S. losses in World War I (115,000 dead) and World War II (318,000) combined. These losses were all the more heartbreaking because it was not uncommon for families to have sons or cousins fighting on opposite sides.  Moreover, when they did fall on the battlefield, it could take weeks and months to locate the dead and bury them properly. Therefore, wrote General John A. Logan in 1868, by the end of the war, soldiers had been buried “in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.”  How would the nation grieve properly, and heal? A powerful custom arose among women and families in towns across the country: honoring the graves of the fallen. 

Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee. After World War I, which officially ended in 1919, Decoration Day was expanded to honor all military personnel who had died during any war or military action in which the United States had been involved. It was after this time that Decoration Day began to be known as Memorial Day however, it was not until 1967 that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the legislation officially renaming the holiday as Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is an official day off work, it is also a time of official ceremony. At Arlington Cemetery, for example, which began in 1864 and today holds more than 260,000 military graves, over a thousand 3rd US Infantry troops will place American flags on more than 260,000 graves, and will maintain a 24 hour honor patrol through the long weekend. Since 1951, to name just one example, Boy Scouts in St. Louis, Missouri, have decorated military graves at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery; since 1998, more than 15,000 military graves at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania have been marked by candles, again thanks to the efforts of local boy and girl Scouts. Still, in recent years, organizations such as Veterans of Foreign Wars have become concerned that the central meaning of Memorial Day may still not be reaching all Americans. In a 2002 address, the organization complained that “changing the date merely to create three day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day.” 

So as you can see, my mother was right after all. I was in fact born on the real Memorial Day, or at least on the first day it was observed as such, way back in 1868. I find it interesting that I have a love for history and all this time I was born on a historical day that remembers the same heroes that I now serve with in the United States Marine Corps. To everyone who has ever served with honor and paid the ultimate price for freedom in defense of our great nation, I salute you today and always! 

Bryan J. Alberts

Merchant, David. Memorial Day History. April 4, 2008. http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html (accessed May 30, 2013).

Williams, Julie. The Real Meaning of Memorial Day. http://www.education.com/magazine/article/The_Real_Meaning_of_Memorial_Day/ (accessed May 30, 2013).

Welcome

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

"History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside."
- John F. Kennedy

Welcome to American History, Grades 6-8

In this classroom blog we will be discussing some of the most important events in American History such as the American Revolution, the Texas War for Independence, the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era and many more. We will transport ourselves back into history and imagine what it was like forging a new nation. This blog will allow you to discuss these events with your classmates, outside the standard classroom setting. I will include weekly units covering different events in American History. Unit 1 - Unit 4 are already posted for review and discussion. After Unit 4, I will post a new unit every week.  Since this classroom blog is included in your final grade, I expect 100% participation from all my students. I will also post information stories relating to historical events in American History. These stories are for information only and do not require participation. I will monitor all blogs to ensure appropriate communication is being conducted at all times. At any time if you have any questions, or need any assistance, please contact me at bryan.alberts@uncw.edu.

Thank you
Bryan J. Alberts

Unit 4: Reconstruction Era 1865-1877

"A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States." 
- James Madison

Reconstruction, in American history, is the period (1865–77) that followed the American Civil War and during which attempts were made to redress the inequities of slavery and its political, social, and economic legacy and to solve the problems arising from the readmission to the Union of the 11 states that had seceded at or before the outbreak of war. Long portrayed by many historians as a time when vindictive Radical Republicans fastened black supremacy upon the defeated Confederacy, Reconstruction has since the late 20th century been viewed more sympathetically as a laudable experiment in interracial democracy. Reconstruction witnessed far-reaching changes in America’s political life. At the national level, new laws and constitutional amendments permanently altered the federal system and the definition of American citizenship. In the South, a politically mobilized black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican Party to power, and with it a redefinition of the responsibilities of government.

Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. "Reconstruction", accessed May 29, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/493722/Reconstruction.

Discussion Questions:
(Respond to each question with a minimum of 150 words)

1. In what ways was Reconstruction a success? A failure? Explain.

2. Some historians have suggested that had Lincoln not been assassinated, Radical Republicans in the House might have impeached him instead of Andrew Johnson. Defend this argument.

3. What effect did Reconstruction have on blacks? Were they better off after Reconstruction than they were before the Civil War?

Unit 3: A Nation Divided: The American Civil War 1831-1865

"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war." 
- Robert E. Lee

American Civil War, also called War Between the States , was a four-year war (1861–65) between the federal government of the United States and 11 Southern states that asserted their right to secede from the Union.

Discussion Questions:
(Respond to each question with a minimum of 150 words)

1. In your opinion, was the Civil War inevitable? Were the North and the South doomed from the beginning to battle each other eventually over the slavery issue?

2. Why were the border states so important to Lincoln?

3. Compare the North and the South in 1860 and then again in 1864. Why did the North win the war?

Unit 2: The Texas War for Independence 1835-1836

“You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.”  
- David Crockett

In the Texas Revolution of 1835-36, American colonists in Texas secured the independence of that area from Mexico and subsequently established a republic. Since the 1820s many settlers from the United States had colonized Texas; by the 1830s they far outnumbered the Texas Mexicans. Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna attempted to reverse this trend by such measures as abolishing slavery and enforcing the collection of customs duties. The settlers rebelled (originally as part of a general federalist resistance to Santa Anna's Centralist government, which had overthrown the Mexican Constitution of 1824). Hostilities began at Gonzales on Oct. 2, 1835; the Texans repelled a Mexican force sent to disarm them and won subsequent victories.

In February 1836, Santa Anna, undiscouraged, led a large army across the Rio Grande; he was delayed, however, by the unexpectedly determined defense of the Alamo. Meanwhile, the Texans declared their independence from Mexico on Mar. 2, 1836, and organized a provisional government. Sam Houston led a successful retreat, but other insurgents were defeated and massacred in late March. Santa Anna pursued the rebels, overstretching his supply line and thus isolating his forces on San Jacinto Prairie. There, on April 21, he was routed by Houston and taken prisoner. Mexican troops then withdrew from Texas. The Republic of Texas (with its Lone Star flag) remained independent until 1845, when it became part of the United States.

Borroel, Roger, The Texas Revolution of 1836 (1990); Connor, Seymour V., Texas, A History (1971); Jenkins, John H., ed., Papers of the Texas Revolution, 10 vols. (1973); Santos, R. G., Santa Anna's Campaign against Texas, 1835-36 (1982).

Discussion Questions:
(Respond to each question with a minimum of 150 words)

1. What caused the Texas War of Independence?

2. Why did the United States decide not to aid Texas?

3. Could the Battle of the Alamo been avoided?

Unit 1: The American Revolution 1775-1783

"Do not fire on them unless they fire first, but if they want a war, let it begin here."
- American Captain Parker (Battle of Lexington, 1775)

American Revolution, also called United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary War,  (1775–83), insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs (for background see United States).


Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. "The American Revolution", accessed May 29, 2013, 
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/617805/American-Revolution

Discussion Questions:
(Respond to each question with a minimum of 150 words)

1. “Americans were still professing their loyalty to George III and their desire for peaceful reconciliation as late as 1775. Had Britain accepted the Second Continental Congress’s Olive Branch Petition, the Revolutionary War could have been avoided.” Support or refute this claim using historical evidence.

2. What did American colonists mean by “No taxation without representation”?

3. Which had a more profound impact on American anti-British sentiment, the 1765 Stamp Act or the 1766 Declaratory Act? Use specific examples from history to support your argument.