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In what ways does the Civil War continue to influence us?
The Civil War continues to cast a long shadow, which affects our lives in diverse and occasionally surprising ways.
The War transformed the political, constitutional, social and economic landscape, and led to advances in technology
and health-care that remain in evidence today. There is still heated debate about the underlying causes of this epic
conflict, as well as its outcomes. It can be said that a lot depends on your background – birthplace, race,
political beliefs – in how you view this legacy.
Five most important ways the Civil War has affected our lives:
1) Resulted in the end of slavery in the U.S.
2) Led to the 14th Amendment's federal constitutional guarantee of equal citizenship (even though it
often went unenforced in the ensuing decades).
3) Strengthened the national government's power in the realms of economic development and rights
protection.
4) Impoverished the South by freeing the enslaved human beings who counted as the region's major source
of investment wealth and a sixth of all American wealth before the Civil War (slaves were worth more than
railroad investment, banks and factories nationwide combined in 1860).
5) Established a pattern of regionally divided two-party politics (what we might now call "red states"
and "blue states," though for nearly a century it was the South that was solidly Democratic, while
Republicans typically controlled New England and the Midwest).
Five areas where the war had a noteworthy impact:
- It propelled the U.S. into the industrial era, and allowed the rise of free-labor capitalism.
-It paved the way for the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments, setting the stage for the
eventual equality of the races.
-It settled the dispute over the primacy of the federal government over the states.
-It "preserved the new republic, which by 1865 was only 89 years old.
Not only did it free a race of people, the Civil War also influenced generations of Americans by the popular
culture it spawned. It led to the opening of the West when in 1862 the Homestead Act was passed, and it had
a huge impact on higher education with the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, which gave public lands to
state governments to build state colleges and universities."
A more common question is how that Americans, and especially public political figures, today let present
concerns shape how they understand the Civil War. Small-government conservatives like to describe the War
as a noble southern stand against the dangers of a growing federal government. African-Americans and social liberals
prefer to see the War as a glorious fight for freedom and equality. Those with an interest or personal history in the
U.S. military celebrate the martial valor of those who fought and died for both sides.
All of these interpretations represent (at least partially) flawed history, and reflect as much what we each as
individuals want to believe today as they do what the documents tell us were the real motives of the leaders on each
side of the War (protecting slavery and white supremacy for Confederate policymakers and preserving the Union and
Constitution, with or without slavery, for most Union policymakers, including Lincoln).
In what ways does the Civil War continue to influence us?
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The first use of absentee ballots in American politics happened during the Civil War. Knowing that
soldiers in the field were more likely to vote Republican, nearly every Republican-controlled state passed laws
allowing for absentee voting.
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The first national income tax and the first paper money printed by the federal government were both
created to help finance the cost of the War (before that time paper money was printed mainly by individual
banks with state charters, and federal taxation was largely limited to duties or tariffs on imported goods).
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Following the War, it was estimated that one third of currency in circulation was counterfeit. The
Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit
currency (www.secretservice.gov)
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Jonathon Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, implemented a system to evacuate and
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Some of the battlefield lessons learned by Civil War surgeons have had a lasting impact. Amputation
techniques, including cutting as far from the heart as possible, and never slicing through joints, became the
standard. (www.neatorama.com)
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Dr. Julian John Chisholm solved the dilemma of anesthesia shortages by inventing an inhaler, which
replaced soaking a handkerchief with chloroform and saved liquid. (www.neatoroma.com)
care for the wounded, becoming the model for the ambulance-to-ER system we know today. At
the Battle of Antietam, he established caravans of 50 ambulances, each with a driver and two stretcherbearers, to ferry the injured to field hospitals. (www.neatorama.com)
The War Brought Military Advances and Care for Veterans
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First version of machine guns
Submarines
ID tags
Land mines
Ironclad ships
Trench warfare
Soldiers' Homes that later became the Veterans
Administration
The War Brought Technological and Everyday Advances
 15,000 miles of new telegraph lines, which reached the West
Coast
 Mass production of canned food and invention of can opener
 Battlefield photography
 Transcontinental Railroad
 Home-delivered mail
 Premade clothing in sizes small, medium and large
 Differently shaped left and right shoes