This essay was written by me during the Fall 2015 semester, for my Political Satire class. Enjoy!!
The Civil War was a period in history that was good for some, and bad for others. The argument could be made that this period was a period of dystopia. This means that the political world is one that is decaying. The Civil War period most defiantly supports this idea. The political world was beginning to grow into a dystopia long before the war ever began. This essay will examine some of the reasons that this period in our nation’s history was a dystopia.
The Civil War began to exhibit dystopian qualities long before the war even started. During the election of 1860, the Republicans led by Abraham Lincoln came out as supporters of the movement to ban slavery. The reason this led to dystopia in American politics is because the South’s electoral votes were basically canceled out in this election. This meant that the Southern states’ votes did not matter.
This is dystopia because the political system in the United States is designed to be balanced. By the votes in the South basically not counting, the South felt it needed to leave the Union. This led to a huge breakdown in the United States. It also led to one of the darkest times in our nation’s history.
The process of the South leaving the Union involved holding conventions in each Southern state. The conventions were designed to allow each county within the state to vote yes or no, wether of not to leave the Union. If one studies these conventions further they can find that there was dystopia within each state. Take the state of Tennessee for example. The people of Middle and West Tennessee were in favor of leaving the Union. On the other hand the residents of East Tennessee wanted to stay in the Union. This caused dystopia because the East Tennesseans threatened to separate from the rest of Tennessee and have their own state. Tennessee, as everyone knows, ended up leaving the Union. But one can see that it did not come with out some resistance and dystopia.
The Kansas and Nebraska Territory also contributed to dystopia within the United States. The question was over the issue of whether or not slavery should be allowed in these territories. Of course the Southerners wanted slavery legalized in these states, but the Northern leaders did not. It basically turned into a war of words, and bringing out old documents and legislation to support each argument. In the end, this led to continued dystopia within the United States.
The Civil War also took a toll on the United States economically. It led to a dystopia in the way the economy functioned. The North and South had to completely start from scratch economically. They had to find ways to pay for things such as weapons, ammunition for the weapons, and provisions. The North was able to do this much better then the South was.
Dystopia also happened within the politics of both new governments. This was especially true for the South. Unlike the North, the South had no high ranking political officials in place. They had to appoint people to fill these roles. This led to dystopia, because they had to breakdown their existing government structure in order to make a new one. There most defiantly was backstabbing and bribery going on within the Confederate States of America.
Much like in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the South underwent major changes in how their soldiers and other residents behaved and were, and are still being portrayed. They were thought of as being nothing more then savages who were out to kill. This idea can be supported since the South was noted for their guerrilla warfare. Men such as Champ Ferguson, William Clarke Quantrill, and John Singleton Mosby, are just a few examples of the savagery and dystopia in Southern society during the Civil War. They were also thought of as being savages in the sense that they were upholding a savage institution. The common person then, and even now struggled to wrap their mind around how and why the South and the people that resided and fought for it could uphold such a savage practice like slavery.
Continuing along this same line, prison camps also had qualities of the savagery that was portrayed by Swift. These camps were seen in both the North and the South. The most notable camps were Elmira for the North, and Andersonville for the South. Prisoners of War were sent here and while imprisoned they were treated like animals. What is most disturbing about this whole thing is that Americans were doing these horrendous things to fellow Americans. What made these camps even more brutal and savage, was the trades and cartels that went on. The most notable one was the Dix-Hill Cartel. This involved the exchange of prisoners of war between the North and the South. This is yet another example of the dystopia that was occurring in United States society during the Civil War.
One other example of dystopia during the Civil War was the breakdown of families. There were many cases of families being ripped apart over the issue of slavery, and what side to join. Take the case of the Ferguson family as an example. Champ Ferguson, who would become known as one of the South’s most notorious guerrilla fighters, was the only person in his family to side with the Confederacy. The rest of his family sided with the North. When Ferguson left home to go off to war, it would be the last time he would see his family.
