Holzer shows this in the first half of his book when he displays the Emancipation Proclamation (160). President Abraham Lincoln said about the proclamation “If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” (161). Of course, we know this document was not the end of slavery throughout all the land, but only because Lincoln did not have the power as president to make such a law. Frederick Douglass reviewed the act, and was not quite as pleased as Lincoln was by the proclamation. However, “Douglass came to regard it as ‘a great and glorious step in the right direction.’” (162) This proclamation was not the end of slavery for America, but as Douglass said, this was a step in the right direction. It made the war even more important, and pushed the United States to the document that finally did end slavery, the thirteenth amendment. The Civil War was a very important event in the history of the United States of America. It pushed the country to some very large changes, namely the end of slavery and a more modern understanding of war. The war was not only important to the people fighting it and their families, but also to the slaves it freed, and the subsequent generations of America. Hopefully anyone who learns about the Civil War through Holzer’s book, The Civil War in 50 Objects, can find reasons why this war is important to them today in one way or
Holzer shows this in the first half of his book when he displays the Emancipation Proclamation (160). President Abraham Lincoln said about the proclamation “If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” (161). Of course, we know this document was not the end of slavery throughout all the land, but only because Lincoln did not have the power as president to make such a law. Frederick Douglass reviewed the act, and was not quite as pleased as Lincoln was by the proclamation. However, “Douglass came to regard it as ‘a great and glorious step in the right direction.’” (162) This proclamation was not the end of slavery for America, but as Douglass said, this was a step in the right direction. It made the war even more important, and pushed the United States to the document that finally did end slavery, the thirteenth amendment. The Civil War was a very important event in the history of the United States of America. It pushed the country to some very large changes, namely the end of slavery and a more modern understanding of war. The war was not only important to the people fighting it and their families, but also to the slaves it freed, and the subsequent generations of America. Hopefully anyone who learns about the Civil War through Holzer’s book, The Civil War in 50 Objects, can find reasons why this war is important to them today in one way or