Most of these examples of dystopia could be seen in the border states, such as Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. There were also examples of dystopia among families in the Kansas-Nebraska territories. There were also cases of men sleeping with their slaves. This only happened in the South, of course, but still led to the breakdown of families. One can also look at the many slave auctions that occurred throughout the South and see dystopia. Families were broken up, husbands were separated from their wives, and children from their parents. It was just a horrible event that took place. This is just one of the many examples of dystopia that occurred during the Civil War.
Both sides were extremely brutal to each other as far as economics went. Both the North and the South used their navies to set up blockades. The goal was to prevent anything from being imported, and anything from being exported. For the most part these blockades were successful. Many individuals lost money as a result of this practice. This was just another tactic used to attempt to destroy one side or the other.
Quite possibly one of the most famous pieces of satire that relates to the Civil War, was the “Join or Die” posters that were used to recruit soldiers. Basically what these posters were saying was that if you do not join, then you will die. In other words you better join the military in order to protect yourself. This led to many men both young and old deciding to enlist. Many of these men did not know what they were getting in to. For many it was their first time away from home. This led to a rise in desertions. By having men desert, the military’s numbers went down, causing a loss in manpower. For the Confederacy, this was especially true. The South were already sort of an underdog, and desertions did not help them out any. Many of these men and boys either went back to their homes, where they took on new identities, or they joined bands of guerrillas like Ferguson and Mosby. When these men, deserters or not, returned home after the war, they were faced with disorders like Post Traumatic Stress. The process of the dystopia of society was still in full force.
By the time the Civil War was over, there was a complete dystopia of society in the United States. This was especially true for the South. Major cities such as Charleston and Atlanta were left in ruins. Nashville was now entirely controlled by the Union. Multiple people had either been displaced, or had their property stolen or destroyed. Multiple people were living on the streets. Farmers and businessman who had once been very well off were now left with nothing. The term “war zone,” could never have been more appropriate. Much like in “The Hunger Games” movie, society after the Civil War was extremely dark and grim.
Another problem that the United States was facing was the issue of how to become united as one once again. There were people in favor of this, and there were people who were not. The most notable example of this was John Wilkes Booth. Booth felt that the South had not been given a fair chance. He felt that the South needed to rise again, and try and make another attempt to win the war. He blamed all of this on one man, none other then Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. Booth went so far that he assassinated the president. The dystopia of society went so far that the nation’s leader had to die.
The Reconstruction Period in the United States showed just how much of a dystopia the nation had become. The states that had seceded were forced to reapply for state hood. After they did that and were accepted, they had to be reseated in Congress. The United States government was responsible for all of this. The Southern states had no say in who they could or could not choose to lead them. Reconstruction was also designed to deal with the economic ruin that the South found themselves in. The United States government wanted the South to be able to support itself once it was readmitted to the Union. They also wanted to assist those who had been indirectly affected by the war. The United States government was serious about getting out of this dystopian state. One can see from studying Reconstruction, that it takes much hard work to rebuild a country and get it out of a dystopian state.
As one should be able to see, the Civil War was a terrible time for our nation, and the people residing here. It is one of the many examples of a dystopian society throughout our nation’s history. The United States, during the Civil War, had some of the same political satire and dystopian qualities that were illustrated in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and “The Hunger Games.” The factor that makes the Civil War stand out from any other war in the history of the United States is the fact that it involved the division of our nation. It involved, in some cases, brother versus brother. Looking back on it years later, one has to think, was the war really worth it? Both sides lost numerous people, for what? The people believed in what they were fighting for, but one must wonder if they thought it would have such serious and deadly consequences. The Civil War was truly a time of dystopia in the United States.
I made a reference in my essay to the Civil War and the Hunger Games. It was basically fight to the death, family against family.
Above is a picture of the "Join or Die" political cartoon.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about tales from Tennessee and beyond.
